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SSRI use raises risk of fall among elderly with dementia: Study

A new study reveals that nursing home residents with dementia who use selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have an increased risk of having a fall that causes injury compared with those who do not use SSRIs. Additionally those using average doses have 3 times the risk compared with nonusers, the authors, led by Carolyn S. Sterke, from Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, report. Authors write, “Even at low doses, SSRIs are associated with increased risk of an injurious fall in nursing home residents with dementia.”

22 Jan 2012

Sex declared safe for heart patients

A doctors’ group on Thursday suggested that sex may be safe for most heart patients. The American Heart Association added that having sex only slightly raises the chance for a heart attack. And that’s true for people with and without heart disease. Despite the higher risk for a heart patient to have a second attack, there’s no evidence that they have more sex-related heart attacks than people without cardiac disease. The updated advice was released online Thursday in the heart association journal, Circulation.

22 Jan 2012

Number of unsafe abortions soars worldwide: Report

A new worldwide analysis by the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization shows that unsafe abortions are on the rise across the world. After a period of significant decline in the global abortion rate as a whole, researchers found that those numbers had begun to plateau. The report was published in the Lancet.

22 Jan 2012

Proposed new definition may affect individuals who qualify for autism diagnosis

Getting an autism diagnosis could be more difficult in 2013 when a revised diagnostic definition goes into effect. The proposed changes may affect the proportion of individuals who qualify for a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, according to preliminary data presented by Yale School of Medicine researchers at a meeting of the Icelandic Medical Association.

21 Jan 2012

First genome-wide study of high-altitude adaptations in Ethiopians

Over many generations, people living in the high-altitude regions of the Andes or on the Tibetan Plateau have adapted to life in low-oxygen conditions. Living with such a distinct and powerful selective pressure has made these populations a textbook example of evolution in action, but exactly how their genes convey a survival advantage remains an open question. Now, a University of Pennsylvania team has made new inroads to answering this question with the first genome-wide study of high-altitude adaptations within the third major population to possess them: the Amhara people of the Ethiopian Highlands.

21 Jan 2012

Health law, abortion among hot topics in S.C. Republican primary debate

The GOP presidential hopefuls clashed on a range of issues related to the health law, its individual mandate and efforts to repeal it. Candidates' positions on abortion were also flashpoints.

21 Jan 2012

New tool to improve ease of oral fluid collection

Researchers are constantly finding new ways to figure out what makes us human beings tick, and one of the newer methods makes you want to spit—literally. Saliva is full of analytes and biomarkers that create a biological journal of exposure to chemicals and disease, and genetic variability. However, the collection of oral fluid has always proved cumbersome, with researchers depending on swabs or collection cups.

21 Jan 2012

Risperdal lawsuit settlement: Largest Medicaid fraud case in Texas

Texas and Janssen Pharmaceuticals reach a $158 million settlement on a suit claiming that the company lied about the efficacy of the anti-psychotic medicine.

21 Jan 2012

Adding oxaliplatin to adjuvant 5FU improves survival of patients with stage III colon cancer

Stage III colon cancer patients in the general population who receive adjuvant treatment for the disease have an improved rate of survival when oxaliplatin is added to 5-fluorouracil (5FU), according to a study published Jan. 20 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

21 Jan 2012

UHCMC now offers HITEC for women with gynecologic cancers

Patients with gynecologic cancer have new hope in a novel technology now offered at the Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center. A team of cancer specialists, led by Robert DeBernardo, MD, is among the first in the nation to launch a dedicated program using Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) to treat ovarian, endometrial and select other cancers.

21 Jan 2012

HHS gives some religious employers an extra year to comply with birth control rule

Press reports indicate that the Obama administration will not significantly change the requirement that most employers cover FDA-approved contraceptives as part of a health plan. The health law includes a requirement that most workplaces cover preventive services for free.

