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Body mass index cannot reliably predict the outcome for patients with heart disease

Doctors already know that obesity is a risk factor for developing heart disease. However, how obesity affects people with established heart disease has been unclear because previous studies have had contradictory results.

17 Aug 2006

Chinese men harming wives by smoking too much

Chinese men are putting their wives at increased risk of long-term illness and early death by smoking, finds a study in this week's British Medical Journal.

17 Aug 2006

Worrying trend emerging on blood alcohol levels in the emergency department

Blood alcohol levels well above the legal limit have soared 113 per cent among emergency care patients in just five years, reveals a study at one major urban hospital, published in Emergency Medicine Journal.

17 Aug 2006

UK hospitals not prepared for terrorism

UK hospitals are poorly prepared to cope with a "major incident," such as an act of terrorism, say doctors in Emergency Medicine Journal.

17 Aug 2006

Fewer physicians accepting Medicaid beneficiaries as new patients

Fewer physicians are accepting Medicaid beneficiaries as new patients, in part because they say that reimbursements are too low and because of "administrative hassles," according to a study from the Center for Studying Health System Change, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports.

17 Aug 2006

Cases of HIV infections with multiple strains more common than previously thought

Cases in which an HIV-positive person is infected with more than one strain of the virus are more common than previously believed, Canadian and U.S. scientists said Monday at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, CanWest News Service/Vancouver Sun reports.

17 Aug 2006

1.65 million worldwide now receiving antiretrovirals

The number of people in sub-Saharan Africa with access to antiretroviral drugs has increased tenfold in three years, and 1.65 million people in low- and middle-income countries were receiving the drugs by the end of June.

17 Aug 2006

Rate of disabilities higher among U.S. residents with lower incomes

U.S. residents ages 55 and older with annual incomes less than the federal poverty level are more likely to have disabilities that limit routine physical activities than those with higher incomes, according to a study published on Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, Bloomberg/Dallas Morning News reports.

17 Aug 2006

Study identifies prevention interventions set to reduce HIV infection in young people

For the first time, the effectiveness of different types of HIV interventions in schools, health services, media, communities, and for young people most at risk of HIV have been reviewed and graded for their usefulness.

17 Aug 2006

Strokes will cost U.S. $2.2 trillion over the next 45 years

Unless Americans do more to lower their risk of stroke and improve stroke care, the nation will pay $2.2 trillion over the next 45 years to care for people who suffer the most common form of stroke, a new University of Michigan study predicts.

16 Aug 2006

Racial differences in hepatitis C viral responses

African American patients with hepatitis C (HCV) infections experience a lower response rate to the peginterferon alfa-2a and ribavirin combination treatment than Caucasian Americans, according to a study published in the August issue of Gastroenterology.

16 Aug 2006

Long-term health effects from West Nile illnesses

More than a year after being diagnosed with a West Nile virus infection, half of the patients have ongoing health complaints including fatigue, memory problems, headaches, depression, and tremors, according to an article in the Sept. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

16 Aug 2006

First treatment for Hunter disease

An article reporting results from a pivotal clinical trial that helped gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the first treatment for Hunter disease has been published online by the journal Genetics in Medicine.

16 Aug 2006

Autism affects the functioning of virtually the entire brain

A recent study provides evidence that autism affects the functioning of virtually the entire brain, and is not limited to the brain areas involved with social interactions, communication behaviors, and reasoning abilities, as had been previously thought.

16 Aug 2006

Teenagers' diets are low priority for poorer families

Research among parents in disadvantaged parts of Eastern Scotland reveals that dietary issues are considered less important than other risks facing their teenagers.

16 Aug 2006

Findings shed new light on BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast-cancer gene mutations in older and African-American women

Clearest picture yet of the prevalence and predictors of mutations in the breast-cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 among women in the general population.

15 Aug 2006

Truckies with sleep problems a danger on the road

A large study of commercial truck drivers has revealed that those who have chronic sleep deprivation and sleep-related breathing problems may be a hazard on the road.

15 Aug 2006

Some Yellow Jackets cause more severe allergic reactions than others

Allergists at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have concluded that the sting severity is determined not by the calendar but by the species of insect doing the stinging.

15 Aug 2006

Serious gaps in Indian public knowledge about HIV

As India gears up implementation of national plans to fight HIV, infectious diseases experts at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere are pointing out serious gaps in public knowledge about the disease and identifying early problems in private clinics, where 70 percent of HIV-infected Indians receive their everyday medical care.

15 Aug 2006

Elite suppressors of HIV to change how scientists monitor spread of disease

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have found that 1 percent to 2 percent of those infected with HIV in Baltimore apparently suppress the virus to nearly undetectable levels on their own, confounding public health efforts to accurately monitor the pandemic's spread, now in its 20th year.

15 Aug 2006