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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

Poor facial recognition hints at schizophrenia risk in children

Impaired facial emotion recognition may suggest an increased vulnerability to schizophrenia in children, and may therefore represent a target for early intervention, researchers report.

14 Feb 2013

Cortisol and white matter integrity relationship disrupted in bipolar disorder

Researchers have found evidence in support of hypercortisol-induced glial dysfunction affecting periventricular white matter integrity in patients with bipolar disorder.

14 Feb 2013

Researchers call for botulism testing in sick and healthy cows

Evidence of Clostridium botulinum and its toxin in milk and udder tissue samples from dairy cows has led German researchers to call for “statistically relevant testing of healthy and sick cows from healthy and affected farms.”

14 Feb 2013

Nerve stimulation could stave off migraine attacks

Transcutaneous stimulation of the trigeminal nerve has shown promise as a treatment for migraine, according to results of a randomized controlled trial.

14 Feb 2013

Amblyopia screening guidelines updated

The American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, the professional body for pediatric eye care, has issued revised guidelines for preschool vision screening based on new evidence.

14 Feb 2013

Researchers ESTABLISH efficacy of tedizolid phosphate for skin infections

Results from the phase III ESTABLISH-1 study show that the new antibiotic tedizolid phosphate is noninferior to linezolid for the treatment of acute bacterial and skin structure infections.

14 Feb 2013

Rivaroxaban ruled out for extended thromboprophylaxis

The benefits of extended prophylactic anticoagulation with rivaroxaban in acutely ill hospital patients are outweighed by an increased bleeding risk, shows a study in The New England Journal of Medicine.

14 Feb 2013

Circumcision at 3 to 6 years does not impair psychosexual function in adulthood

Circumcision performed between ages 3 to 6 years does not adversely affect men’s psychosexual function during adulthood, report Turkish researchers.

14 Feb 2013

Long’s manipulation enhances massage for chronic neck pain

Long’s manipulation, a Chinese manipulation approach that incorporates spinal manipulation and traditional Chinese massage, appears to be more effective for treating chronic mechanical neck pain than massage alone, study findings show.

14 Feb 2013

Bipolar disorder ‘frequent’ in depressive borderline personality disorder

Study results indicate that bipolar disorder may occur in up to half of individuals with co-existing borderline personality disorder and depression.

14 Feb 2013

L-COR Biosciences launches C-DiGit Blot Scanner

Today, LI-COR Biosciences continues to demonstrate its position as a leader in laboratory instrument systems as it announces the launch of the C-DiGit Blot Scanner.

14 Feb 2013

Allografts better survive implantation into brains of immunocompetent research mice

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., and the Mossakowski Medical Research Centre in Warsaw, Poland, have found that nonself-donated cells (allografts) better survive implantation into the brains of immunocompetent research mice when the grafts are injected into the striatum (STR) of the brain rather than injected into the forceps minor (FM) region.

14 Feb 2013

Study finds strong preference among families and older pediatric patients for IV feeding

About 60 percent of pediatric cancer patients experience malnourishment during treatment. At that point, patients and families have a choice: tube feeding or IV nutrition supplement. Which would you choose? A study published this week in the Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing shows that families' perceptions, especially of the discomfort of tube feeding, leads to choosing IV over tube - despite the fact that tube feeding is usually the better choice, associated with better gut function and lower rates of infection.

14 Feb 2013

FDA acknowledges United Therapeutics’ oral treprostinil NDA to treat PAH

United Therapeutics Corporation announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has acknowledged the resubmission of the new drug application (NDA) for treprostinil diolamine extended release tablets (oral treprostinil) for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

14 Feb 2013

Regeneron fourth quarter total revenues increase to $415 million

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced financial and operating results for the fourth quarter and full year 2012 and provided an update on development programs.

14 Feb 2013

Blocking C5a protein prevents low birth weight in babies born to pregnant women with malaria

An international team of tropical medicine researchers have discovered a potential method for preventing low birth weight in babies born to pregnant women who are exposed to malaria. Low birth weight is the leading cause of infant death globally.

14 Feb 2013