Health News

13 million more Americans deemed eligible for statins

Date: Mar-21-2014
New guidelines for using statins to treat high cholesterol and prevent cardiovascular disease are projected to result in 12.8 million more U.S. adults taking the drugs, according to a research team led by Duke Medicine scientists.The findings for the first time quantify the impact of the American Heart Association's new guidelines, which were issued in November and generated both controversy and speculation about who should be given a prescription for statins.

Registering as an 'out of area' patient in the UK popular with young commuters and patients moving home

Date: Mar-21-2014
A pilot scheme allowing patients to visit GPs outside the area they live in was most popular among younger commuters and people who had moved house but did not want to change their GP, according to a new report by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.The Department of Health's Choice of GP pilot scheme found that while demand overall was modest, participants were generally positive about the scheme and there was little sign of major increased cost to primary care trusts (PCTs) for providing the service.

Stroke mortality increased by drinking alcohol several times a week

Date: Mar-21-2014
Consuming alcohol more frequently than twice a week increases the risk of stroke mortality in men, according to a study carried out at the University of Eastern Finland. The results show that the effects of alcohol are not limited to the amount consumed, but also the frequency of drinking matters. The results were published in Acta Neurologica Scandinavica.Excessive consumption of alcohol is associated with a variety of different diseases.

Electrical engineers shrink plasma devices to resist radiation

Date: Mar-21-2014
University of Utah electrical engineers fabricated the smallest plasma transistors that can withstand high temperatures and ionizing radiation found in a nuclear reactor. Such transistors someday might enable smartphones that take and collect medical X-rays on a battlefield, and devices to measure air quality in real time."These plasma-based electronics can be used to control and guide robots to conduct tasks inside the nuclear reactor," says Massood Tabib-Azar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Influential policy-informing 'evidence' that children's brains are irreversibly 'sculpted' by parental care is questionable

Date: Mar-21-2014
A study led by Kent sociologists found that claims that children's brains are irreversibly 'sculpted' by parental care are based on questionable evidence - yet have heavily influenced 'early-years' government policy-makers.The study identified that although there is a lack of scientific foundation to many of the claims of 'brain-based' parenting, the idea that years 0-3 are neurologically critical is now repeated in policy documents and has been integrated into professional training for early-years workers.

Extended hormone therapy may help some women with ER+ breast cancer

Date: Mar-21-2014
Genetic analyses of results from 1125 postmenopausal women being treated for oestrogen responsive breast cancer have shown that some of them are more likely than others to have a late recurrence of their cancer and might benefit from ten years of hormone therapy rather than five.

New drug offers potential for chemo-free treatment for leukemia/lymphoma

Date: Mar-21-2014
Patients with terminal forms of leukaemia and lymphoma who have run out of treatment options could soon benefit from a new drug, which not only puts an end to chemotherapy and has virtually no side effects but also improves a patient's life expectancy and quality of life.It has been described as a breakthrough in cancer treatment by a leading professor in haematology, who presented the findings of the Phase 1 trial at an international conference in New Orleans in December 2013.

New player implicated in Alzheimer's and other dementias

Date: Mar-21-2014
Why do neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's affect only the elderly? Why do some people live to be over 100 with intact cognitive function while others develop dementia decades earlier?More than a century of research into the causes of dementia has focused on the clumps and tangles of abnormal proteins that appear in the brains of people with neurodegenerative diseases. However, scientists know that at least one piece of the puzzle has been missing because some people with these abnormal protein clumps show few or no signs of cognitive decline.

Abandoned antibiotic makes a comeback

Date: Mar-21-2014
Scarlet fever and infections of the skin and throat are often caused by a bacterium called Streptococcus pyogenes. In less-developed countries, inexpensive and well-tolerated antibiotics for therapy are often not available. Scientists of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany, have discovered that trimethoprim may provide an option. Contrary to a long-held belief, the bacteria are not generally resistant to this agent.

Cognitive impairment after surgery

Date: Mar-21-2014
Older persons, in particular, tend to suffer from memory lapses and other types of cognitive impairment after undergoing surgical procedures (postoperative cognitive dysfunction, POCD). Surgery has been performed on older patients much more commonly in recent years than ever before, and their pre- and postoperative care has become an important matter. Ingrid Rundshagen, an anesthesiologist, has surveyed the available literature to find out what kinds of patients are more likely to have cognitive impairment after surgery, and how the clinical manifestations should best be dealt with.