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Foot and ankle assessments fail to capture patient concerns

Commonly used clinical measurements of foot and ankle outcome do not reflect patient concerns, missing the impact of age and gender on how patients define treatment success, US researchers caution.

14 Feb 2013

High diclofenac use questioned

Diclofenac remains one of the most widely recommended and regularly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs globally, despite its known association with increased cardiovascular risk, warn researchers who argue it should be removed from Essential Medicines Lists.

14 Feb 2013

Elemental diet may help adults with eosinophilic esophagitis

Results from a small study suggest that consumption of an elemental diet for 2–4 weeks results in a significant histologic improvement in adult patients with eosinophilic esophagitis.

14 Feb 2013

Schizophrenia dampens volition

Patients with schizophrenia and negative symptoms are less likely than mentally healthy people to increase their efforts for higher levels of reward, research shows.

14 Feb 2013

Prediabetes associated with impaired lung function

Japanese researchers have found a significant association between prediabetes and impaired lung function.

14 Feb 2013

Manic episodes linked to memory recall deficit in bipolar disorder

Patients with bipolar disorder have impaired recall of episodic autobiographical memories when recounting events that occurred during mania, report Canadian researchers.

14 Feb 2013

DNA repair mechanisms tied to reproductive aging

Age-related decline in the efficacy of DNA repair may underlie reproductive aging, say researchers.

14 Feb 2013

Collaborative home-based palliative care for heart failure successful in UK

A collaborative home-based palliative care service for patients with advanced congestive heart failure could increase their chances of dying in their place of choice, show UK study results.

14 Feb 2013

Defensive medicine under attack

Around one-eighth of all requests for tests and procedures by gastroenterologists are attributable to the practice of defensive medicine, Italian research shows.

14 Feb 2013

Crowded emergency department has psychologic impact

The likelihood for patients with acute coronary syndromes developing post-traumatic stress disorder rises with emergency department crowding, research suggests.

14 Feb 2013

US health system failing unaccompanied immigrant children

Unaccompanied immigrant or “alien” children arriving in the USA with no papers or family often receive no or inadequate mental healthcare, says the author of an article published in JAMA Pediatrics.

14 Feb 2013

Laparoscopic proctectomy stands up to open surgery

Laparoscopic surgery produces comparable results to open surgery for rectal cancer, show the findings of the first, large, randomized trial of the technique.

14 Feb 2013

Cyclist pollution exposure minimized by use of quieter roads

Research suggests that using quieter streets with less traffic exposes city cyclists to lower levels of air pollution than using more congested routes, although wind-speed has a significant influence on levels of pollution exposure experienced each day.

14 Feb 2013

Hospital mortality performance not boosted by readmission failure

Researchers say they have found no evidence of a link between hospital performance as measured by 30-day mortality rates and that by 30-day readmission rates in US hospitals.

14 Feb 2013

Xpert diagnosis of TB and its drug resistant strains

The use of a novel, diagnostic test called Xpert is both sensitive and specific in detecting tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance, report US researchers.

14 Feb 2013

Endovascular stroke therapy disappoints in head-to-head studies

Three randomized trials published in The New England Journal of Medicine have failed to prove that endovascular therapy results in better clinical outcomes than standard medical therapy in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

14 Feb 2013

Out-of-hospital death does not equal less aggressive care

Rates of intensive care unit use in the last month of life among patients aged 65 years and older increased between 2000 and 2009 in the USA, despite a reduction in rates of in-hospital death, conflating the notion that there is a trend toward less aggressive care, say researchers.

14 Feb 2013