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Post-surgery death rates three times higher in low income countries, study shows

New research has shown that patients undergoing emergency surgery in lower income countries have a three times greater chance of dying than in higher income countries.

4 May 2016

Diabetes risk linked to increased dosage, duration and timing of steroids

Glucocorticoid (or steroid) therapy, prescribed to around half of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, is a known risk factor for developing diabetes. A study from The University of Manchester has found how the risk of diabetes increases in relation to the dosage, duration and timing of steroids.

4 May 2016

Study finds link between placenta and offspring bone

Researchers at the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, studied 518 children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) who underwent bone scans at nine, 15 and 17 years old. Measurements such as thickness, volume and weight, were also taken from the mothers' placenta.

4 May 2016

Influence of psychiatric comorbidities on all-cause readmissions following elective spine surgery

Winner of the Robert Florin Resident Award, Owoicho Adogwa, MD, presented his research, Association Between Baseline Affective Disorders and 30-day Readmission Rates in Patients Undergoing Elective Spine Surgery, during the 2016 American Association of Neurological Surgeons Annual Scientific Meeting.

3 May 2016

FDA’s new education campaign for LGBT young adults aims to prevent, reduce tobacco use

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced the launch of a historic public education campaign aimed at preventing and reducing tobacco use among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young adults ages 18-24. Of the more than 2 million LGBT young adults in the U.S., more than 800,000 smoke occasionally. The "This Free Life" campaign is designed to specifically reach the occasional or "social" smokers in the LGBT community to help prevent tobacco-related disease and the loss of tens of thousands LGBT lives to tobacco use each year.

3 May 2016

Older women with chronic health problems more likely to have lower quality of life

Researchers writing in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society recently learned that older women who are frail, and who have six or more chronic health conditions, are twice as likely to have a lower quality of life compared to women with less than three risk factors.

30 Apr 2016

Exposure to fine particulate matter in air can increase risk of cancer-specific mortality

In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published a series of monographs on the evaluation of various carcinogenic risks. In a monograph on air pollution, the organization pointed out the difficulty of assessing the effects of pollution on multiple types of cancers, given their different etiologies, risk factors and variability in the composition of air pollutants in space and time. However, the IARC identified certain key components of air pollution, including particulates.

30 Apr 2016

Nicotine metabolism linked with chronic alcohol abuse may contribute to poor smoking cessation rates

For smokers who are addicted to alcohol, chronic alcohol abuse may increase the rate of nicotine metabolism and contribute to poor smoking cessation rates. When smokers stop drinking the nicotine metabolism rates decline significantly, according to a study conducted by an international research team led by Roswell Park Cancer Institute. The research was a collaboration of scientists from Roswell Park, the University of California, San Francisco, and the Medical University of Silesia and Center of Addiction Treatment in Poland.

29 Apr 2016

Bacterial invasion of lungs can lead to inflammation in COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common smoking-related lung illness and the third leading cause of death in the United States. Scientists have long believed that inhaling toxic gases and particles from tobacco smoke causes inflammation of the small airways in the lungs, leading to the development of COPD. However, the theory doesn't explain why airway inflammation and disease progression continue even after the patient stops smoking.

28 Apr 2016

Maternal exposure to air pollution increases risk of long-term health problems in children

Even small amounts of air pollution appear to raise the risk of a condition in pregnant women linked to premature births and lifelong neurological and respiratory disorders in their children, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.

28 Apr 2016

British smokers told to start vaping by public health experts

A major British medical organization has urged Britain’s eight million smokers to switch to electronic cigarettes, as their best hope of managing to stop smoking.

28 Apr 2016

Nurse scientist asks health-care systems to set patients up for mortality cliff

Longer lifespans, due to advances in medicine and public health, mean people are living longer with multiple chronic conditions.

28 Apr 2016

People's ability to smell declines with age

You not only pick up aromas through your nose, but also through your mouth while you chew your food. Some people simply can smell better than others and those may enjoy an enhanced flavor of foods. Unfortunately, for some, this ability decreases with age, report Tyler Flaherty and Juyun Lim of Oregon State University in the US in Springer's journal Chemosensory Perception.

27 Apr 2016

Regular aspirin use may help reduce risk of bile duct cancer

Regular use of aspirin was linked with a significantly reduced risk of developing bile duct cancer, also called cholangiocarcinoma, in a recent study. The findings, which are published in the journal Hepatology, indicate that additional research on the potential of aspirin for preventing bile duct cancer is warranted.

27 Apr 2016

New national database could help identify major influences on miscarriage

A new national database could help relieve the misery of miscarriage for thousands of women.

26 Apr 2016

Newly published manuscripts enhance understanding of the immune system

MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, today announced that it has achieved a significant scientific milestone by publishing three manuscripts in Nature Immunology that advance the understanding of the immune system and highlight underlying mechanisms in two little-understood disease areas -- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

26 Apr 2016

Exposure to blue light may lead to eyestrain but does not damage retina

Nearly 90 percent of adults use digital devices for two or more hours per day, according to The Vision Council's 2016 Digital Eye Strain Report, exposing consumers to blue light that some suggest is dangerous.

26 Apr 2016

E-cigarette use can potentially reduce deaths from cigarette smoking

Seven top international tobacco control experts are prompting regulators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to have a broad "open-minded" perspective when it comes to regulating vaporized nicotine products, especially e-cigarettes.

25 Apr 2016

RA patients more likely to experience hearing loss

RA is the commonest autoimmune arthritis affecting 1% of the general population. Despite its main articular manifestations, RA caninvolveextra-articular organs including the auditory system.

25 Apr 2016

Bupropion, varenicline drugs do not increase risk of serious neuropsychiatric adverse events

Compared to the nicotine patch and a placebo, the smoking cessation aids varenicline (marketed as Chantix in the U.S.) and bupropion (Zyban) do not show a significant increase in neuropsychiatric adverse events, reports an international team of researchers in a study published online April 22 in the journal The Lancet.

25 Apr 2016

Smoking News and Research

Post-surgery death rates three times higher in low income countries, study shows

Diabetes risk linked to increased dosage, duration and timing of steroids

Study finds link between placenta and offspring bone

Influence of psychiatric comorbidities on all-cause readmissions following elective spine surgery

FDA’s new education campaign for LGBT young adults aims to prevent, reduce tobacco use

Older women with chronic health problems more likely to have lower quality of life

Exposure to fine particulate matter in air can increase risk of cancer-specific mortality

Nicotine metabolism linked with chronic alcohol abuse may contribute to poor smoking cessation rates

Bacterial invasion of lungs can lead to inflammation in COPD

Maternal exposure to air pollution increases risk of long-term health problems in children

British smokers told to start vaping by public health experts

Nurse scientist asks health-care systems to set patients up for mortality cliff

People's ability to smell declines with age

Regular aspirin use may help reduce risk of bile duct cancer

New national database could help identify major influences on miscarriage

Newly published manuscripts enhance understanding of the immune system

Exposure to blue light may lead to eyestrain but does not damage retina

E-cigarette use can potentially reduce deaths from cigarette smoking

RA patients more likely to experience hearing loss

Bupropion, varenicline drugs do not increase risk of serious neuropsychiatric adverse events

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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