Mortality News and Research

RSS

Paramedics can provide an effective alternative to standard ambulance service in the community

Paramedics with extended skills can provide a safe and effective alternative to standard ambulance transfer and hospital treatment for older people with a minor injury or illness, finds a study published on bmj.com today.

8 Oct 2007

Malaria remains formidable challenge in the Americas

Malaria remains a formidable challenge for the countries of the Americas and more action is needed to improve national control programs to reduce the burden of the disease, health ministers from the Americas heard today.

8 Oct 2007

Lowering blood pressure protects stroke victims with chronic kidney disease from further strokes

New research, published in the Journal of American Society of Nephrology by The George Institute for International Health in Sydney, has found that lowering blood pressure protects stroke victims with Chronic Kidney Disease from further strokes or heart attacks.

8 Oct 2007

Improvements in cancer survival in Northern Ireland

There have been improvements in cancer survival in Northern Ireland between 1993 and 2004, according to a new report from the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR), launched at Queen’s today.

4 Oct 2007

A systematic review of mortality in schizophrenia

As medical advances boost lifespans across the world, one group of people has been left out.

4 Oct 2007

Genzyme receives Japanese marketing approval for Elaprase

Genzyme Corp. has announced that it has received approval to market Elaprase (idursulfase) in Japan for the treatment of Hunter syndrome.

4 Oct 2007

Infant mortality rates decline in New York City

New York City's infant mortality rate - widely regarded as a barometer of a population's general health - fell slightly in 2006, the Health Department reported today.

4 Oct 2007

What our genes tell us - Identifying biomarkers for key environmental risk factors

Identifying biomarkers for the key environmental risk factors responsible for two diseases that significantly contribute to death and disease of hundreds of thousands annually will be the initial focus of a new center being established at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

4 Oct 2007

Heart disease of the left main coronary artery is often an inherited condition that clusters in families

Moreover, they discovered that initially healthy siblings of a person with the condition were 2.5 times more likely to go on to develop some form of heart disease than were siblings of a patient with heart disease that did not relate to the left main coronary artery.

4 Oct 2007

Learning from the Toronto SARS outbreak

Locked doors, full masks and gowns, questionnaires and line-ups at the hand washing stations - getting health-care services during SARS wasn't easy.

4 Oct 2007

Over 60's do well after liver transplantation

Patients who undergo liver transplantation at age 60 or above have 1-year and 5-year survival rates similar to those of younger patients and they experience fewer episodes of rejection.

3 Oct 2007

Avoiding sweets may spell a longer life

A new study in the October issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press, reveals that worms live to an older age when they are unable to process the simple sugar glucose.

3 Oct 2007

GE Healthcare to address use of ultrasound machine in India for sex-selective abortions

V. Raja, CEO of GE Healthcare South Asia, at a seminar that concluded Saturday said while the company has been "compliant as far as the law is concerned," it is "willing to do more and to look at suggestions" to reduce use of its ultrasound machine for sex-selective abortions, AFP/Yahoo! News reports (Gupta, AFP/Yahoo! News, 9/29).

2 Oct 2007

Panic attacks may increase risk of heart attack or stroke in older women

Older women who experience at least one full-blown panic attack may have an increased risk of having a heart attack or stroke and an increased risk of death in the next five years, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

2 Oct 2007

Better use of kidneys from deceased donors

Several new studies suggest how transplant surgeons can make more effective use of kidneys from deceased donors – even those that are at the outer limits of acceptance criteria – according to researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

2 Oct 2007

Rapamycin and Gleevec reverses effects of portal hypertension in rats

A combined treatment with rapamycin and Gleevec might reverse the effects of portal hypertension in patients with chronic liver disease, according to the results of a new study on rats.

2 Oct 2007

Types of sleep and risk of mortality

The first study to assess the stability of three aspects of sleep behavior in relation to long-term mortality finds an increased risk of mortality in short sleep, long sleep and frequent use of medications, according to a study published in the October 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

2 Oct 2007

Rosiglitazone and Pioglitazone increase risk of congestive heart failure but not the risk of cardiovascular death

Patients with type 2 diabetes* or prediabetes* are more likely to develop congestive heart failure (CHF) when given rosiglitazone or pioglitazone, as compared with controls. However these drugs did not increase the risk of cardiovascular death (CVD) for these patients.

1 Oct 2007

Majority of Europeans with hepatitis C remain undiagnosed

A report by the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN highlights the significant inconsistencies that exist in hepatitis C (HCV) diagnosis and treatment across Europe and beyond. In recognition of World Hepatitis Awareness Day, patient groups around the globe are united in their call for action.

1 Oct 2007

Higher death rates in kidney patients with nephrogenic systemic fibrosis

Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) is a newly identified debilitating and painful condition that affects patients with kidney failure and is characterized by a thickening and hardening of the skin.

29 Sep 2007