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Telephone helps reduce diabetes health disparities and improves health outcomes

In this high-tech world of electronic communications, the older, reliable form of communication via the telephone has proven effective in reaching out to older African-American women with diabetes.

18 Jul 2005

Five basic steps to help doctors identify and treat insomnia in elderly patients

Researchers outline five basic steps to help doctors identify and treat insomnia in elderly patients. This article is published in a special insomnia themed supplement of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

14 Jul 2005

At the end of life hospices better option for the elderly than nursing homes

A new study has shown that straight talking elderly people, who are facing death in nursing homes, raises the likelihood of them agreeing to enter hospices in the last days of their life.

14 Jul 2005

A new study shows that the number of Americans who had weight-loss surgery quadrupled between 1998 and 2002

A new study shows that the number of Americans who had weight-loss surgery quadrupled between 1998 and 2002.

13 Jul 2005

Current scientific understanding does not justify the reduction of the daily salt intake for healthy people

In a reaction to the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) announcement at the end of June, the European Salt Producers' Association, in brief EuSalt, maintains its position that the current scientific understanding does not justify the reduction of the daily salt intake for healthy people.

12 Jul 2005

Researchers clarifiy role of Notch protein in T-cell development

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have recently clarified the role of the Notch protein in T-cell development. T cells are required for many aspects of immunity, including fighting viral infections, providing cancer surveillance, and regulating multiple aspects of the immune response.

6 Jul 2005

Neurological complication may result from rapid withdrawal from pregabalin

A report in the July Annals of Neurology describes a serious adverse event experienced by a participant in a clinical trial that may raise a new caution about the use of antiepileptic drugs for conditions other than epilepsy.

6 Jul 2005

Asthma and the Older Australian: What we know and what we need to do

New asthma research indicates that as many as a third of people +55 years old may be living with undiagnosed asthma and that a high prevalence of asthma in an ageing population will impose an increasing burden on the health system and the Australian economy in the future.

6 Jul 2005

Showering in manganese-contaminated water could have permanent effects on the nervous system

A new analysis based on animal studies suggests that showering in manganese-contaminated water for a decade or more could have permanent effects on the nervous system. The damage may occur even at levels of manganese considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

6 Jul 2005

New study shows showering in manganese contaminated water could permanently affect the nervous system

1 Jul 2005

Americans oppose budget cuts to Medicaid

According to a new national survey released this week in the U.S., the majority of Americans regard the state-federal low-income health care program as very important and strongly oppose budget cuts to Medicaid.

30 Jun 2005

Tai Chi can reduce falls in the elderly

According to researchers in South Korea, a structured Tai Chi program improved the balance and physical strength in a group of older people with an average age of 78.

30 Jun 2005

Leader of Scotland's doctors address to annual conference of BMA

Speaking as Scotland’s politicians prepared to debate the final stages of a smoking ban, the leader of Scotland’s doctors congratulated Ministers for their commitment to the public health agenda. In his address to the Annual Conference of the BMA in Manchester today (Wednesday 29 June 2005), Dr Peter Terry, chairman of the BMA in Scotland said:

29 Jun 2005

1.7 million will be anxious when Medicare coverage of anxiety drugs ceases

When the U.S. Government's new prescription drug benefit begins next year a category of drugs commonly used to treat anxiety, insomnia and seizures will not be included.

28 Jun 2005

Greater use of evidence-based medicine needed in US outpatient care

Although the quality of outpatient care in the United States has improved over the last decade, greater use of evidence-based medicine is needed, however, and quality of care is not significantly associated with the patient's racial or ethnic background, according to a study in the June 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

27 Jun 2005

Increasing stiffness of the aging eye may make older adults more susceptible to eye damage following trauma

Using a computer model of the eye, Stitzel and colleagues investigated possible injury mechanisms in the eyes of elderly individuals and the effects of lens stiffness on injury prediction by the model. The new data document that the risk of certain types of eye injury increases with age.

27 Jun 2005