21 Jan 2012

RBC storage duration not associated with transfusion-related pulmonary complications

There is no difference in early measures of pulmonary function, immunologic status or coagulation status after fresh versus standard issue single-unit red blood cell (RBC) transfusion, according to a new study from the Mayo Clinic.

21 Jan 2012

Awake ECMO may be an effective bridging strategy for lung transplantation candidates

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support in awake, non-intubated patients may be an effective strategy for bridging patients to lung transplantation, according to a new study from Germany.

21 Jan 2012

NCI-funded project aims to shed new light on implications for bone metastasis in prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most frequent and second deadliest cancer men face. A team of Wayne State University researchers recently received $363,660 from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health for the project - "Bone-induced c-kit in prostate cancer cells: implications for bone metastasis" - that aims to shed new light on implications for bone metastasis in prostate cancer.

21 Jan 2012

Exercise fails to improve glucose metabolism in autophagy-deficient mice

The health benefits of exercise on blood sugar metabolism may come from the body's ability to devour itself, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report in the journal Nature.

21 Jan 2012

Research roundup: 'No individual mandate' scenarios; Breaking down health care expenditures

This paper expands 2011 research examining whether the health law's controversial individual mandate – which requires most people to have health insurance -- will be effective.

21 Jan 2012

Cutting military medical research funding would jeopardize health of U.S. troops, world's poorest

"In recent months, many politicians and presidential hopefuls have called for budget reductions, and many have specifically targeted military spending for cutbacks," Peter Hotez and James Kazura, past president and president, respectively, of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, write in this Atlantic opinion piece.

21 Jan 2012

New data from Infinity saridegib and gemcitabine Phase 1b/2 combination trial on pancreatic cancer

Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced updated data from the Phase 1b portion of an ongoing Phase 1b/2 clinical trial of saridegib in combination with the chemotherapy gemcitabine in patients with previously untreated, metastatic pancreatic cancer.

20 Jan 2012

Exposure to phthalates may increase risk of obesity in young children

Researchers from the Children's Environmental Health Center at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York have found an association between exposure to the chemical group known as phthalates and obesity in young children - including increased body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference.

20 Jan 2012

Wave of physical inactivity could have a major long-term health impact

Youngsters in Norway today are not as fit as earlier generations, and even the best perform less well. Researchers now warn that a wave of inactivity could have a major long-term health impact.

20 Jan 2012

Medicine News and Research

SSRI use raises risk of fall among elderly with dementia: Study

Sex declared safe for heart patients

Number of unsafe abortions soars worldwide: Report

Proposed new definition may affect individuals who qualify for autism diagnosis

First genome-wide study of high-altitude adaptations in Ethiopians

Health law, abortion among hot topics in S.C. Republican primary debate

New tool to improve ease of oral fluid collection

Risperdal lawsuit settlement: Largest Medicaid fraud case in Texas

Adding oxaliplatin to adjuvant 5FU improves survival of patients with stage III colon cancer

UHCMC now offers HITEC for women with gynecologic cancers

HHS gives some religious employers an extra year to comply with birth control rule

RBC storage duration not associated with transfusion-related pulmonary complications

Awake ECMO may be an effective bridging strategy for lung transplantation candidates

NCI-funded project aims to shed new light on implications for bone metastasis in prostate cancer

Exercise fails to improve glucose metabolism in autophagy-deficient mice

Research roundup: 'No individual mandate' scenarios; Breaking down health care expenditures

Cutting military medical research funding would jeopardize health of U.S. troops, world's poorest

New data from Infinity saridegib and gemcitabine Phase 1b/2 combination trial on pancreatic cancer

Exposure to phthalates may increase risk of obesity in young children

Wave of physical inactivity could have a major long-term health impact

Industry Focus eBook - Cell & Gene Therapy (1st Edition) eBook

Improving healthcare sustainability through carbon data

A New Approach to Preventing Bladder Cancer Recurrence

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

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