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Closing large intracardiac shunts does not improve sleep apnea

Clinically significant shunting of blood through a patent foramen ovale is more common among patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea than in the general population, study findings indicate.

4 Sep 2012

PDAs could help autistic people perform better at work

Personal digital assistants, such as the Apple iPod Touch, can provide invaluable assistance to adults with autism by helping them to function well in the workplace, show results from a small case series.

4 Sep 2012

Subthreshold metabolic syndrome common in drug-naïve schizophrenia patients

Around 1 in 10 antipsychotic-naïve Indian patients with schizophrenia meet full criteria for the metabolic syndrome, but a significantly larger proportion have subthreshold metabolic syndrome, researchers report.

4 Sep 2012

CAD risk no higher in head and neck cancer

Researchers have shown that people with head or neck cancer are not necessarily at any greater risk for developing coronary artery disease than the general population.

4 Sep 2012

Canalith repositioning maneuvers take the spin out of vertigo

Barbecue rotation and Gufoni maneuvers are effective for treating geotropic type benign paroxysmal positional vertigo involving the horizontal semicircular canal, study findings show.

4 Sep 2012

Pediatric central line infections reduced by ‘best practice’ guidelines

The number of central line-associated bloodstream infections sustained by hospitalized children with cancer can be substantially reduced by encouraging staff to follow simple “best practice” regulations, say researchers.

4 Sep 2012

First Edition: September 4, 2012

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including previews of the Democratic convention and a New York Times analysis of how the Obama and Romney campaigns vary on Medicaid policy.

4 Sep 2012

Converting blood cells to a stem cell state: an interview with Elias Zambidis, M.D., Ph.D.

The primitive stem cell state we created is called an “induced pluripotent stem cell” (iPSC). iPSC are a new, unique, and artificially-created type of stem cell that were first described in 2006 by a Japanese scientist named Shinya Yamanaka.

4 Sep 2012

New health insurance product from ICICI Lombard

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd., the country's largest private sector general insurance company, announced the launch of a unique health insurance product called "ICICI Lombard Complete Health Insurance".

4 Sep 2012

Regional PACS networks may be useful in reducing cost and radiation exposure associated with trauma

According to a study in the Sept. issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology, using a combination of the Internet and compact discs (CD) to transfer images during inter-hospital transfer is associated with much lower repeat imaging rates, suggesting that regional PACS networks may be useful for reducing cost and radiation exposure associated with trauma.

4 Sep 2012

Posterior medial cortex more specifically engaged in recall or imagination

You already know it's hard to balance your checkbook while simultaneously reflecting on your past. Now, investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine - having done the equivalent of wire-tapping a hard-to-reach region of the brain - can tell us how this impasse arises.

4 Sep 2012

Study finds little significant difference in health benefits between organic and conventional foods

You're in the supermarket eyeing a basket of sweet, juicy plums. You reach for the conventionally grown stone fruit, then decide to spring the extra $1/pound for its organic cousin. You figure you've just made the healthier decision by choosing the organic product - but new findings from Stanford University cast some doubt on your thinking.

4 Sep 2012

High-dose vitamin D appears to help patients with TB recover more quickly

For decades before antibiotics became generally available, sunshine was used to treat tuberculosis, with patients often being sent to Swiss clinics to soak up the sun's healing rays. Now, for the first time scientists have shown how and why heliotherapy might, indeed, have made a difference.

4 Sep 2012

Prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking may promote obesity in adolescents

Prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking appears associated with an increased risk for adolescent obesity, and is possibly related to subtle structural variations in the brain that create a preference for eating fatty foods, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, a JAMA Network publication.

4 Sep 2012

Potassium-channel autoimmunity linked to chronic pain

A substantial proportion of patients with voltage-gated potassium channel-complex autoimmunity experience chronic idiopathic pain, although the specific antigenic complex associated with pain remains to be determined, conclude US scientists.

3 Sep 2012

Hospitalist-led ED reduces diversion, improves patient flow

Implementing a hospital medicine-led emergency department team could reduce the number of times such departments are forced to divert new patients because of a lack of beds, as well as improve patient flow, show study findings.

3 Sep 2012

Relocating intensive care nurseries reduces late-onset sepsis rates

Relocating to a newly designed neonatal intensive care nursery significantly reduces severe late-onset sepsis rates in very-preterm and/or very-low-birthweight infants, although it remains relatively common, conclude Australian scientists.

3 Sep 2012

Heart rate marks out poststroke survival

The heart rate of stroke survivors may give an indication of their long-term prognosis, report researchers.

3 Sep 2012

VIDA releases Apollo 1.2 SaaS for endobronchial emphysema treatment

VIDA Diagnostics, a leading developer of quantitative imaging analysis software for the diagnosis and treatment planning of major pulmonary disease, announced today the release and commercial availability of Apollo 1.2, here at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) meeting in Vienna, Austria.

3 Sep 2012

Inhaled steroid drugs slow growth in children with asthma

Children who use inhaled steroid drugs for asthma end up slightly shorter at their full adult height than children who don't use the drugs, new results from a comprehensive asthma study show.

3 Sep 2012