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Inducing labour improves survival rates for babies

Babies born when labour is induced around their due date may have better survival rates than those whose birth is not induced, a study suggests.

14 May 2012

CRT-D cost-effective treatment for mildly symptomatic heart failure patients

Medtronic, Inc. today announced findings from an economic analysis of the landmark RAFT (Resynchronization / Defibrillation in Ambulatory Heart Failure Trial) trial demonstrating that cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillation (CRT-D) is a cost-effective treatment for mildly symptomatic heart failure patients.

14 May 2012

Study reveals sex-specific fitness benefit of variability of MHC genes

Females of mammals (including humans) tend to outlive males, a circumstance that is usually attributed to males- more aggressive and hence energy-depleting behaviour, especially when they compete for females. This might also explain why males of many species usually show a higher parasite burden than females.

11 May 2012

U.S. investment in global health has been successful, deserves continued congressional support

"Over the next few weeks, appropriators will be engaged in the challenging task of evaluating U.S. foreign assistance funding, including how effectively Congress' global health investments are being used," Charles Lyons, president and CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation; Molly Joel Coye, interim president and CEO of PATH; Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children; and Richard Stearns, president of World Vision, write in this Roll Call opinion piece.

11 May 2012

Most deaths in children under 5 from preventable infectious causes, study suggests

"Most deaths of young children around the world are from mainly preventable infectious causes," according to a study published in the Lancet on Friday, BBC News reports.

11 May 2012

Improving rural health care systems would help progress in child survival

In a post on USAID's "IMPACTblog," Jonathan Quick, president and CEO of Management Sciences for Health (MSH), discusses USAID's "Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday" campaign and several MSH programs working to improve child survival.

11 May 2012

Decrease in preterm births leads to decrease in US infant mortality rate

More than 1,000 fewer babies died before celebrating their first birthday between 2007 and 2008, and many of them had the benefit of a full-term pregnancy, according to data released today by the National Center for Health Statistics.

11 May 2012

Discrepancies between recommendations and implementation for management of cardiovascular risk factors

There are discrepancies between the recommendations for the management of cardiovascular risk factors and their implementation in clinical practice. In the latest issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, Christof Prugger and his fellow authors present the results of the EUROASPIRE I, II and III surveys in the Münster region of Germany.

11 May 2012

Patients with mitral regurgitation live longer after surgery

Patients with mitral regurgitation, a type of valvular heart disease common in the elderly, are living longer after surgery, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

11 May 2012

Education the most important factor in reducing maternal deaths

A scientific analysis of 50 years of maternal mortality data from Chile has found that the most important factor in reducing maternal mortality is the educational level of women. "

11 May 2012

ICD therapy significantly reduces mortality in patients with moderate heart failure

St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced results of the SCD-HeFT (Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial) 10-Year Follow-up Study at Heart Rhythm 2012, the Heart Rhythm Society's 33rd Annual Scientific Sessions in Boston. The study demonstrated implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) therapy significantly reduces mortality for at least 11 years in patients with moderate heart failure (HF).

11 May 2012

Efforts to stem childhood mortality in Ghana will not be enough to reach MDG, UNICEF official says

Anirban Chatterjee, chief of health and nutrition for UNICEF in Ghana, said the country "is doing a lot" to fight child mortality -- referring to a recently launched vaccination campaign and an initiative to educate mothers about nutrition -- but "I don't think it's enough" to reach the fourth U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds by 2015, Inter Press Service reports.

11 May 2012

Review finds 74% decline in annual ICU admissions for asthma

A review of 30 years of life-threatening asthma cases in a San Antonio intensive care unit found that annual ICU admissions for the condition have dropped 74 percent. The study, by UT Medicine San Antonio physicians who reviewed cases at University Hospital between 1980 and 2010, also showed intubation in the emergency department to help patients breathe did not result in longer hospital stays.

11 May 2012

Young adults increase their risk of skin cancer with sunburns

Young adults are increasing their risk for developing skin cancer, according to two studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute.

11 May 2012

A Better Method for Diagnosing Kidney Disease

Assessing glomerular filtration rate (GFR) using kidney filtration markers in blood is the standard means for determining kidney function, diagnosing kidney disease and measuring its progression. A higher filtration rate indicates healthy kidney function, while a lower rate points to various stages of kidney disease. A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that the new CKD-EPI equation for calculating GFR is a better predictor of risk for kidney disease and death compared to the most widely used method. The findings suggest that switching to the CKD-EPI equation for calculating GFR could focus efforts more efficiently, and improve assessment of patient future risk and treatment of kidney disease. The study is published in the May 9 edition of JAMA.

10 May 2012

ACS editorial calls for systematic approach to increase cancer screening participation

An editorial by Marcus Plescia, MD, MPH, director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), calls for a more organized and comprehensive approach to increase cancer screening participation among those who are insured or are likely to become insured through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

10 May 2012

BBI from soybeans shows promise against cancer

Soybeans soaking in warm water could become a new "green" source for production of a cancer-fighting substance now manufactured in a complicated and time-consuming industrial process, scientists are reporting in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

10 May 2012

Millennium Villages Project research yields positive results, but some researchers question methods used

"Death rates among children under five at the [Millennium Villages Project (MVP)] -- set up in Africa to demonstrate what is possible if health, education, agriculture, and other development needs are tackled simultaneously -- have fallen by a third in three years compared with similar communities, according to the project's first results," published in the Lancet on Tuesday, the Guardian reports.

10 May 2012

CKD-EPI equation may provide more accurate risk prediction of death, ESRD

Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., principal investigator at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed), is the author of an invited editorial in JAMA. The editorial accompanied a study that included data from more than 1 million adults, and indicated the use of a newer risk prediction equation that classified fewer individuals as having chronic kidney disease and more accurately categorized the risk for death and end-stage renal disease.

9 May 2012

Highlights of orthopaedic research studies in JBJS

Below are highlights of orthopaedic research studies appearing in the May 2, 2012 issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS), as well as the issue's full Table of Contents.

9 May 2012