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Tamiflu-resistant swine flu identified along Texas-Mexico border

PAHO on Monday announced it had found Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 (swine) flu along the Texas-Mexico border, Agence-France Press reports. The discovery of several cases in El Paso and McAllen, Texas, adds the U.S. to a growing list of countries with antiviral-resistant H1N1, such as Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong and Japan. "Experts had gathered in La Jolla on Monday to discuss the response to the outbreak, and warned that resistant strains were likely emerging because of overuse of antivirals like Tamiflu," the news service writes (8/3).

4 Aug 2009

Regional nerve block anesthesia improve recovery, outcomes

When planning for surgery, patients too often don't consider the kind of anesthesia they will receive. In fact, the choice of anesthesia can improve recovery, even outcomes.

4 Aug 2009

Workplace meditation and yoga lowers stress

Twenty minutes per day of guided workplace meditation and yoga combined with six weekly group sessions can lower feelings of stress by more than 10 percent and improve sleep quality in sedentary office employees, a pilot study suggests.

4 Aug 2009

Plague in China; U.S. contribution to clean water initiatives; TB vaccine trial; HIV in Mozambique; New HIV strain

A third person died of pneumonic plague in China on Monday, local health authorities said, Xinhua reports. The outbreak began on July 30 and an additional nine people in the town of Ziketan are reportedly ill (8/3). "Pneumonic plague, which attacks the lungs, is closely related to bubonic plague," writes the New York Times.

4 Aug 2009

Dietary supplements with steroids pose health risks

Three cases of patients suffering from the adverse affects of steroid-enriched dietary supplements have been reported by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital.

4 Aug 2009

For doctors and even patients, rationing health care is an everday occurrence

In an essay in The Washington Post, an infectious disease specialist writes that "the unspoken truth among doctors is that we objectively or subjectively ration care, and often don't tell patients or their families."

4 Aug 2009

High levels of glutamate in brain linked to depression, low cognitive function

Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center and several other institutions have for the first time linked high levels of glutamate – a neurotransmitter in the brain produced from glucose – in people with type 1 diabetes to symptoms of depression and lower levels of cognitive performance. The findings may lead to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of these conditions in people with diabetes.

4 Aug 2009

Women and minorities under-represented in trials

Enrollment demographics published in many U.S. vascular surgery randomized control trials (RCTs) under-represent women as well as race or ethnic minorities, according to a new study published in the Society for Vascular Surgery’s August 2009 issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery.

4 Aug 2009

Carbon nanosensor sniffs out kidney disease

A carbon nanosensor “electronic nose” - first developed by Technion-Israel Institute of Technology researchers to detect cancer from breath samples - has been modified to identify chronic renal failure (CRF).

4 Aug 2009

Links between major depression and coronary artery disease studied

Major depression and coronary artery disease are only modestly related throughout an individual’s lifetime, but studying how the two interact over time and in twin pairs paints a more complex picture of the associations between the conditions, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. For example, the association between coronary artery disease onset and major depression risk is much stronger over time than vice versa.

4 Aug 2009

Accidental childhood poisonings mostly due to medicines

More than two-thirds of all emergency department visits for childhood poisoning involve prescription and over-the-counter medications, more than twice the rate of poisonings from consumer products, reports a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

4 Aug 2009

$Vertebral and hip fractures are associated with an increased risk of death in people older than 50$

Vertebral and hip fractures are associated with an increased risk of death in people older than 50

Vertebral and hip fractures are associated with an increased risk of death, found a new study of 7753 people in Canada aged 50 years and older published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

4 Aug 2009

The extremes of BMI a cause for concern in liver transplantation

A recent study by doctors at the University of Washington explained that patients who are significantly underweight or very severely obese prior to liver transplantation are at increased risk of death following transplantation surgery.

4 Aug 2009

New findings on role of diet on breast cancer risk

How you eat may be just as important as how much you eat, if mice studies are any clue. Cancer researchers have long studied the role of diet on breast cancer risk, but results to date have been mixed.

4 Aug 2009

Seed implants suitable prostate cancer treatment for men of all ages

Men diagnosed with prostate cancer have a number of treatments to choose from, but it's a daunting task to figure out the right mix of therapies for an individual patient.

3 Aug 2009

Scientists illuminate brain tumors with fluorescent nanoparticles

Brain cancer is among the deadliest of cancers. It's also one of the hardest to treat. Imaging results are often imprecise because brain cancers are extremely invasive. Surgeons must saw through the skull and safely remove as much of the tumor as they can. Then doctors use radiation or chemotherapy to destroy cancerous cells in the surrounding tissue.

3 Aug 2009

Parents fear medical errors when children in hospital

Nearly two-thirds of parents reported they felt the need to watch over their child's care to ensure that medical errors are not made during their hospital stay, according to a study led by Beth A. Tarini, M.D., M.S., assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School.

3 Aug 2009

Regular yoga practice associated with mindful eating

Regular yoga practice is associated with mindful eating, and people who eat mindfully are less likely to be obese, according to a study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

3 Aug 2009

Long-term brain damage after bypass surgery - more evidence puts blame on heart disease

Brain scientists and cardiac surgeons at Johns Hopkins have evidence from 227 heart bypass surgery patients that long-term memory losses and cognitive problems they experience are due to the underlying coronary artery disease itself and not ill after-effects from having used a heart-lung machine.

3 Aug 2009

Comp. effectiveness promises better, cheaper health care but cricits link it to rationing

"Federal health agencies, seeking to hand out stimulus funds to research the effectiveness of various medical treatments, said they will include projects that look in part at the cost of drugs and other treatments.

3 Aug 2009