New research suggests that for some hospitalized ICU patients on mechanical ventilators, using headphones to listen to their favorite types of music could lower anxiety and reduce their need for sedative medications.
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Shire plc, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, announces that it will present scientific data in 7 poster presentations at the American Psychiatric Association 166th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, May 18-22.
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Regularly taking prescription painkillers, also known as opioids, is associated with a higher risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) in men, according to a study published online today in the journal Spine.
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To improve patient safety, hospitals should randomly test physicians for drug and alcohol use in much the same way other major industries in the United States do to protect their customers.
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Sedasys, a Division of Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted PMA approval for the SEDASYS System, the first computer-assisted personalized sedation system.
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A new report shows that the number of emergency department visits involving adverse reactions to the sleep medication zolpidem rose nearly 220 percent from 6,111 visits in 2005 to 19,487 visits in 2010.
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Clinical pharmacologists at Heidelberg University Hospital have achieved major progress for improving the reliability of drugs. In a pharmacological study, they showed for the first time that interactions between drugs can be detected with minute doses in the range of nanograms.
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Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that its New Drug Application for an investigational, tablet formulation of the company's antifungal agent, NOXAFIL (posaconazole), has been accepted for review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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An international study involving dermatologists from the Hospital del Mar and Spanish subjects has concluded that a drug normally used to treat severe bronchial asthma caused by allergies (Omalizumab) rapidly eliminates the symptoms of spontaneous chronic urticaria, a development that it is expected will significantly improve the quality of life of chronic urticaria sufferers.
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Massachusetts General Hospital investigators have identified specific EEG signatures that indicate when patients lose and regain consciousness under the general anesthetic drug propofol.
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An international multicenter clinical trial led by a Cedars-Sinai neurologist on the combination of brain cooling and "clot-busting" drug therapy after stroke has received Food and Drug Administration approval to expand from 50 patients to 400.
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Researchers want to know whether a sleeping pill reduces suicidal thoughts in depressed patients with insomnia.
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Benzodiazepines are associated with an increased risk for developing pneumonia, as well as an increased risk for dying from pneumonia, research shows.
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A new study review published by the University of Kentucky found that music therapy can be beneficial to patients before, during and after a surgical procedure and may reduce pain and recovery time.
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Letting children watch a favorite cartoon is an effective and safe way to reduce anxiety before anesthesia and surgery, concludes a study in the November issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).
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Daily sedative interruption of mechanically ventilated patients in intensive care units does not reduce the time they are on ventilation or improve their clinical outcomes, report researchers in JAMA.
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For critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation, daily sedation interruption did not reduce the duration of mechanical ventilation or appear to offer any benefit to patients, and may have increased both sedation and analgesic use and nurse workload, according to a study appearing in JAMA.
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The ideal sedative for oral surgery should make the patient comfortable during the surgery and should wear off quickly enough that the patient can leave the dental chair soon after the procedure. Finding the best plan of anesthetic treatment is essential to the success of dental procedures such as the extraction of wisdom teeth.
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Adding intravenous droperidol or olanzapine to midazolam shortens the time to adequate sedation in acutely agitated patients in the emergency department, show findings from a randomized controlled trial.
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A neuropeptide hormone called orexin-A—which plays an important role in regulating the normal sleep-wake cycle—also affects emergence (waking up) after anesthesia, reports an experimental study in the October issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).
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