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Stanford seeks volunteers for flu vaccine study

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital are looking for adults and children to participate in three studies that will help them better understand how the flu vaccine works in people of different ages.

22 Oct 2007

Spending more for lung cancer treatment did not substantially increase patients' lives

A new study finds that survival for elderly patients with lung cancer has changed little despite large increases in healthcare expenditures for lung cancer treatment.

22 Oct 2007

The biomedical and sociological effects of sleep restriction

In spring 2005 a large European research and training network was established to investigate the causes and implications of poor sleep from a medical as well as from a social point of view. This EU-financed sleep research project, “The biomedical and sociological effects of sleep restriction”, is coordinated by Dr. Tarja Porkka-Heiskanen (Stenberg) MD, PhD, at the University of Helsinki, Institute of Biomedicine.

22 Oct 2007

Improvements in survival after dialysis in the elderly

The majority of patients starting dialysis as a result of chronic kidney disease are 65 years or older at the time of their first treatment, and many are over 75 years.

22 Oct 2007

$6.8 million grant to help UTEP tackle Hispanic health disparities

The Hispanic Health Disparities Research Center at the University of Texas at El Paso has received a $6.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health that will significantly advance the center's research in helping eliminate racial and ethnic health inequalities across the nation.

22 Oct 2007

West Nile virus' spread through nerve cells linked to serious complication

Scientists believe they have found an explanation for a puzzling and serious complication of West Nile virus infection.

19 Oct 2007

Antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infection, sore throat, or ear infection

Antibiotics are not justified to reduce the risk of complications after upper respiratory tract infection, sore throat, or ear infection, finds a study published on bmj.com.

19 Oct 2007

Elderly Medicare, Medicaid patients not receiving quality care

If the care received by vulnerable older people concurrently enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid was evaluated on a grading scale, it would squeak by with a barely passing mark, a new UCLA study has found.

18 Oct 2007

Lidocaine lollipop helps prepare for upper GI endoscopy

Researchers at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) in Lebanon have found that administering a lidocaine lollipop as a single-agent anesthetic to patients undergoing an upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy procedure eliminated the need for sedation in the majority of patients.

17 Oct 2007

Genetic contributions to human brain morphology and intelligence

While showing an impressive growth prenatally, the human brain is not completed at birth.

17 Oct 2007

Use of NSAIDs underreported

Patients underreported their use of common but potentially dangerous over-the-counter pain medications known as NSAIDs, according to research presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology.

16 Oct 2007

Hospital chairman quits over superbug scandal

Following a report that as many as 345 patients may have died from an infection contracted at a British hospital, the chairman of the hospital trust at the centre of the infection scandal has resigned.

16 Oct 2007

The costly business of depression in the work place

According to a new government report caregivers, waiters and social workers have the highest rates of depression among full-time workers in the United States.

16 Oct 2007

Colorectal cancer screening improves survival in seniors

As people get older, their risk of developing polyps and colorectal cancer increases. Currently, there is no clear evidence or established guideline for the upper age limit for colorectal cancer screening by colonoscopy.

16 Oct 2007

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality expands research on therapeutics program

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced the award of $41.6 million over the next 4 years for a new coordinating center and 10 research centers as part of its Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs) program.

16 Oct 2007

Health-care costs of NSAIDs injury

16 Oct 2007

Statins appear to preserve lung function

Statins are known to be good for lowering cholesterol and maybe even fighting dementia, and now they have another reported benefit: they appear to slow decline in lung function in the elderly - even in those who smoke.

15 Oct 2007

Peripheral ehanolamine plasmalogen deficiency - likely factor in Alzheimer's and dementia

Dayan B. Goodenowe and colleagues report in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of Lipid Research that people with Alzheimer's disease and related conditions exhibit decreased blood levels of an important brain chemical called ethanolamine plasmalogen, even at the very early stages of the disease.

12 Oct 2007

Salmonella outbreak traced to all Banquet and store brand pot pie products

The Pennsylvania Department of Health today is emphasizing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) advisory for consumers not to eat Banquet brand and store brand frozen, not-ready-to-eat pot pie products due to possible Salmonella contamination.

10 Oct 2007

Heart drug perindopril helps seniors get active

According to scientists from Dundee University in Scotland, when seniors were given a drug commonly prescribed for heart conditions they were able to do more exercise.

10 Oct 2007