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Highly sensitive troponin assay shortens heart attack diagnosis

An algorithm that incorporates high-sensitivity cardiac troponin could allow accurate rule-in and rule-out of patients with acute chest pain within 1 hour of presentation, a study shows.

21 Aug 2012

Childhood asthma link shows it is never too soon for mums to quit smoking

Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk for asthma and wheezing in early childhood, even if children are not exposed to smoke after birth, a European study shows.

21 Aug 2012

Deep abdominal muscle activation lessens lower back pain

Improving transversus abdominis slide appears to be associated with clinically important long-term pain reduction in people experiencing lower back pain, researchers report.

21 Aug 2012

CKD may raise stroke, bleeding risk in AF patients

Danish study results show that the presence of chronic kidney disease appears to raise the risk for stroke, systemic thromboembolism, and bleeding among patients with atrial fibrillation.

21 Aug 2012

Genetic key to severe malaria resistance uncovered

Researchers have identified two genetic variants linked with human resistance to severe malaria.

21 Aug 2012

Impulsiveness linked to bipolar disorder severity

Trait impulsiveness is associated with a severe course of bipolar disorder, researchers report.

21 Aug 2012

Tips for menopause symptom relief

An estimated 6,000 women in the U.S. reach menopause every day (about two million annually).The most common menopausal complaints include hot flashes, sleep disturbances, anxiety, poor mood, and physical and mental exhaustion. Hot flashes affect 80 percent of peri- or postmenopausal women, with 30 percent reporting hot flashes severe enough to seriously affect their quality of life.

21 Aug 2012

Declining circumcision rates in the US raise healthcare costs and disease risk

A team of disease experts and health economists at Johns Hopkins warns that steadily declining rates of U.S. infant male circumcision could add more than $4.4 billion in avoidable health care costs if rates over the next decade drop to levels now seen in Europe.

21 Aug 2012

New silicon chips help identify patients with lupus

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Intel Corp. have collaborated to synthesize and study a grid-like array of short pieces of a disease-associated protein on silicon chips normally used in computer microprocessors.

21 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 21, 2012

Today's headlines include reports from the campaign trail, where House candidates are turning up the Medicare debate; and from the health care marketkplace, where Aetna acquired Coventry Health, a Medicare and Medicaid insurer.

21 Aug 2012

UCLA Medical Center receives platinum award for outstanding heart attack care

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center has received an award for outstanding heart attack care from the American College of Cardiology Foundation called the NCDR ACTION Registry-GWTG Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2012.

21 Aug 2012

FSH-specific polyclonal antibody might offer more effective way to prevent osteoporosis

A new study suggests that a polyclonal antibody that blocks follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in mice without ovaries might offer a more effective way to prevent or arrest osteoporosis than currently available treatments.

21 Aug 2012

World Mosquito Day marks 114 years of battle against malaria

"Each year on August 20, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) celebrates World Mosquito Day to honor the date in 1897 when British doctor Ronald Ross discovered that female mosquitoes transmit malaria between human beings," AlertNet reports.

21 Aug 2012

New tools can help assess culturally competent and health-literate care

The latest additions to a set of surveys for evaluating patient experiences with medical care provide new tools for assessing culturally competent and health-literate care, according to a special September supplement to Medical Care.

21 Aug 2012

Declining rates of circumcision in US infant males could add billions to health care costs

21 Aug 2012

Methyl-glyoxal could play a major role in abdominal obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified a common compound in the modern diet that could play a major role in the development of abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes.

21 Aug 2012

New model more effective in predicting individuals at high risk of lung cancer

A lung cancer risk prediction model developed by scientists at the University of Liverpool has been shown to be a viable tool for selecting high risk individuals for prevention and control programmes.

21 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Insuring medical treatments are well researched; GOP Govs reluctance on exchanges may backfire

By 1990, many doctors were recommending hormone replacement therapy to healthy middle-aged women and P.S.A. screening for prostate cancer to older men. Both interventions had become standard medical practice. But in 2002, a randomized trial showed that preventive hormone replacement caused more problems (more heart disease and breast cancer) than it solved. ... Then, in 2009, trials showed that P.S.A. screening led to many unnecessary surgeries and had a dubious effect on prostate cancer deaths.

21 Aug 2012

Pregnant women have higher rate of undiagnosed depression

Major depression affects as many as 16% of reproductive-aged women in the U.S. Yet pregnant women have a higher rate of undiagnosed depression than nonpregnant women, according to a study published in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

21 Aug 2012

Majority of Californians support health reform, Poll says; Gov. Brown plans special legislative session on health law

Californians support health reform, a new polls says, even as Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown seeks a special session from state lawmakers to deal with health reform issues, which he says can go no further without more federal guidance.

21 Aug 2012