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Increased risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death linked to thickening of heart's right ventricle

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in a new study that thickening of the heart's right ventricle is associated with an increased risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death in patients without clinical cardiovascular disease at baseline. The study is published online ahead of print in the journal Circulation.

7 Sep 2012

Bullying prevention experts available for comment

Bullying was once considered a childhood rite of passage. Today, however, bullying is recognized as a serious problem. Up to half of all children are bullied at some point during their school years, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. And thanks to tech-savvy kids, cyberbullying and other forms of electronic harassment are now commonplace.

7 Sep 2012

Viewpoints: Obama's 'talk of tough choices'; Championing personal responsibility

And he clearly laid out a vision for governing squarely at odds with the one that Mr. Romney has, but was hidden from view at last week's Republican convention in Tampa, Fla. He promised deficit reduction "without sticking it to the middle class"; to enact a reformed tax code that raises rates on income above $250,000 to where it was under Mr. Clinton; to preserve middle-class deductions; to "never turn Medicare into a voucher."

7 Sep 2012

Research roundup: Reducing risk in shared savings programs

The Design And Application Of Shared Savings Programs: Lessons From Early Adopters --"Shared savings programs reward providers for holding spending below specific targets, thus introducing a level of financial accountability not present in strictly volume-based payment models, such as fee-for-service," researchers write.

7 Sep 2012

IOM report: Estimated $750B wasted annually in health care system

The Institute of Medicine offers an analysis of how the money is misspent and some steps that might address these trouble spots.

7 Sep 2012

CIRM awards Cedars-Sinai $1.3M to study stem cell therapy for heart attacks

A team of Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute stem cell researchers today was awarded a $1.3 million grant from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine to continue study of an experimental stem cell therapy that treats heart attack patients with heart-derived cells. Earlier this year, data from the first clinical trial of the stem cell treatment showed the therapy helped damaged hearts regrow healthy muscle.

7 Sep 2012

Strategic roadmap to help cope with impending Alzheimer's disease public health crisis

This week, a strategic roadmap to help to the nation's health care system cope with the impending public health crisis caused Alzheimer's disease and related dementia will be published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

7 Sep 2012

Genetic test to help prescribe proper dose of blood-thinner warfarin

Patients suffering from dangerous blood clots will receive genetic testing to help health professionals at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System prescribe the proper dose of the blood-thinner warfarin.

7 Sep 2012

Phthalates may be asthma trigger

Research suggests that exposure to two phthalates may be a trigger for asthma-related airway inflammation.

7 Sep 2012

Exposure to household chemical may raise cardiac risk

Exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid may be associated with cardiovascular disease and peripheral arterial disease, say researchers.

7 Sep 2012

Antipsychotic-induced obsessive compulsive symptoms assessed

Results from a Korean study show that the symptom structure of second-generation-antipsychotic-induced obsessive compulsive symptoms is similar to that seen in patients with “pure” obsessive compulsive disorder.

7 Sep 2012

$Simple interventions boost vertebral fracture osteoporosis care$

Simple interventions boost vertebral fracture osteoporosis care

Use of osteoporosis investigation and treatment is significantly increased in older patients with asymptomatic vertebral fracture by use of physician- and patient-targeted interventions, Canadian research suggests.

7 Sep 2012

BCAA supplementation may treat autism and/or epilepsy

An international team of researchers, led by scientists at the University of California, San Diego and Yale University schools of medicine, have identified a form of autism with epilepsy that may potentially be treatable with a common nutritional supplement.

7 Sep 2012

First Edition: September 7, 2012

Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Sarah Varney reports on California Gov. Jerry Brown, his absence from the Democratic convention and efforts to implement the health law: "California's Jerry Brown, the governor of the most populous state in the union, a state that has aggressively pushed ahead with the Affordable Care Act even when it wasn't the "in-thing," is sitting out this year's Democratic National Convention.

7 Sep 2012

Germline BAP1 mutations associated with novel cancer syndrome

University of Hawai'i Cancer Center researchers have discovered germline BAP1 mutations are associated with a novel cancer syndrome characterized by malignant mesothelioma, uveal melanoma, cutaneous melanoma and atypical melanocytic tumors. Germline mutations are hereditary gene defects that are present in every cell.

7 Sep 2012

Adding bavituximab to docetaxel doubles overall survival in late-stage NS-NSCLC patients

Adding the monoclonal antibody bavituximab to docetaxel chemotherapy doubles overall response rate and improves progression-free survival and overall survival in late-stage non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer (NS-NSCLC) patients who have already received one prior chemotherapy regimen, according to research presented at the 2012 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology.

7 Sep 2012

Married patients with locally advanced lung cancer likely to survive longer after treatment

Married patients with locally advanced lung cancer are likely to survive longer after treatment than patients who are single, according to a study by researchers at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center in Baltimore.

7 Sep 2012

HHS Global Health Strategy helps protect Americans, 'all persons worldwide'

"The notion that diseases or contamination somehow recognize geographic or political borders is a dangerous illusion. ... Fortunately, the United States has a broad, diverse, and world-class range of experience and expertise in dealing with all manner of global health issues," Nils Daulaire, director of the Office of Global Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), writes in a perspective piece in the Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

7 Sep 2012

People with kidney stones more likely to need dialysis or transplant later in life

People who have had kidney stones are twice as likely to need dialysis or a kidney transplant later in life, demonstrates recently published findings by medical researchers at the University of Alberta. Their article was recently published in the British Medical Journal.

7 Sep 2012

Study finds excellent outcomes for patients with acute liver failure after LDLT

Patients in Japan who underwent living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for acute liver failure (ALF) were classified as having excellent outcomes, with ten-year survival at 73%.

7 Sep 2012