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Early contact with physiotherapist appears to provide superior benefits

Patients with muscle and joint pain are often at least as well served by seeing a physiotherapist as by consulting a doctor when they seek help at a primary health care centre. Over time, the health benefits of first going to a physiotherapist appear slightly superior, new research shows.

16 May 2019

Study: Older adults who regularly play word and number puzzles have sharper brains

Older adults who regularly take part in word and number puzzles have sharper brains, according to the largest online study to date.

16 May 2019

A work schedule patching approach for improved nursing home care

Placing a loved one in a nursing home can be a traumatic experience for the entire family with concerns about the care and attention they will receive. Imagine if those concerns were eased, simply by some changes in the way the schedules are done for the staff at that facility.

16 May 2019

How to find and use new federal ratings for rehab services at nursing homes

For the first time, the federal government is shining a spotlight on the quality of rehabilitation care at nursing homes — services used by nearly 2 million older adults each year.

16 May 2019

Surgical care improvement linked to hospital financial performance

Hospitals that perform better on steps to prevent complications after surgery also have better performance on measures of profitability, reports a study in the May/June issue of the Journal of Healthcare Management, an official publication of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

16 May 2019

Mediterranean diet shown to help prevent diabetes and protect the heart

Earlier this year, U.S. News & World Report issued its annual rankings of the best diets. This year's winner: the Mediterranean diet, a plant-based diet shown to help prevent diabetes and protect the heart.

16 May 2019

LGBT employees in federal workplaces report worse job experiences

Workplace inequality is visible when it involves gender and race, but less so with sexual identity and gender expression.

16 May 2019

People with fast walking pace have a long life expectancy

People who report that they have a slower walking pace have a lower life expectancy than fast walkers, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the National Institute for Health Research Leicester Biomedical Research Centre - a partnership between Leicester's Hospitals, the University of Leicester and Loughborough University.

15 May 2019

Mindfulness-based app designed to help people stop smoking can change the brain

Researchers have found that a mindfulness-based smartphone app designed to help people stop smoking was effective at reducing study participants' self-reported daily cigarette consumption.

15 May 2019

Ethical and social implications of embodied AI in mental health care

Interactions with artificial intelligence will become an increasingly common aspect of our lives. A team at the Technical University of Munich has now completed the first study of how "embodied AI" can help treat mental illness.

15 May 2019

Health benefit from substituting red and processed meat with fish

The average Dane will gain a health benefit from substituting part of the red and processed meat in their diet with fish, according to calculations from the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark.

15 May 2019

Research suggests wisdom is linked to happiness and mental health

New research suggests that wisdom is a direct contributor to psychological well-being and happiness.

15 May 2019

WHO releases guidelines for preventing dementia, and they don't include supplements

The WHO has released new guidelines advising that people can reduce their risk for dementia by reducing modifiable risk factors such as smoking and a lack of exercise.

15 May 2019

‘Living their values’: Palliative care power couple faces cancer at home

In the 18 years that Kathy Brandt and Kim Acquaviva have been together, death has been a constant companion.

15 May 2019

Implementation of new pathway for spatial neglect care

Spatial neglect remains a hidden disability despite the availability of effective tools for the diagnosis and treatment for this common complication of stroke.

15 May 2019

Online intervention lowers mothers' intentions to visit primary care clinician for respiratory tract infection

Visits to the doctor for a respiratory tract infection can lead to unnecessary antibiotic prescribing, but an online intervention with real-time information on locally circulating viruses may reduce mothers' intentions to visit their primary care doctor.

15 May 2019

Exploring the contributions of health care to longevity

A widely cited statistic suggests that health care services account for only a small percentage of the variation in American life expectancy. However, the methodology supporting the finding has been challenged.

15 May 2019

Researchers learn more about opioid prescribing in primary care

Chronic opioid prescribing in primary care varies significantly by patient and clinician characteristics, according to a new study.

15 May 2019

New tool breaks new ground to assess vital primary care functions

There are a number of measures to assess aspects of primary care, but a new measure breaks new ground by combining experiences of patients, clinicians, and payers and allowing the most informed reporter--the patient--to assess vital primary care functions that are often missed.

15 May 2019

Study finds persistently high rate of long-term opioid prescribing for older cancer survivors

Using Medicare data, new findings from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston show for the first time that the rates of long term opiate therapy - a 90-day or more supply of opioids per year - for older cancer survivors remain high for at least five years in cancer survivors.

14 May 2019