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Smartphone app for remote blood pressure monitoring shows promise

People with both diabetes and uncontrolled high blood pressure who used a smartphone app to monitor their blood pressure remotely, get tips on healthful living and connect with a health coach saw significant declines in their blood pressure within six weeks, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 68th Annual Scientific Session.

7 Mar 2019

A mumps quarantine in La. may encroach on rights of detained immigrants

A mumps outbreak and quarantine at the Pine Prairie Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center in Louisiana blocked immigrants from legal resources, including their lawyers and the law library, for about two weeks in January and February, according to the attorneys.

7 Mar 2019

Loss of Medicare coverage associated with kidney transplant outcomes

Kidney transplant recipients under 65 years of age qualify for Medicare coverage following transplantation, but coverage ends after three years. A new American Journal of Transplantation study found that failure of the transplanted kidney was 990 percent to 1630 percent higher for recipients who lost Medicare coverage before this three-year time point compared with recipients who lost Medicare on time.

7 Mar 2019

Cities and counties unlikely to heed FDA warning on importing foreign drugs

Cities and local governments in several states said they will continue to use a Canadian company to offer employees prescription drugs at a highly reduced price, even though federal officials raised safety concerns about the practice last week.

7 Mar 2019

California looks to lead nation in unraveling childhood trauma

Imagine identifying a toxin so potent it could rewire a child's brain and erode his immune system. A substance that, in high doses, tripled the risk of heart disease and lung cancer and reduced life expectancy by 20 years.

6 Mar 2019

Patients question how FDA approves medical devices

There’s no doubt that surgically implanted medical devices can improve lives. Hip and knee replacements can help people regain their mobility. Drug pumps can deliver doses of pain-relieving medicine on demand. And metal rods can stabilize spines and broken bones.

6 Mar 2019

Alzheimer's disease often detected late due to lack of screening finds report

Alzheimer’s disease and dementia is fast becoming an important presence. A new survey released as part of the Alzheimer's Association's 2019 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures report has revealed that there is often a delay in seeking help for dementia and associated cognitive decline.

6 Mar 2019

Intravenous drug use related to dramatic increase in dangerous heart infection

Hospital admissions for a dangerous heart infection related to intravenous drug use increased by 436 percent from 2012-2017 at a medical center in a region hit hard by the nation's opioid crisis, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 68th Annual Scientific Session.

6 Mar 2019

Digital examinations open the door to new possibilities

Karolinska Institutet now facilitates for all educational programs to use digital examinations. Digital examinations are legally secure and efficient as well as allows for new possibilties for teachers and course administrators to develop the education programs.

6 Mar 2019

Patients experiment with prescription drugs to fight aging

Dr. Alan Green's patients travel from around the country to his tiny practice in Queens, N.Y., lured by the prospect of longer lives.

6 Mar 2019

Integrated therapy is effective in treating obesity and depression

An intervention combining behavioral weight loss treatment and problem-solving therapy with as-needed antidepressant medication for participants with co-occurring obesity and depression improved weight loss and depressive symptoms compared with routine physician care, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

6 Mar 2019

Older adults with positive attitude about health are more willing to engage with negative information

To get older adults to pay attention to important health information, preface it with the good news about their health. That's one takeaway from a study that found older adults are more willing to engage with negative health information when they have a positive attitude about their health.

6 Mar 2019

Study examines effect of herbal medicine product on bedwetting in children

A new clinical trial investigating whether an herbal medicine product can benefit school-age children experiencing bedwetting is being led by a collaboration between researchers from the Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine at the University of Technology Sydney and the Office of Research at Endeavour College of Natural Health.

5 Mar 2019

Age-Related Macular Degeneration Awareness Month: How visual impairment affects older adults

As Age-Related Macular Degeneration/Low Vision Awareness Month comes to a close, we’re sharing three stories by Bonnielin Swenor, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

5 Mar 2019

Genomics could guide treatment for pancreatic cancer patients

Pancreatic cancer is a grim diagnosis, with a five-year survival rate of less than 9 percent. To improve those odds, researchers at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine sought genetic signatures in the largest study of its kind that could be used to better match drugs to patients and for early detection.

5 Mar 2019

Considering patients as consumers could potentially be harmful

There is broad support for building health care systems that are patient centered, seen as a means of improving health outcomes and as morally worthy in itself. But the concept of patient-centered care has increasingly merged with the concept of patients as consumers, which "is conceptually confused and potentially harmful," write Michael K. Gusmano, a Hastings Center research scholar and an associate professor at Rutgers University; Karen J. Maschke, a Hastings Center research scholar; and Hastings Center president Mildred Z. Solomon in an article in the March 2019 issue of Health Affairs.

5 Mar 2019

Michigan researchers adapt sexual violence prevention program for use at Ghana

Blaming the victim, usually a female, is common in sexual assault cases, but in some places it's more prevalent than others.

5 Mar 2019

Novel treatment targeting fibroblasts may prevent heart failure after heart attack

Heart attack survivors are at greater risk of developing heart failure, a chronic condition in which more than half of those diagnosed will die within five years.

5 Mar 2019

This time when my water breaks, take me to a hospital without surprise bills

When it comes to having a baby, that bundle of joy may bring an unexpected price tag that can affect parents' future health care choices.

4 Mar 2019

Recommending adults to get pneumococcal vaccine at age 50 may be effective guidance

If mitigating racial disparities in those who contract pneumococcal diseases, such as meningitis and pneumonia, is a top public health priority, then recommending that all adults get a pneumococcal vaccine at age 50 would likely be effective guidance, according to a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine analysis published today in the journal Vaccine.

4 Mar 2019