“Sit-down” medical rounds, during which a health care team meets to review a patient’s medical record and discuss short- and long-term needs, are associated with better outcomes for kidney dialysis patients, a Johns Hopkins-directed study has found.
Patients treated at clinics that conducted sit-down rounds at least once a month were more likely to have healthy levels of the blood proteins albumin and hemoglobin than those seen at clinics that performed only walking rounds,
Cites complex and distracting work environment
A University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing study provides the first detailed description of the nature and prevalence of errors by hospital staff nurses. During a 28-day period, 393 registered nurses kept a detailed journal of their errors and prevented errors, referred to as near-errors. Thirty percent of the nurses reported at least one error during the 28-day period, and 33 percent reported a near-error. Although the majority
Imaging studies of the brain when it is under the influence of alcohol reveal that different areas of the brain are impaired under high and low levels of alcohol, according to a Yale study published in Neuropsychopharmacology.
Godfrey Pearlson and Vince Calhoun, researchers in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, used a statistical method to sort areas of the brain affected when persons were administered a placebo or two different doses of alcohol. The seven
Motorcycle-related injuries and deaths have been on the rise since 1997, and urban teaching hospitals are bearing the brunt of caring for those injured, according to a new nationwide study.
Charges incurred at these hospitals accounted for nearly 70 percent of the $842 million in total hospital charges for motorcycle-related cases in 2001, say Jeffrey Coben, M.D., of Allegheny General Hospital, and colleagues. Their analysis appears in the December issue of the American Journal o
Highly obese women are 12 times more likely to have diabetes or knee replacement surgery, and five times more likely to have high blood pressure than women who are at a normal weight, says a new study.
Men in the highest weight categories are eight times more likely to have diabetes, and six times more likely to have a knee replaced or have high blood pressure than are their normal-weight peers, say researchers for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The rese
A recent trial, published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, shows that women with abnormal heart rhythms benefit from implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) as much as men, stressing the importance of including females in future research. Previous studies have raised the concern of possible gender bias, in favor of men, in the evaluation and treatment of heart disease.
The Multicenter UnSustained Tachycardia Trial (MUSTT) studied the influence of gender
Humans evolved from ape-like ancestors because they needed to run long distances – perhaps to hunt animals or scavenge carcasses on Africa’s vast savannah – and the ability to run shaped our anatomy, making us look like we do today.
That is the conclusion of a study published in the Nov. 18 issue of the journal Nature by University of Utah biologist Dennis Bramble and Harvard University anthropologist Daniel Lieberman. The study is featured on Nature’s cover.
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In a study to be published Nov. 18 in The New England Journal of Medicine, Stroke Team doctors at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston say they may have discovered a new tool to use in the treatment of strokes.
Physicians in Houston and three other centers used a hand-held extracranial ultrasound device to target stroke-causing blood clots during the pilot study. The sound waves are believed to seek out the clot and deliver a heavy dose of the clot-busting drug tPA t
Two new Penn State studies show that people who pursue a healthy, low-fat, low-energy-density diet that includes more water-rich foods, such as fruits and vegetables, consume more food but weigh less than people who eat a more energy-dense diet.
Dr. Barbara Rolls, who holds the Guthrie Chair of Nutrition in Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development, directed the studies. She says, “In one of the studies, we looked at the eating patterns of 7,500 men and women who c
Dangerous side effects, ASPS study says
Flip through any women’s magazine and you are sure to find advertisements hawking pills to enlarge women’s breasts. But do these pills actually work? Probably not, says the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). Not only are breast enhancement pills unproven, they could be dangerous, according to a study published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery® (PRS), the official medical journal of the ASPS. “There are upward of 30 different h
Study presented in the November issue of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology
Drinking Concord grape juice significantly increased HDL–the good cholesterol–and significantly lowered two markers of inflammation in people with stable coronary artery disease, according to results of a study presented in the November issue of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. “In addition to HDL levels increasing, we saw significant decreases in t
While stock prices of firms almost always go up immediately after an announcement of a takeover bid by another company, a new study shows that there’s a lot of variation in just how far the stock prices may change.
In fact, the study showed that about one-quarter of stock prices actually go higher than the initial bid price announced by the acquiring firm. Overall, investors seem to be savvy about pricing stocks of target firms, said Ralph Walkling, co-author of the study
The Minimally Invasive Surgical Therapies (MIST) Consortium for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) has launched a new study to compare long-term benefits and risks of transurethral needle ablation (TUNA) and transurethral microwave thermotherapy (TUMT) to a regimen of the alpha-1 inhibitor alfuzosin and the 5-alpha reductase inhibitor finasteride. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at NIH, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, is investing more tha
Act on the Surgeon General’s bone health report
It’s one of the first demonstrations on how to take care of your bones since the Surgeon General warned that half the population is likely to be at risk for osteoporosis unless they take action. Experts are putting prevention on display today at a fitness center in midtown Manhattan. Leaders in fitness and nutrition are demonstrating exactly how participants in the BEST Study, a four-year investigation conducted at the Univ
Findings may have implications for contraceptive
A study led by scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has determined that a novel enzyme in sperm is essential for sperm motility and male fertility. The new study may offer a potential target for an effective, non-hormonal male contraceptive, the researchers said. The findings will be published today (Nov. 15) in the online early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A rep
May not be considered non-toxic
Bismuth bullets, which became the primary form of bullets sold in Canada after lead shot was incrementally banned for environmental reasons between 1991 and 1999, may not be as non-toxic as originally thought, according to a new study. “It’s not clear whether bismuth is a non-toxic shot alternative,” says study co-author William Gough, a professor in the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at the University of Toronto at Scarbo
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