Although adolescent sports-related deaths are rare, they are commonly caused by cardiovascular problems, such as commotio cardis–cardiac arrest caused by being hit in the chest with an object, such as a baseball or softball, usually traveling 30 to 50 miles per hour. The frequency of this problem is not known, but the survival rate is low among reported cases. However, the survival rate may be increased when cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed and an automated external defibrillato
A new treatment for pancreatic cancer developed by clinical researchers of Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center substantially reduces the size of tumors and lowers the risk of local recurrence of the disease. Fifty percent of patients in the study responded to therapy–one of the highest response rates ever seen with pancreatic cancer. Results of the study were published in the December 2005 issue of the Annals of Surgical Oncology.
Researchers, led by oncolog
Like their younger counterparts, some elderly patients who have early stage non-small cell lung cancer can benefit from a minimally invasive surgical procedure to remove part or all of a lung, according to a study conducted by thoracic surgeons at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and described in The American Surgeon, the journal of the Southeastern Surgical Congress and the Southern California Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.
When non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) are d
New findings by a research team from the University of Edinburgh may help explain why diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) which attack the myelin sheath – an insulator which protects the body’s nervous system – cause such severe symptoms in MS patients. Their discoveries may lead to new ways to help treat patients with MS, it is reported in the journal Neuron today (Thursday, 8 December).
The scientists have made an important breakthrough in understanding how animals with compl
A group of investigators of the University of Bologna (Giovanni Fava, Chiara Ruini and Chiara Rafanelli) have published an article on a novel approach to treatment of depression and anxiety in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
Administration of treatments in a sequential order is a common practice in clinical medicine, but has received insufficient attention in psychiatry. The aim of this article was to survey the literature concerned with a sequential use o
Study underscores another keyreason to control hypertension
People with high blood pressure and their doctors have a new reason to work at controlling this common but high-risk condition: As patients get older, they might otherwise have worse-than-normal problems with short-term memory and verbal ability. New research shows that uncontrolled hypertension puts people at higher risk for sharper drops in these cognitive functions than does blood pressure that’s normal due to
Findings pinpoint mechanism behind social deficits
New imaging research at UCLA detailed Dec. 4 as an advance online publication of the journal Nature Neuroscience shows children with autism have virtually no activity in a key part of the brain’s mirror neuron system while imitating and observing emotions.
Mirror neurons fire when a person performs a goal-directed action and while he or she observes the same action performed by others. Neuroscientists believe this ob
The stress a typical married couple feels during an ordinary half-hour argument is enough to slow their bodies’ ability to heal from wounds by at least one day, a new study has shown.
Moreover, if the couple’s relationship is routinely hostile toward each other, the delay in that healing process can be even doubled. The results of this study have major financial implications for medical centers and health care insurers.
The new study, reported in the curre
Many congestive HF-associated physiological changes were also suppressed, but the mechanisms aren’t known; level of exercise is critical but results come despite antecedent hypertension
A classic clinical dilemma faces doctors treating patients with congestive heart failure (CHF): while exercise generally protects the normal heart from cardiovascular disease, will exercise potentially “improve the prognosis of patents with CHF, or (will it place) a further excessive demand on an a
A better life for people with general anxiety and panic disorders may only be a phone call away, according to a University of Pittsburgh study published in the December issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
The researchers report that telephone-based care for people with generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder significantly improves both their symptoms of anxiety and depression and their mental health-related quality of life. The Pitt researchers also found the inte
“While our research reaffirmed the risk of stroke among patients with heart disease, the surprise was that the risk was so high in the month after a heart attack,” says Veronique Roger, M.D., M.P.H., the Mayo Clinic cardiologist who led the study.
“A lot of patients survive heart attacks today, which is why this study is so relevant,” she says. “It emphasizes the importance of worrying about other things that can happen beyond heart attacks, stroke being one of them.”
Muscle in adults is constantly being built and broken down. As young adults we keep the two processes in balance, but when we age breakdown starts to win. However, adding the amino acid leucine to the diet of old individuals can set things straight again. This is the finding of research performed by Lydie Combaret, Dominique Dardevet and colleagues at the Human Nutrition Research Centre of Auvergne, INRA, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
After the age of 40, humans start loosing muscle at arou
Ordinary chest x-rays show distinctive disease patterns of avian flu in humans that are good predictors of patient survival, according to University of Oxford investigators. Their findings indicate that patients with more severe x-ray appearances would benefit from aggressive treatment earlier, giving them a better chance of survival. The study was presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
“On chest x-rays in patients with avian flu, the mos
New insights into pain mechanisms; Practical advice on pain management
Long treated as a side effect, pain is now widely recognized as an integral part of patient care. While the last decade has brought extraordinary advances in the unravelling of pain mechanisms at the molecular level, evaluating and alleviating pain remains an ongoing challenge for physicians, particularly rheumatologists. The December 2005 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism offers a timely examination of pain as i
Patients suffering from advanced head and neck cancer affecting their larynx can maintain vocal function by undergoing a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy instead of surgery to remove the larynx, according to a study published in the December 1, 2005, issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.
Doctors in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and N
Findings reported at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America
Breast CT, an investigational technology for early breast cancer detection, may be better than mammography at detecting breast lesions and is much more comfortable for women, researchers from the University of California, Davis reported today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago.
“In this initial evaluation, breast CT images were subjectively fou
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