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A prediction rule for disease outcome in patients with recent-onset undifferentiated arthritis

Marked by chronic inflammation of the joints and tissue, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a painful and potentially disabling autoimmune disease.

30 Jan 2007

Value based insurance design

Like a one-size-fits-all shirt that doesn't fit anyone very well, American health insurance plans charge every person the same out of pocket cost for medical services - regardless of their effect on a person's health.

30 Jan 2007

Linemen more than twice as likely as other players to have metabolic syndrome

After retirement, National Football League (NFL) linemen - generally the heaviest players - are more than twice as likely as other players to have a syndrome that puts them at risk for heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases

28 Jan 2007

Doctors highlight political damage to Britain's NHS

The message from politicians that Britain cannot afford healthcare - even though it is one of the richest economies in the world - is damaging the NHS.

28 Jan 2007

Early feeding could help reduce liver dysfunction in critically ill patients

Changing the way that critically ill patients suffering from sepsis or multiple organ failure are fed could reduce liver dysfunction.

25 Jan 2007

Community should promote preventive care among immigrants

Community groups, not medical providers, "are in the best position to spread health information and push for prevention among immigrants," according to experts, the AP/Washington Times reports.

23 Jan 2007

New study finds endurance athletes with ventricular arrhythmias have dysfunctional right ventricles

Some high-level athletes who take part in endurance sports can develop a rare but life-threatening condition called ventricular arrhythmia (VA) in which the heart beats at an abnormal rate and rhythm.

22 Jan 2007

New screening process helps better diagnose oral cancers

Patients with early stage oral cancer may benefit from a more advanced screening process allowing for a more accurate diagnosis, according to a study presented at the plenary session at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Rancho Mirage, Calif., co-sponsored by the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Head and Neck Society.

18 Jan 2007

NHS in need of proper workforce planning

As the NHS prepares for its last year of significant injections of extra money, the Chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA) Mr James Johnson, has called on the government to get its act together and reinstate proper workforce planning or risk wasting public money.

14 Jan 2007

India's decision to abide to pharma patents could limit access to medicines

India has become the "premier drug provider for the developing world" by producing generic versions of some of the world's most effective medicines, including antiretroviral drugs, but the country's decision to adhere to international patent regulations could limit access to generic drugs in the developing world, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

9 Jan 2007

Kenya's progress at reducing HIV/AIDS prevalence could be undermined by funding delays

Although Kenya has recorded a decrease in HIV/AIDS prevalence from 6.1% to 5.9% during the past year, the country's HIV/AIDS control efforts could be undermined by delays in funding disbursement and other challenges, the Lancet reports.

9 Jan 2007

Outdated physical education syllabus is failing school children

An outdated physical education syllabus is failing the fitness of our school children according to Olympic and physical education expert Sheila Wigmore from Sheffield Hallam University.

From Sheffield Hallam University 9 Jan 2007

Libyan leader should pardon medical workers

Geoffrey van Orden, member of the European Parliament and E.P. rapporteur on Bulgaria, on Tuesday at a joint news conference called on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to pardon the five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for allegedly intentionally infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV, the Bulgarian News Agency reports.

7 Jan 2007

UK medical education is being hit hard by a lack of funding and resources, says the BMA

In a response to the Education and Skills Committee inquiry the BMA highlights concerns about the current situation in medical education and voices opposition to the cap on student fees being lifted.

3 Jan 2007

Homesickness prevention and treatment

A new report urges parents and children's doctors to change their thinking about homesickness among children, to see it as a nearly universal but highly preventable and treatable phenomenon -- rather than an unavoidable part of childhood.

2 Jan 2007

Breast cancer screening for under 50's of little benefit

It seems that it remains debatable whether screening women under 50 years old for breast cancer significantly reduces deaths from the disease.

12 Dec 2006

Scans show hysteria is caused by a brain dysfunction

Hysteria is an unexplained neurological disorder in which a patient complains of symptoms, ranging from numbness in a limb, to paralysis, memory loss and seizures, that cannot be traced to any known medical problem and doctors fail to find anything medically wrong with them.

12 Dec 2006