Health News

Exercise Helps Reduce Depressive Symptoms In Heart Failure Patients

Date: Aug-01-2012
A new study, published in the August 1 issue of JAMA, found that patients with chronic heart failure had modest reductions in symptoms of depression after 12 months of participating in exercise training, compared with usual care. According to background information in the article, "An estimated 5 million people in the United Stated have heart failure, and more than 500,000 new cases are diagnosed annually."  Clinical depression often exists with other illnesses. It affects 40 percent of patients with heart failure with about 75 percent reporting elevated depressive symptoms...

Physicians More Cautious About Prescribing Strong Painkillers

Date: Aug-01-2012
Ten percent of Norwegians are prescribed opioids every year. However, until recently, there has been no data available on how many users are regularly prescribed these drugs. Kristian Svendsen, a doctoral research fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, states: "We now know we are talking about approximately one per cent of the overall Norwegian population, which is not a particularly worrisome figure. I think many physicians, pharmacists and others have overestimated the proportion of regular users...

Many Americans With Celiac Disease Are Unaware Of It

Date: Aug-01-2012
A Mayo Clinic analysis that investigated the prevalence of celiac disease revealed that around 1.8 million people in the U.S. suffer from the disease. However, about 1.4 million are unaware they even have the disease. The study, featured in the American Journal of Gastroenterology also reveals that 1.6 million people in the U.S. are on a gluten-free diet, even though they have never been diagnosed with celiac disease...

Not Getting Enough Sleep? Vaccines May Not Work

Date: Aug-01-2012
It has long been known that sleep and immune system responses are closely linked, but a recent study, published in the August edition of the journal SLEEP, and conducted by researchers at UCSF, has shown that vaccines are much less effective if the person who received the vaccine is not getting the recommended amount of sleep...

The Role Of Integration In The Healthcare Industry - Interview With Jon Headlee, President And CEO, Ten Adams

Date: Aug-01-2012
"Today's healthcare leaders should not underestimate the value of their hospital's brand and connecting employees with it," advises Jon Headlee, President and CEO, Ten Adams, a healthcare brand and marketing company. "In many organizations, there are huge gaps between their brand promise and the people, who are the culture of the organization," he adds...

Poor Mental Health Linked To Premature Death

Date: Aug-01-2012
A large study of English households finds that people who experience symptoms of psychological distress like anxiety, depression, or even minor mental health problems, have a lower life expectancy than people who do not.  Since the link remained when they adjusted for lifestyle factors, the researchers say the effect is more likely due to biological changes resulting from psychological distress rather than because people with poor mental health have less healthy lifestyles...

Hip Fracture Risk Lower After Cataract Surgery

Date: Aug-01-2012
A large US study of older people with a diagnosis of cataract, finds that the risk of hip fracture is lower following cataract surgery, suggesting the vision-improving surgery may reduce the odds of injury-related falls. The study, which appears in the 1 August online issue of JAMA, reports how researchers examined data on over a million Medicare patients aged 65 and over with a diagnosis of cataract and found those who underwent cataract surgery had a lower odds of hip fracture 1 year after the procedure, compared with those who did not have the surgery...

Study Suggests That Latrepirdine May Be Successful If Tested On Patients With Earlier Stages Of Alzheimer's Disease

Date: Aug-01-2012
An international team of scientists led by researchers at Mount Sinai School Medicine have discovered that a drug that had previously yielded conflicting results in clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease effectively stopped the progression of memory deterioration and brain pathology in mouse models of early stage Alzheimer's disease. The findings, published in Molecular Psychiatry, demonstrate renewed potential for this compound and could lead to clinical trials in patients with early stages of the disease...

Canada's Food Guide Servings Misunderstood By The Public

Date: Aug-01-2012
Think you know what one serving of food looks like? You may want to think again, according to a new study from York University. Many people overestimate the size of one serving of food as defined in Canada's Food Guide, so they may be overeating even if they believe they are being careful, according to a study by Jennifer Kuk, a professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science in York's Faculty of Health, and lead author Sharona Abramovitch, a former graduate student at York. The study was published online in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism...

Hypothermia In Trauma Victims Increases Mortality Risk

Date: Aug-01-2012
Hypothermia in trauma victims is a serious complication and is associated with an increased risk of dying. A new study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care has found that the key risk factor was severity of injury. However, environmental conditions and medical care, such as the temperature of the ambulance or temperature of any fluids administered intravenously, also increased risk...