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Fewer recurrences and complications overall with open surgery than with laparoscopic surgery

A Veterans Affairs study of nearly 1,700 hernia-repair operations found fewer recurrences and complications overall with open surgery than with laparoscopic surgery. The study is being presented April 25 at the spring meeting of the American College of Surgeons in Boston. The findings also appear in the April 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

25 Apr 2004

Dietary supplement may improve immune function in the elderly

A recent clinical study has demonstrated that 7-oxo Dehydroepiandrosterone taken orally twice daily by healthy adults over a period of one month augments several key T-cell mediated immune function parameters compared to placebo administration.

20 Apr 2004

Researchers examine community-based drinkers rather than abstinent alcoholics

Almost all knowledge about brain damage due to chronic alcohol consumption has been gathered from alcoholics, who have generally been studied toward the end of their institutionalized treatment program (several weeks after their last drink) or many months into abstinence.

13 Apr 2004

New online prostate calculator

A study just completed by researchers at the Josephine Ford Cancer Center has resulted in the most comprehensive long-term prostate cancer survival model available to date. An interactive version of the survival model is available online at prostatecalculator.org.

12 Apr 2004

Sponsors of Medicare-approved discount cards will begin marketing their cards

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) announced last week that 28 private sponsors will offer 49 different Medicare-sponsored drug discount cards, beginning June 1. Additionally, 43 private health plans have received CMS approval to offer Medicare drug discount cards to their members only.

11 Apr 2004

A common antibiotic used to treat arthritis and acne shows promise for limiting the severity of spinal cord and brain injuries

When a fall, car crash, bullet, or knife crushes or cuts a spinal cord, the injury does not stop there. Rather, tissues continue to discharge toxic chemicals for hours, even days and weeks. These chemicals kill and disable nerve cells some distance away from the core injury, compounding the damage and making rehabilitation more difficult or impossible.

26 Mar 2004

Asthma study turns up new information on viral infections

Researchers know that viral infections can exacerbate asthma and, in turn, make people with the condition more sensitive to environmental exposures such as endotoxin. But how viral infections contribute to this sensitivity in airway cells has not been clear. A recent study led by investigators from the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Iowa City shows, for the first time, that viral infections may increase environmental sensitivity in lung epithelial (surface) cells by changing expression of receptors on those cells.

25 Mar 2004