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Importance of relative measures in policy on health inequalities

The British public supports the use of personal medical data, without consent, for public health research, finds a study published on bmj.com. Most people also think that cancer registration should be required by law.

3 May 2006

Varenicline could increase number who quit smoking

Smokers who try to quit using existing medications, such as nicotine patches or Zyban, are about twice as likely to succeed as those who don't use medication or are prescribed placebos during clinical trials.

3 May 2006

Virtual reality simulation technology improves carotid angiography skills

Cardiologists can learn to perform risky catheter procedures such as carotid angiography on a virtual patient simulator, rather than on real patients, according to a new study in the May 2, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

3 May 2006

Olanzapine appears to lower or delay full-blown psychosis

For young people who clearly seem to be developing early signs of schizophrenia, treatment with the antipsychotic drug olanzapine appears to lower or delay the rate of conversion to full-blown psychosis, according to an article by a Yale School of Medicine researcher in the May issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry.

3 May 2006

Inflammation markers identify fatigue in breast cancer survivors

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have defined conditions associated with disabling fatigue that persists for years in almost a third of breast cancer survivors, according to a study in the May 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

3 May 2006

New technique reduces radiation exposure by 60 percent in abdominal CT of children

By lowering the tube current to account for both the weight and body symmetry of a child, an abdominal CT radiation dose can be reduced by 60% without compromising the image quality, says a new study by researchers from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.

3 May 2006

CT colonography even safer than previously thought

The safety profile for CT colonography (CTC) is extremely favorable, particularly for the purposes of screening patients with no symptoms and when distending the colon using an automated carbon dioxide technique, a finding that goes against the higher complication rates for CTC reported by other groups, according to a new study.

3 May 2006

Compensation by tumor suppressor genes during retinal development in mice and humans

Humans are more susceptible to developing the eye cancer retinoblastoma than mice because, unlike humans, mice can compensate for the loss of activity of a gene critical to normal retinal development, according to results of a study by investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

3 May 2006

Heart risks from Vioxx happen much earlier than believed

A new study led by Queen's University researcher Linda Livesque shows that heart attacks related to the use of Vioxx - a drug once popular for the treatment of pain and inflammation - can occur within the first two weeks of use.

3 May 2006

Link between perceived neighborhood safety and BMI

Mothers of young children are more likely to be obese when they perceive their neighborhoods as unsafe, according to a new study in the journal Obesity.

3 May 2006

Parents rarely use baby gates

A recent study by researchers in emergency medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center found parents use baby gates and bath thermometers less than 25 percent of the time and pediatricians are partially to blame.

3 May 2006

Percutaneous image-guided biopsy of renal masses is safe and accurate

For the study, the researchers reviewed 153 kidney biopsies in 126 patients. The researchers found that more than 60% of patients had a change in their treatment--whether surgery, tumor ablation, chemotherapy or radiation--due to biopsy results, and that as many as 75 unnecessary kidney removals were potentially avoided.

3 May 2006

Progressive histological damage in liver allografts following pediatric liver transplantation

A new study on the long-term outcome of children undergoing liver transplants found that chronic hepatitis (CH) was common and that it was not detectible using standard blood tests.

3 May 2006

Elevated serum alanine aminotransferase activity and calculated risk of coronary heart disease in the U.S.

A new study on the relationship between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and heart disease found that patients with an elevated level of the enzyme associated with NAFLD had an increased risk of coronary heart disease, which appears to be related to insulin resistance, obesity and central fat distribution.

3 May 2006

New study describes molecular basis of NeuroAIDS

Using multi-disciplinary analysis that included cognitive, neurophysiologic, virologic, and molecular techniques, the team found both a low-level viral infection in the brain and immune cells that had infiltrated the brain in order to protect against the virus.

3 May 2006

Outcome of patients with hepatitis B and HIV infections referred for liver transplantation

A new study on HIV patients who also had Hepatitis B virus (HBV) found that better outcomes are possible if they are referred early for transplant and treated with a combination of drugs for HBV. It is essential to monitor the HBV status of these patients, however, in order to control the emergence of drug-resistant HBV infection.

3 May 2006

Periodontitis and plasma C-reactive protein during pregnancy

Researchers found that pregnant women with periodontitis had 65 percent higher C-reactive protein (CRP) levels compared to periodontally healthy women.

3 May 2006

New drug lixivaptan reduces excess fluid build-up in patients with congestive heart failure

Researchers believe they may have identified a new agent to reduce the excess fluid build-up in patients with congestive heart failure, one that avoids the relative sodium-depleting effects of diuretics, now the most commonly used drugs for this purpose.

3 May 2006

Surgeons exhibit the lowest level of teamwork and nurses the highest in the operating room

A study based on a survey measuring attitudes toward the work environment in the operating room (OR) reveals that surgeons exhibit the lowest level of teamwork and nurses the highest.

3 May 2006

Identification of CPT1c gene that the brain needs to manage body weight

Working with genetically engineered mice, Johns Hopkins scientists have interfered with the brain's ability to control an animal's response to a high-fat diet.

3 May 2006