Mortality News and Research

RSS

$Adiponectin linked to osteoporosis and increased risk of fractures$

Adiponectin linked to osteoporosis and increased risk of fractures

While obesity is a well-known cause of cardiovascular disease, research from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has now revealed that the body's obesity hormones - adiponectin - are also linked to osteoporosis and an increased risk of fractures.

2 Nov 2011

Happiness good for health: Study

A new study suggests that happiness is good for health. Epidemiologists at University College, London, reported their results Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.

1 Nov 2011

BUSM professor delivers Van Meter Award Lecture at 81st ATA meeting

The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is proud to announce that Dr. Elizabeth Pearce, Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, today delivered the Van Meter Award Lecture at its 81st Annual Meeting, held October 26-30, Indian Wells, California.

1 Nov 2011

Heat, extreme exercise or febrile illness may also trigger MH

Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a potentially life-threatening inherited disorder of muscle. Patients who are at risk for MH usually have no outward signs of muscle problems. However, when exposed to certain commonly used general anesthetics they may develop very high body temperature, increased heart rate and muscle breakdown. If not recognized and treated promptly MH may be fatal.

1 Nov 2011

'Mozart Effect' may increase detection rates of precancerous polyps

Physicians who listen to Mozart while performing colonoscopy may increase their detection rates of precancerous polyps, according to the results of a new study unveiled today at the American College of Gastroenterology's (ACG) 76th Annual Scientific meeting in Washington, DC.

1 Nov 2011

Gender not an independent predictor of mortality post-PCI

New research shows that women undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), also known as angioplasty, exhibit more co-morbidities and cardiovascular risk factors than men. Risk-adjusted analyses have now indicated that, in the contemporary era, gender is not an independent mortality predictor following PCI according to the study now available in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.

1 Nov 2011

ER-positive breast cancer patients with high levels of heat shock factor 1 experience poor outcomes

Whitehead Institute scientists report that patients whose estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancers have high levels of the ancient cellular survival factor heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) experience poor outcomes—including increased mortality.

1 Nov 2011

Seven billion humans and counting

According to the United Nations Population Fund, the seven-billionth child is most likely to be a boy born in India or China, this week. However the trend of fertility or growth of population in the longer term is in a different direction toward slower population growth, says Dudley Poston, a professor of sociology and demographics at Texas A&M University.

31 Oct 2011

Child mortality declining in refugee camp in Ethiopia

In the clinic of Hilaweyn, one of four camps at Ethiopia's Dollo Ado complex for Somali refugees seeking relief from famine and poor security conditions, "[a] massive infusion of humanitarian resources ... appears to be turning the tide" against child mortality, according to Doctors Without Borders, which operates the clinic, VOA News reports.

31 Oct 2011

Nursing home residence may allow for 'on-admission' prediction model of C. difficile infection severity

Antibiotics may not be the only risk factor associated with community-acquired Clostridium difficile infection, indicating that other undefined causes of the potentially life-threatening infection may exist and could also predict whether or not a patient will require hospitalization, according to the results of the study, "Predictors of Hospitalization in Community-Acquired Clostridium difficile Infection."

31 Oct 2011

ZIOPHARM reports promising preclinical data with palifosfamide in pediatric sarcoma model

ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc., a drug development company employing small molecule and synthetic biology approaches to cancer therapy, today announced the presentation of promising preclinical data with palifosfamide in a pediatric sarcoma model.

29 Oct 2011

NIH awards NYUCN $7.56M grant to study HIV risk among heterosexuals

New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN) received a five-year, $7.56 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to evaluate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a peer-driven intervention to seek out heterosexuals at high risk for HIV in their communities, test them for HIV, and link them to care in a timely fashion if they are found to be HIV infected.

29 Oct 2011

LCA hails NCCN for lung cancer screening guidelines

Today Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) hailed the leadership of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) for being the first professional society to recommend low-dose CT screening for high risk individuals and to develop comprehensive clinical practice guidelines on lung cancer screening.

29 Oct 2011

Evidenced-based best practices can reduce healthcare associated infections

Healthcare associated infections, such as catheter related acute bloodstream infections (CLABSI) and ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP), significantly affect hospital morbidity and mortality but by developing evidenced-based, best practices, these occurrences can be minimized, according to research from surgeons at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

28 Oct 2011

Social stressors around the transition into adulthood sow seeds of disease in middle age

Being hard up socially and financially during adolescence and early adulthood takes its toll on the body, and leads to physiological wear and tear in middle aged men and women, irrespective of how tough things have been in the interim. According to Dr. Per E. Gustafsson from Umeå University in Sweden and colleagues, experience of social and material stressors around the time of transition into adulthood is linked to a rise in disease risk factors in middle age, including higher blood pressure, body weight and cholesterol.

28 Oct 2011

Global Post interviews former U.N. General Assembly president on role of water, sanitation in family planning

GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog interviewed Ambassador Jan Eliasson, former president of the U.N. General Assembly and Sweden's former minister for foreign affairs, on how water and sanitation play a part in family planning, as the world's population approaches seven billion.

28 Oct 2011

HDM and SCT increase overall survival for patients with AL amyloidosis

A team of researchers led by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), has found treatment of selected immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis patients with high-dose melphalan and autologous stem cell transplantation (HDM/SCT) resulted in a high organ response rate and increased overall survival (OS), even for those patients who did not achieve a hematologic complete response.

27 Oct 2011

Annual chest radiographic screening does not reduce lung cancer mortality

In a trial that included more than 150,000 participants, those who underwent annual chest radiographic screening for up to 4 years did not have a significantly lower rate of death from lung cancer compared to participants who were not screened, according to a study in the November 2 issue of JAMA.

27 Oct 2011

Simple walking test can predict how well seniors would recover from operations

An elderly person's walking speed can predict how well he or she will fare after an operation, according to new findings presented at the 2011 Annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. Researchers from the University of Colorado, Denver, reported that a simple, walking test that typically takes less than 20 seconds was a powerful tool for predicting how well seniors would recover from various surgical procedures.

27 Oct 2011

Cholera epidemic hits Western, Central Africa

"Western and central Africa are facing one of the biggest cholera epidemics in their history, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said last month, in reporting that more than 85,000 cases of cholera have been registered since the beginning of the year, with nearly 2,500 deaths," according to the Guardian.

27 Oct 2011