People who live with HIV in rural areas are less likely to keep up with their treatment schedules if they are problem drinkers, say Tulane University researchers. Overall, about one in three HIV positive people surveyed by the researchers reported skipping at least one dose of their medications in the past week.
Tulane epidemiologists analyzed data from 273 patient interviews at eight rural clinics across Louisiana.
“Cities are generally thought to be the areas hit the ha
Not only has life evolved, but life has evolved to evolve.
That’s the conclusion drawn by two Rice University scientists who have designed a computer simulation to test the idea that evolvability — the likelihood of genetic mutation — is a trait that can itself be favored or disfavored through the process of natural selection.
The results of the study appear in the Aug. 10 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers Michael Deem,
Chicken liver may seem like an odd component of a medical procedure, but for thousands of patients over the past generation, the cuisine has been doctor’s orders to help diagnose gastrointestinal disorders.
Perhaps not for much longer, though, based on the results of a recent Medical College of Georgia School of Allied Health Sciences student project.
Micah Grant, Woldeab Medhin and Aaron Scott, juniors in the School of Allied Health Sciences’ nuclear medicine
Researchers are one step closer to unravelling the mystery of medically unexplained pain such as chronic low back pain, which continues to baffle doctors. A study exploring the experience of pain in hypnotised volunteers has found that some types of pain which cannot be traced to a medical condition may have its origins in our brains, not in our bodies.
The study by University College London and University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre found that volunteers who felt pain as a result of
A new study by a nurse researcher shows that imagery – a simple method of distraction – can be used with pain medications to significantly reduce post-operative pain in children.
In the study, which was led by a nurse researcher at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, children who had their tonsils or adenoids removed were given an audio tape that enabled them to imagine they were going to “a favorite place.” The children who used the tape reported significantly low
Radiation therapy (RT) has been the most important treatment modality with curative potential in treating patients with cancer of the nasopharynx, the part of the pharynx that lies above the soft palate. This is due to several factors: (1) undifferentiated carcinoma, or tumour cells with no resemblance at all to normal glandular or surface lining cells, is quite radiosensitive and is more common than squamous cell carcinoma; (2) more than two-thirds of the patients present with cervical lymph node
Study suggests possible role for BK virus in prostate cancer
Chances are excellent that your urinary tract is home to a pathogenic organism called the human BK virus. Most of the time, the virus lurks quietly in the kidneys without causing problems. But in people with a depressed immune system — especially those who have just received a kidney transplant — the virus can cause serious kidney and bladder disease. Now, new research by scientists at the University of Michigan Medical Sc
Travelers suffering from ’Montezuma’s revenge’ may not necessarily have to avoid tasty cuisine
Travelers suffering from “Montezuma’s revenge” may not necessarily have to avoid tasty cuisine. In a comparison of two groups of patients receiving antibiotics to treat travelers’ diarrhea, those who restricted their diet to broth and bland foods did not recover any faster than those who ate anything they wanted, according to an article in the August 1 issue of Clin
Nor can it be recommended for those with pleural tuberculosis who are not co-infected with HIV
Prednisolone, a glucocorticoid that is sometimes added to anti-tuberculosis drug regimens, should not be used to treat patients with pleural tuberculosis and HIV infection, nor can it be recommended for those with pleural tuberculosis who are not co-infected with HIV, according to a study in the August 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.
Alison
Encouraging results of Phase II conformal radiation trial for ependymoma could resolve the dilemma on whether to withhold therapeutic radiation from children to preserve their cognitive development
A radiation therapy technique that kills brain tumors in children while sparing normal tissue allows young patients to enjoy normal development of memory, reasoning, problem-solving and other cognitive functions, according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The res
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common, crippling age-related disease characterized by the gradual destruction of cartilage cushioning the joints. To assess cartilage erosion, doctors routinely rely on measurement of the joint space width using radiographs. To be visible on an X-ray film, however, significant cartilage degradation must have already occurred. By the time radiographs reveal destruction, the damage to the joint is usually irreversible. Due to this method’s relatively insensitive nature, it al
Neurosurgeons at Rush University Medical Center are the first in Chicago to implant a new investigational neurostimulator in a patient with medically refractory epilepsy. The neurostimulator may be able to suppress seizures in patients with epilepsy before any symptoms appear, much like the commonly implanted heart pacemakers which stop heart arrhythmias before any symptoms occur.
Dr. Richard W. Byrne, neurosurgeon at Rush and member of the Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuro
A new study using positron emission tomography (PET) determined PET is a more accurate way to diagnose recurrent melanoma than the present, standard procedures.
Published in the August issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, the research conducted by David Fuster, MD, and his team at the University of Pennsylvania (PENN), Division of Nuclear Medicine, found that, by using PET as a routine clinical tool in diagnosing recurrent melanoma, significant changes in patient care can, an
New, clear-leaded safety glasses allow eye cancer patients to see during week-long sessions of radiation therapy at home, without sacrificing safety, according to a study by Paul T. Finger, MD, director of Ocular Tumor Services at The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, that was published in the June, 2004 issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
The best treatment today for tumors that grow inside the eye, called intraocular tumors, is plaque therapy, in which a small bowl-shape
Expert-witness physicians who specialize in interpreting chest x-rays for plaintiffs in lawsuits claiming asbestos-related injury greatly overstate their findings, compared with independent readers interpreting the same films without knowing their source, reports the August issue of Academic Radiology, published by Elsevier on behalf of the Association of University Radiologists.
In a study of 492 chest x-rays obtained by plaintiffs’ lawyers and entered as evidence in lawsuits ag
For patients who suffer severe heart damage during a heart attack and those with weak hearts who must undergo high-risk procedures, a new ventricular assist device that can be inserted without open-chest surgery assumes 85 percent of the heart’s pumping function for several hours or more than a week. The potentially lifesaving device benefits patients who arrive in the emergency room after experiencing damaging heart attacks, as well as those whose hearts are too frail to undergo major procedur
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