Health News

High volume of severe sepsis patients may result in better outcomes

Date: Jan-21-2014
A recent study led by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) shows that "practice may make perfect" when it comes to caring for patients with severe sepsis. The study showed that patients admitted to academic medical centers that care for more patients with severe sepsis have significantly lower mortality rates than patients cared for at academic medical centers with lower volumes of sepsis patients. Additionally, the superior outcomes at high volume centers were achieved at similar costs compared to the lower volume medical centers.

Sticking to New Year's resolutions does not depend on will power

Date: Jan-21-2014
Those struggling to stick to their New Year's resolution might take comfort in scientists' assertion that will power has very little to do with a person's character.Professor Nick Chater revealed that the environment is a far bigger factor in determining whether people are able to stick to their diet or exercise regime and that people are suffering from the 'fundamental attribution error' in believing that the success of their New Year's resolution depends on their will power.

Evidence that access to firearms significantly increases odds of suicide and homicide

Date: Jan-21-2014
Having access to a gun in the home increases the inhabitants' risk of being the victim of suicide or homicide, suggests an article being published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 15 published studies comparing the odds of being a victim of suicide or homicide between persons with and without access to firearms. All but one of the 15 studies reviewed reported significantly increased odds of suicide (odds ratio, 3.2) and homicide (odds ratio, 1.9) victimization associated with firearm access.

Patients with learning disabilities become 'invisible' in hospitals, says study

Date: Jan-21-2014
Hospital patients with learning disabilities face longer waits and mismanaged treatment due to a failure to understand them by nursing staff, says a new report.In one case, a patient who had problems making herself understood was accused of being drunk by hard pressed hospital staff.It is estimated that one in 50 people in England have some form of learning disabilities such as Down's syndrome.

High-quality whey proteins for foodstuffs

Date: Jan-21-2014
Whey resulting from cheese production contains valuable proteins that still often remain unused. In the EU-funded project Whey2Food the University of Hohenheim and the Fraunhofer IGB, together with partners from industry, are investigating how high-quality whey proteins can be obtained for food with the assistance of a new electromembrane process.The production of cheese and casein results in large quantities of whey. 81 million tonnes of the watery waste material come together per year in the EU alone.

New biomarker test identifies resistance to chemotherapy and radiation in esophageal cancer patients

Date: Jan-21-2014
Castle Biosciences has announced that study results of a proprietary predictive test for esophageal cancer demonstrated strong accuracy and specificity in identifying patients who are likely to have tumors that are extremely resistant to standard pre-surgical treatment of chemotherapy and radiation. Data from this second validation study were presented in San Francisco at the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

A versatile gut bacterium helps us get our daily dietary fiber

Date: Jan-21-2014
University of British Columbia researchers have discovered the genetic machinery that turns a common gut bacterium into the Swiss Army knife of the digestive tract - helping us metabolize a main component of dietary fibre from the cell walls of fruits and vegetables.The findings illuminate the specialized roles played by key members of the vast microbial community living in the human gut, and could inform the development of tailored microbiota transplants to improve intestinal health after antibiotic use or illness. The research is published in the journal Nature.

The importance of arm length in depth perception

Date: Jan-21-2014
People have a distance at which they are best able to judge depth. That distance, it turns out, is dictated by how long people understand their arms to be. Researchers showed this in the Journal of Neuroscience by tricking subjects with virtual reality into thinking their reach was longer than it really was. The result? Their accurate perception of depth via sight moved outward and touch became more sensitive.We need to reach for things, so a connection between arm length and our ability to judge depth accurately may make sense.

A new class of antibiotics created by clever chemistry

Date: Jan-21-2014
As concerns about bacterial resistance to antibiotics grow, researchers are racing to find new kinds of drugs to replace ones that are no longer effective. One promising new class of molecules called acyldepsipeptides - ADEPs - kills bacteria in a way that no marketed antibacterial drug does - by altering the pathway through which cells rid themselves of harmful proteins.Now, researchers from Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have shown that giving the ADEPs more backbone can dramatically increase their biological potency.

Better outcomes when hospitals deal with high volume of severe sepsis patients

Date: Jan-21-2014
A recent study led by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) shows that "practice may make perfect" when it comes to caring for patients with severe sepsis. The study showed that patients admitted to academic medical centers that care for more patients with severe sepsis have significantly lower mortality rates than patients cared for at academic medical centers with lower volumes of sepsis patients. Additionally, the superior outcomes at high volume centers were achieved at similar costs compared to the lower volume medical centers.