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Palliative care advice for dementia ‘culturally sensitive’

The translation and adaptation of a Canadian palliative care decision-making booklet for patients with dementia and their families into Italian, Dutch, and Japanese reveals several culturally sensitive topics, show study results.

14 Nov 2012

Psychiatric patients not ‘down-triaged’ in the ED

Study findings refute the belief that patients with psychiatric illness may wait longer than is appropriate to see a doctor in the emergency department.

14 Nov 2012

Adding bortezomib ‘boosts acute myeloid leukemia chemotherapy response’

Older patients with untreated acute myeloid leukemia may benefit from having bortezomib added to daunorubicin and cytarabine during induction therapy and to consolidation intermediate-dose cytarabine, the results of a US study indicate.

14 Nov 2012

Smoking cessation services delivered via mobile phones

Support for quitting smoking via text and video messages can help smokers kick the habit according to a new Cochrane systematic review. The authors of the review found that people were more likely to stay away from cigarettes over a six month period if they received motivational messages and advice to their mobile phones.

14 Nov 2012

Cancer-related fatigue can be helped by aerobic exercise

Aerobic exercise can help relieve the fatigue often associated with cancer and cancer treatment, according to Cochrane researchers. Their updated systematic review strengthens findings from an earlier version on cancer-related fatigue published in The Cochrane Library.

14 Nov 2012

MRSA outbreak tracked and contained using DNA sequencing

Scientists have used DNA sequencing for the first time to effectively track the spread of, and ultimately contain, an outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to new research published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

14 Nov 2012

Princeton neuroscientists to explore how human brain accomplishes real-world tasks

Princeton neuroscientists have been awarded a $4 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to explore how the human brain enables us to pursue goals and juggle priorities in an environment full of distractions.

14 Nov 2012

UTA researchers to examine cognition, mortality, economic outcomes from high school and beyond

University of Texas at Austin sociologist Chandra Muller and economist Sandra Black have received a $3.2 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to study the effects of cognition on health, mortality, education and employment from high school and beyond.

14 Nov 2012

Preschool children particularly vulnerable to food-borne toxins

In a sobering study published in the journal Environmental Health, researchers at UC Davis and UCLA measured food-borne toxin exposure in children and adults by pinpointing foods with high levels of toxic compounds and determining how much of these foods were consumed.

14 Nov 2012

Home-birth-like experience in hospitals ultimately safer, more satisfying and cost effective for patients

Advocates of planned home birth have emphasized its benefits for patient safety, patient satisfaction, cost effectiveness, and respect for women's rights. A clinical opinion paper published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology critically evaluates each of these claims in its effort to identify professionally appropriate responses of obstetricians and other concerned physicians to planned home birth.

14 Nov 2012

Study finds lower uptake of HPV vaccination among racial/ethnic minorities

A new Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) study has found that improving Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates in black women may require culturally sensitive approaches that address ethnic-specific barriers.

14 Nov 2012

Research shows reduced plasticity in brains of preterm teens

New research at the University of Adelaide has demonstrated that teenagers born prematurely may suffer brain development problems that directly affect their memory and learning abilities.

14 Nov 2012

Medulloblastomas that arise from different cell types might require personalized treatments

Cancers arise when a normal cell acquires a mutation in a gene that regulates cellular growth or survival. But the particular cell this mutation happens in-the cell of origin-can have an enormous impact on the behavior of the tumor, and on the strategies used to treat it.

14 Nov 2012

Researchers create new artificial human eye lens

Drawing heavily upon nature for inspiration, a team of researchers has created a new artificial lens that is nearly identical to the natural lens of the human eye. This innovative lens, which is made up of thousands of nanoscale polymer layers, may one day provide a more natural performance in implantable lenses to replace damaged or diseased human eye lenses, as well as consumer vision products; it also may lead to superior ground and aerial surveillance technology.

14 Nov 2012

GW Hospital, The Wireless Foundation announce new initiative to improve cardiac care

Today, the George Washington University Heart and Vascular Institute and The Wireless Foundation, in partnership with the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services, announced their innovative public health initiative, which will improve cardiac care in the nation's capital.

14 Nov 2012

Brevetoxin-2 stimulates nerve cell growth and plasticity in cultured mouse neurons

A new study using brevetoxin-2, a compound produced naturally by marine algae, stimulated nerve cell growth and plasticity in cultured mouse neurons. This research advances a potentially new pharmacological treatment to aid recovery of brain function following a stroke or other traumatic brain injury.

14 Nov 2012

Lung cancer stem cells can be isolated and grown in preclinical models

A University of Cincinnati (UC) Cancer Institute lung cancer research team reports that lung cancer stem cells can be isolated-and then grown-in a preclinical model, offering a new avenue for investigating immunotherapy treatment options that specifically target stem cells.

14 Nov 2012

CSIS video discusses global health and national security

A recent video from the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) on global health and national security discusses the importance of military and non-military health partnerships with middle- and low-income countries, the American Public Health Association's "IH-Blog" reports.

14 Nov 2012

DNA sequencing helps detect MRSA outbreaks in hospitals

This study used DNA sequencing to examine an outbreak of MRSA in a hospital, to uncover new cases and, as the study developed, to intervene in the outbreak to end it more quickly. Sequencing illuminated each person infected and described the transmission of MRSA between people coming to the hospital and within the hospital.

14 Nov 2012