Chronic News and Research

RSS

Hepatitis A scare at Long Island church

Health officials have warned that parishioners who received Holy Communion during Christmas Mass at a church on Long Island may have been exposed to hepatitis A and may need vaccinated as soon as possible. Particularly those who received Communion at the 10.30am and 12pm (local time) masses on December 25, 2010, at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Massapequa Park should get the shots.

4 Jan 2011

Past smoking history does not affect RA patient's response to treatments

Patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are current smokers were less likely to achieve good response to methotrexate (MTX) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors than those who never smoked. The study by researchers from Sweden also found that RA patients who smoked in the past did not experience a lower response to these therapies. Results of the 10-year study appear in the January 2011 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).

4 Jan 2011

Eighth Annual CTO Summit and Left Main Coronary Interventions Course to be held Feb. 14-16, in New York City

The Eighth Annual Chronic Total Occlusion Summit and Left Main Coronary Interventions Course is a three-day conference featuring state-of-the-art technologies, research findings and new developments in therapeutic procedures essential for interventional cardiologists to optimize success in chronic total coronary occlusions and left main coronary interventions.

4 Jan 2011

New program may help reduce hospital readmission rates for high-risk seniors

SCAN Health Plan and Lakewood IPA have partnered with Dovetail Health in a program designed to reduce readmission rates for high-risk seniors following discharge from hospitals and skilled nursing facilities.

4 Jan 2011

Fundamental similarities in response to wasp infection and blood cancer development

Tiny parasitoid wasps can play an important role in controlling the populations of other insect species by laying their eggs inside the larvae of these species. A newly hatched wasp gradually eats the host alive and takes over its body.

4 Jan 2011

Chest: January news briefs

New research suggests that subcutaneous omalizumab is safe and effective an add-on treatment to corticosteroids for moderate to severe asthma in children and adults. Researchers from Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile performed a meta-analysis on eight trials where 1,883 patients received omalizumab and 1,546 received a placebo.

4 Jan 2011

Baby boomers lack knowledge about Alzheimer's disease

An online survey of baby boomers across Canada conducted by the Alzheimer Society reveals a worrying lack of awareness about Alzheimer's disease.

4 Jan 2011

Vitamin D deficiency could be linked to development of certain autoimmune lung diseases

A new study shows that vitamin D deficiency could be linked to the development and severity of certain autoimmune lung diseases.

4 Jan 2011

Depression and diabetes linked to increased risk of death from heart disease in women

Depression and diabetes appear to be associated with a significantly increased risk of death from heart disease and risk of death from all causes over a six-year period for women, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

4 Jan 2011

Tips to prevent a hangover

Dr. Andrew Yacht, director of the division of general medicine and vice chair of medicine for education at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City said, “Alcohol clearly causes hangovers, but why it causes hangovers isn’t very well understood…Part of the suspected cause is dehydration and an electrolyte and hormonal imbalance. Some of the symptoms may be caused by low blood sugar. Or, it may be that the direct toxic effects of alcohol are causing the symptoms.”

2 Jan 2011

General anaesthesia brings reversible coma and not sleep: Study

Anaesthesia has been one of the greatest gifts of science and use of general anaesthesia is a routine part of surgical operations at hospitals and medical facilities around the world. However precise biological mechanisms of the drugs’ effects on the brain are only now being analyzed. In a review article published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists have tried to analyze a range of disciplines, including neuroscience and sleep medicine to understand how anaesthesia actually works.

2 Jan 2011

Mediterranean diet helps more than one chronic condition

In a study that was published in the Oct 13, 2001 issue of Diabetes Care, authors had reported that Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of developing diabetes significantly. Those on this diet were 52 percent less likely to develop diabetes, compared with those who adhered least to the diet. Salas-Salvadó J. of Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Reus, Spain and colleagues compared two groups of subjects following two Mediterranean diets, one with nuts at 30 grams per day and the other with olive oil at 1 liter per week, with those on a low-fat diet.

2 Jan 2011

Team care to help multiple chronic conditions

According to a new study patients with multiple chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus and heart disease are at higher risk of depression that can render medication ineffective. Lead researcher Dr. Wayne J. Katon and colleagues at University of Washington in the study found that patients who received care from nurses who worked with patients and physicians to manage the care for depression and diabetes and heart disease had better outcomes. The study was published in the Dec 30, 2010 issue of New England Journal of Medicine.

2 Jan 2011

New women’s health policy inadequate

The Gillard government is being criticized for issuing a women’s health policy without announcing more funding for struggling women’s services. This is the first national women’s health policy in 21 years that claims to ensure women “have access to the right healthcare at the right time”.

30 Dec 2010

Immunitor reports positive safety imm01 clinical trial against tuberculosis

Immune Network Ltd., advises that Immunitor has published data from the first half of the 120-patient imm01 clinical trial of its V5 immunomodulator product against tuberculosis, including difficult-to-treat forms of the disease.

30 Dec 2010

Low levels of microbe-killing molecules improve survival rate of people with CGD

Investigators at the National Institutes of Health have observed that the survival rate of people with a rare immunodeficiency disease called chronic granulomatous disease is greatly improved when even very low levels of microbe-killing molecules are present.

30 Dec 2010

Omega-3 fatty acids may reduce inflammation, disease symptoms and cartilage degeneration

Omega-3 fatty acids from seafood may reduce inflammation, symptoms of gum disease and risk of abnormal heartbeats early after cardiac surgery. One type of omega-3, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), may also have lasting benefits in visual function for years in children whose mothers consume sufficient prenatal DHA.

30 Dec 2010

FDA approves Endo's FORTESTA Gel for low testosterone

Endo Pharmaceuticals today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved FORTESTA Gel for the treatment of low testosterone, or 'Low T,' also known as hypogonadism. Symptoms associated with Low T include erectile dysfunction and decreased sexual desire, fatigue and loss of energy, mood depression, regression of secondary sexual characteristics and osteoporosis.

29 Dec 2010

CFTR protein regulates inflammation and cell death in emphysema, chronic lung diseases

A team of Johns Hopkins Children's Center researchers has discovered that a protein involved in cystic fibrosis also regulates inflammation and cell death in emphysema and may be responsible for other chronic lung diseases.

29 Dec 2010

FDA stops pain drug trial over safety concerns

Johnson & Johnson revealed Tuesday this week that a clinical trial of its experimental pain drug, fulranumab, has been stopped after the Food and Drug Administration expressed concerns that patients taking the drug could suffer increased joint damage.

29 Dec 2010