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ICS may prevent parapneumonic effusion in patients with CAP

Prior treatment with inhaled corticosteroids in patients with respiratory disorders who develop community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is associated with a lower incidence and severity of parapneumonic effusion, according to a new study from researchers in Spain.

24 May 2012

COPD patients with P. aeruginosa infection more likely to have poor clinical outcomes

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who become infected with the bacterium Pseudomonas aerguinosa are more likely to have worse clinical outcomes and experience more hospitalizations during the course of their disease than COPD patients who are not infected, according to researchers from Buffalo, N.Y.

24 May 2012

Chronic diseases, bloodstream infections on the rise among HIV+ ICU patients

The expanded use of antiretrovirals, potent drugs used to treat retroviral infections such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has been linked to significant decreases in hospital mortality rates among severely ill HIV-positive (HIV+) patients nationwide, primarily due to a decrease in opportunistic infections, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University.

24 May 2012

Azithromycin can be effective treatment option for patients with BOS

Researchers in the United Kingdom have determined that azithromycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic that also has anti-inflammatory properties, can be an effective treatment option for patients suffering from bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), a life-threatening complication that occurs in the majority of patients following lung transplantation.

24 May 2012

Severity of nocturnal hypoxemia and SDB independently predict both T2DM and HbA1c levels

The severity of sleep disordered breathing and nocturnal hypoxemia independently predict both glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), according to a new study.

24 May 2012

U.N. SG Ban praises commission on life-saving commodities, says more effort needed to improve maternal, child mortality rates

At the opening of the U.N. Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the commission but "said that much remains to be done to save the lives of the 800 women and more than 20,000 children who die every day from preventable causes," the U.N. News Centre reports.

24 May 2012

FMCNA announces new educational resources to enhance RightStart

Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA), the nation's leading network of dialysis facilities, announced today new educational resources to enhance RightStart™, its innovative program designed to educate and empower new dialysis patients.

24 May 2012

Invest in proven ways to curb maternal mortality, morbidity

Christy Turlington Burns, maternal health advocate and founder of Every Mother Counts, notes in this GlobalPost "Global Pulse" opinion piece that "99 percent of women who die during or after childbirth live in the developing world," and women and girls ages 19 and younger are at a higher risk of maternal mortality and morbidity.

23 May 2012

VCU Center on Health Disparities to research into preterm birth

The Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Health Disparities has been awarded a five-year grant renewal totaling $6.2 million from the National Institute of Health's Institute on Minority Health Disparities for research, research training and community outreach in the area of preterm birth.

23 May 2012

Nighttime intensivists can improve ICU patient outcomes

Intensive care units (ICUs) that have no or limited access to critical care doctors during the day can improve patient outcomes by having the specialists, called intensivists, staff the unit at night, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC.

23 May 2012

Proper care of diabetic foot infections can save limbs, lives

Diabetic foot infections are an increasingly common problem, but proper care can save limbs and, ultimately, lives, suggest new guidelines released by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

23 May 2012

Sarcoidosis accounts for 25% of all deaths in African-American women

A new study conducted by researchers from Boston University has found that sarcoidosis accounts for 25 percent of all deaths among women in the Black Women's Health Study who have the disease. The study is the largest epidemiologic study to date to specifically address mortality in black females with sarcoidosis.

23 May 2012

Flexible sigmoidoscopy reduces deaths due to colorectal cancer

Research conducted at the University of Alabama at Birmingham as part of a national study reveals that flexible sigmoidoscopy — a screening test for colorectal cancer that is less invasive and has fewer side-effects than colonoscopy — reduces deaths due to colorectal cancer.

23 May 2012

International task force unveils revised definition of ARDS

An international task force this week unveiled a revised definition of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a disease first recognized during the Vietnam War in casualties with limb injuries who had trouble breathing.

23 May 2012

Critically ill patients on antidepressants more likely to die

Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, have found that critically ill patients were more likely to die if they were taking the most commonly prescribed antidepressants when they were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

23 May 2012

Combination therapy does not reduce mortality rates associated with severe sepsis

Frank M. Brunkhorst, M.D., of Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany, and colleagues conducted a study to compare the effect of the antibiotics moxifloxacin and meropenem with the effect of meropenem monotherapy on sepsis-related organ dysfunction.

22 May 2012

Glytec receives FDA clearance for Glucommander 2.0 Enterprise software

Glytec, LLC, headquartered in Greenville, SC, announced today that its Glucommander 2.0 Enterprise software has been cleared by the FDA for pediatric use, ages 2 - 17.

22 May 2012

Focusing attention on population, reproductive health issues

"As representatives of the World Health Organization Member States arrive in Geneva this week for the 65th World Health Assembly, I feel a cautious optimism about the future, and the future health of Africa," Joy Phumaphi, co-chair of the Aspen Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health, writes in this post in the Huffington Post Blog.

22 May 2012

New definition for acute respiratory distress syndrome

Gordon D. Rubenfeld, M.D., of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Toronto, Canada, and colleagues with the ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) Definition Task Force, developed a new definition of ARDS (the Berlin Definition) that focused on feasibility, reliability, validity and objective evaluation of its performance.

22 May 2012

AAPA honors Portsmouth physician assistant with Humanitarian PA of the Year Award

When Jack Gardner, PA-C, of Portsmouth, N.H., left a successful business career 12 years ago to become a physician assistant, he did not anticipate the number of lives he would touch as he pursued his dream to provide medical care to those in need.

22 May 2012