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New Caesarean section guidelines from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Caesarean section (CS) is the end point of a number of care pathways hence it is not possible to cover all the clinical decisions and pathways which may lead to a CS in one guideline.

28 Apr 2004

Antibiotics could be preventing thousands of deaths a year in intensive care units worldwide

Trials done in over 7,000 people prove conclusively that antibiotics could prevent deaths in intensive care units, but many hospitals aren't using them because of unproven fears that it might increase antibiotic resistance.

27 Apr 2004

4th reported SARS case in China

The Chinese Ministry of Health has today reported an additional three cases of SARS, including one death. This brings the current number of persons with a clinical illness compatible with SARS in China to four.

24 Apr 2004

Cardiac Intensive Care Unit lowest heart attack rates in the state of Texas

That’s because the CICU he runs has the lowest myocardial infarction (heart attack) mortality in the entire South Texas region. It has one of the lowest rates in the state of Texas.

23 Apr 2004

The April 2004 issue of Otolaryngology focuses on head and neck surgery

The efficacy of a new cancer-fighting virus is tested in the study, “Treatment of Solid Sarcomas in Immunocompetent Mice with Novel Oncolytic Herpes Simplex Viruses.” A team of multi-disciplinary Japanese researchers found that a weakened version of herpes simplex virus (HSV) effectively eradicated neck and flank tumors in mice.

23 Apr 2004

First Chinese case of case of SARS since January 2004

On April 22, 2004, the Chinese Ministry of Health reported a possible case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in a 20-year-old woman who works as a nurse in a hospital in Beijing. If confirmed, this will be the first case of SARS since January 2004, when Chinese health authorities confirmed SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection in three persons in Guangdong Province.

23 Apr 2004

Third Melbourne hospital infected by Serratia bacteria

A spokeswoman for The Royal Women's Hospital says three babies so far have been isolated after they were found to be carrying the serratia bacteria.

22 Apr 2004

Possible new SARS case in Beijing, China

22 Apr 2004

Doctors from the University of Edinburgh and local intensive care units have linked to fight an antibiotic-resistant infection which attacks some hospital patients.

22 Apr 2004

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin pledges health care push

Any discussion of health care runs the risk of deteriorating into generalities. So let me be specific: We must reduce wait times. Canadians need to know, Wherever they live, how long it takes to get an MRI, how long it takes to see a doctor, to get needed hip surgery, and how quickly their child will be seen in the emergency ward.

16 Apr 2004

Delirium in ICU patients a predictor of mortality

Between 60 percent to 80 percent of these patients develop a brain dysfunction known as delirium, which according to a group of physicians at Vanderbilt Medical Center is an independent predictor of mortality.

16 Apr 2004

Mercy Hospital opens new cardiovascular catheterization laboratory

The $40 million expansion of The Cardiac Centers of Mercy & Unity Hospitals reaches a significant milestone this week with the opening of the most technologically advanced cardiovascular catheterization laboratories in Minnesota.

13 Apr 2004

Continuous insulin monitoring does not raise hospital costs

Patients with diabetes whose glucose is continually monitored after coronary bypass artery graft surgery do not incur higher medical costs despite the additional testing, Penn State Diabetes Center researchers report.

12 Apr 2004

New study could lead to new drugs to prevent premature birth

Dr Raheela Khan, of the University’s Academic Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology based at the newly-opened University of Nottingham Medical School at Derby, is working with colleagues Dr Balwir Matharoo-Ball and Dr Dave Barratt in the University’s School of Pharmacy on the research looking at what makes some women go into labour before their baby is due.

6 Apr 2004

Requests for organ donors must be tempered by a better understanding of cultural differences

In Canada, most organ donations come from people who have died, rather than from living donors. In western culture, there is a division between mind and body, he explains. Once the brain no longer functions, the corpse is no longer considered a true person -- as highlighted by Descartes' philosophy, "I think, therefore, I am" -- so organ donation is seen as acceptable. In addition, western society has been greatly influenced by the Christian belief in the spiritual value of non-reciprocal giving, says Bowman, making organ donation a gift of love and generosity.

6 Apr 2004

Penn State Hershey Medical Center awaits arrival of hospital's first sextuplets

The team of Penn State women's health obstetricians and Penn State Children's Hospital neonatologists at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center are preparing for the arrival of the first set of sextuplets in the medical center's 34-year history.

5 Apr 2004

Online, web-based system for ordering total parenteral nutrition (TPN)

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center have designed an online, Web-based system for ordering total parenteral nutrition (TPN) that identifies and pre-emptively eliminates potentially serious calculation errors.

5 Apr 2004

Texan child receives world's first scaled-down heart pump or child ventricular assist device

A six-year-old Texas Children's Hospital patient is the first pediatric patient in the world to receive a MicroMed/DeBakey® child ventricular assist device (VAD), recently approved by the FDA for use in children. The new, scaled-down heart pump improves blood flow for patients awaiting heart transplants.

27 Mar 2004

New optical glucose sensor could mean help for diabetics

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have developed a novel optical glucose sensor that could be used to provide continuous monitoring of glucose levels in diabetics and hospitalized patients. Recently published studies showed that the sensor detects glucose under physiological conditions, giving a reversible fluorescent signal that changes intensity in response to changes in the concentration of glucose.

22 Mar 2004