Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Diet and lifestyle choices influence cancer survival

Head and neck cancer patients who smoked, drank, didn't exercise or didn't eat enough fruit when they were diagnosed had worse survival outcomes than those with better health habits, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

1 Apr 2009

Compassion fatigue: Impact on healthcare providers of caring for the terminally ill

Compassion fatigue in nurses, doctors and other front line cancer-care providers significantly impacts how they interact with patients, with patient families, with other healthcare workers, and with their own family, according to analysis by Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute researchers published in the March issue of the Journal of Health Psychology.

1 Apr 2009

One of five hospitalized Medicare patients readmitted to hospital within 30 days

One of five Medicare beneficiaries discharged from the hospital is readmitted within 30 days, and half of non-surgical patients are readmitted to the hospital without having seen an outpatient doctor in follow-up, according to a Commonwealth Fund-supported study in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

1 Apr 2009

Need for more African American HIV/AIDS researchers

African Americans, who make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, are disproportionately affected by AIDS, accounting for nearly 49 percent of newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS cases nationwide.

1 Apr 2009

What patients really think of intensive care unit follow-up services

Former patients believe that intensive care unit (ICU) follow-up services are important for their physical, emotional and psychological recovery.

1 Apr 2009

Providing housing and support services for homeless alcoholics reduces costs to taxpayers

Providing housing and support services for homeless alcoholics costs taxpayers less than leaving them on the street, where taxpayer money goes towards police and emergency health care.

1 Apr 2009

Hospital-to-hospital health information exchange begins

LifeBridge Health has begun an electronic exchange of health information between its two hospitals, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore and Northwest Hospital, and Saint Agnes Hospital, a community hospital with an overlapping service area.

1 Apr 2009

Expert available to discuss consumption of products containing pistachios

Dr. Steven M. Marcus, executive director of the New Jersey Poison Information & Education System (NJPIES) at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School is available to provide comment on the Federal Food and Drug Administration warning issued today on the consumption of products containing pistachios.

1 Apr 2009

District Court decision received in Concerta patent sase

The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware has rendered a decision in the patent litigation between Alza Corporation, McNeil-PPC, Inc. and Andrx Pharmaceuticals LLC. McNeil Pediatrics, Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which markets Concerta (methylphenidate HCI) Extended-Release Tablets CII, said the court held that the patent in suit is not valid or infringed by the filing of Andrx's Abbreviated New Drug Application.

1 Apr 2009

HHS report says health reform vital to U.S. economy as costs rise, quality of care worsens

Comprehensive health care reform is necessary this year because of rising costs and the declining quality of care, according to an HHS report released on Monday, Reuters/Boston Globe reports.

31 Mar 2009

New brain mapping capabilities come to desktops of scientists worldwide

Mapping the billions of connections in the brain is a grand challenge in neuroscience.

30 Mar 2009

White light-activated antibacterial coating - new weapon in fight against superbugs

A new hard coating with antibacterial properties that has been tested by researchers at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute has been shown to kill 99.9% of Escherichia coli bacteria when a white hospital light was shone on its surface to activate it.

30 Mar 2009

Regular handwashing more important than isolation in controlling MRSA infection

Regular handwashing by hospital staff and visitors did more to prevent the spread of the MRSA superbug than isolating infected patients.

30 Mar 2009

AHF lauds ‘Lancet’ editorial criticizing Pope on condoms and HIV

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today lauded the respected British medical journal, 'The Lancet,' for its strongly-worded editorial criticizing Pope Benedict XVI for his public remarks early last week suggesting that condoms are fueling the spread of AIDS in Africa.

30 Mar 2009

Scientists develop molecular system that amplifies certain events

Both cancer cells and the chemicals used to make bombs can foil detection because they appear in trace amounts too small for conventional detection techniques.

30 Mar 2009

Health Reform Dialogue Coalition releases recommendations for U.S. health care system overhaul

A coalition representing health care firms, patients and medical providers on Friday presented a five-page report to Congress recommending changes to the health care system, CQ HealthBeat reports (Adams, CQ HealthBeat, 3/27).

30 Mar 2009

FDA approves Afinitor oral tablets (everolimus) for advanced form of kidney cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Afinitor oral tablets (everolimus) for the treatment of patients with advanced kidney cancer whose disease has progressed after treatment with other cancer therapies.

30 Mar 2009

$78 billion spent for heart disease care in 2006

Opening blocked arteries, trying to keep heart attack victims alive, fixing defective heart valves, and treating other heart ailments cost $78 billion in 2006 - roughly 8 percent of the more than $1 trillion spent on all medical care for the community population, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

30 Mar 2009

Drug-coated stents lower risk of heart attack and death

Heart disease patients 65 and older who receive stents coated with medicine to prevent blockages are more likely to survive and less likely to suffer a heart attack than people fitted with stents not coated with medication, according to a new study supported by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the American College of Cardiology's National Cardiovascular Data Registry.

30 Mar 2009

New survey tracks behavioral health treatment trends

Behavioral healthcare systems are playing a major role in responding to the needs of the millions of Americans of all ages who experience psychiatric and substance use conditions each year, according to the latest annual survey from the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) released.

30 Mar 2009