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First study to measure walking after surgery in gynecologic patients

Despite the well-documented benefits of walking after surgery, some patients are reluctant to make an attempt even with the encouragement of medical staff. Loyola University Health System researchers reported these findings at the prestigious 38th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons in Baltimore.

17 Apr 2012

Viewpoints: The missing debate on women; The true cost of care; Fair wages for home health aides

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just reported that the nation's teen pregnancy rate is at an all-time low. Increased contraceptive use appears to have played a significant role in the decline. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that without Title X services, hundreds of thousands more teenagers would become pregnant every year. Why does GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney think eliminating the federal money for family planning - $327 million annually - is wise?

17 Apr 2012

Study looks at quality measures provided by nursing homes

While nursing homes are the place where an estimated 30 percent of Americans die, there currently exists no way to compare which institutions do a better job at managing end of life care. A new study appearing this week in the Journal of Palliative Medicine is starting a discussion over the need to create end of life quality measures in order to both inform consumers and provide nursing homes with incentive to improve care.

17 Apr 2012

Brainlab announces first patient procedures with Curve Image Guided Surgery at UCSF

Brainlab, a leader in software-driven medical technology, announced today the first patient procedures with Curve Image Guided Surgery at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center's Neuro-Oncology Clinic.

17 Apr 2012

Northwestern's Stone Institute launches new program to combat mental illnesses at first signs

Early symptoms of major mental illness can be subtle personality changes. Therefore, initial warning signs can often be missed, or even ignored due to conventional wisdom that suggests it's better to wait for true behavioral deterioration and prolonged patterns of abnormality before diagnosing and treating a mental illness. But experts warn that waiting until someone is so ill that the psychological sickness is unmistakable can be detrimental and can lead to long-term health concerns.

17 Apr 2012

UCSF scientists assemble high-value genetic resource to help researchers

One of the ultimate ways of understanding what impact any particular gene has in human health or disease is to disrupt it-knocking it down or wiping it out in a worm, fly or mouse and gauging what happens next. Now scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Diabetes Center and the Gladstone Institute for Cardiovascular Disease have assembled a large publicly available resource to help researchers determine the importance of genes in mice and better gauge what roles they might play in disease.

17 Apr 2012

MTR can prevent cell death in patients with TBI

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers seeking a successful treatment for traumatic brain injury have found that the size and extent of damaged tissue can be reduced by using a new device to prevent cell death.

17 Apr 2012

Lack of mLin41 gene regulator can cause neural tube defects

Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have found that lack of a specific gene interrupts neural tube closure, a condition that can cause death or paralysis.

17 Apr 2012

Air pollution can contribute to obesity in children

Overall, 17% of children in the United States are obese, and in inner-city neighborhoods, the prevalence is as high as 25%. While poor diets and physical inactivity are the main culprits, there is new evidence that air pollution can play a role.

17 Apr 2012

Hydrophilic carbon cluster HADES can selectively kill brain cancer cells

Nanomedicine researchers at the Methodist Neurological Institute and Rice University have developed a way to selectively kill brain cancer cells by using a tiny syringe to deliver a combination of chemotherapy drugs directly into the cells. These findings will be published in the April 24 issue of the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano.

17 Apr 2012

Two related enzymes play a key role in development of T-ALL

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) scientists have demonstrated that two related enzymes - phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K) gamma and delta - play a key role in the development of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), a highly aggressive childhood leukemia that is difficult to treat.

17 Apr 2012

Paper points out decision-making capacity of patients with dementia

Luis Carlos álvaro, a clinical neurologist at the Hospital of Basurto (Bilbao) and lecturer at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), has had an article published on the capacity of patients with dementia to make decisions. It is entitled Competencia: conceptos generales y aplicación en la demencia (Competence: general concepts and application in dementia), and has been published in the journal Neurología.

17 Apr 2012

States roundup: Calif. mental health system grapples with controversy, shortage; Texas issues new stem cell rules

In 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state, alleging that it was violating patients' rights by heavily drugging and improperly restraining them and failing to provide appropriate treatment. The state settled, agreeing to an extensive court-supervised improvement plan at four hospitals with more than 4,000 patients. But a Times investigation found that the plan has failed to achieve the Justice Department's main objective: to raise the level of care so patients could control their violent tendencies and would not be institutionalized any longer than necessary.

17 Apr 2012

Football-related brain injuries appear to rise among high school students

Catastrophic brain injuries associated with full-contact football appear to be rising, especially among high school students, according to a new report.

17 Apr 2012

Study pinpoints compounds that repress cancer gene’s activity

A research team pursuing one of the most commonly altered genes in cancer has laid a critical foundation for understanding this gene that could point the way toward developing drugs against it. A recent study of cancer genetics pointed to the gene MCL1, which encodes a protein that helps keep cells alive

17 Apr 2012

Beds in pediatric intensive care unit could be used more efficiently with improved flow

The pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is a precious resource. With limited number of beds and resource-intensive services, it is a key component of patient flow. A new study published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine reveals that while a large PICU observed for the study delivered critical care services most of the time, periods of non-critical care services represented a barrier to access for new patients. At times when a bed was needed for a new patient, the PICU had beds being used for patients who could have been in other settings.

16 Apr 2012

Gestational diabetes on the rise

Although the disease usually goes away after delivery, it can have permanent consequences. Not only can the mother be prone to develop diabetes later in life, but their babies are also at greater risk for chronic health problems.

16 Apr 2012

St. Jude Medical's Ellipse ICD receives CE Mark Approval

St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced CE Mark Approval of the Ellipse implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). Designed with feedback from more than 200 physicians from around the world, the Ellipse ICD provides the benefits of advanced features and power in the industry's smallest high-energy ICD.

16 Apr 2012

Men more likely to experience complications after brain or spinal surgery

Men are twice as likely as women to experience complications after brain or spinal surgery, reports a study in the April issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

16 Apr 2012

Connecticut Children's Hospital and Specialty Group terminate contracts with Anthem

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Anthem) has been in discussions with Connecticut Children's Medical Center (the Hospital) and Connecticut Children's Specialty Group (the Specialty Group) for a year to continue them in our network. We recognize the Hospital and Specialty Group are important to our members and their children.

16 Apr 2012