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Personalized reminders effective in encouraging seniors to get annual flu shots

Personalized post cards or phone calls can be effective in encouraging more seniors to get their annual flu shots, according to a new review of evidence. Professional facilitators are also successful at urging providers to perform a suite of preventive services, including flu shots for seniors.

8 Sep 2010

Research reveals sports injury outcome during 2010 Winter Olympics

At least one in 10 athletes sustained an injury and a further one in 14 fell ill during the 2010 Winter Olympics, held in Canada, reveals research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

8 Sep 2010

NIH announces award to improve human microbiome research

The National Institutes of Health today announced it has awarded approximately $42 million to expand the scope of eight demonstration projects designed to link changes in the human microbiome to health and disease.

8 Sep 2010

UC San Diego researchers receive grant to study pharmacogenomics for bipolar disorder

An international team, led by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers, has been awarded a $6.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the pharmacogenomics of a key mood-stabilizing drug used to treat bipolar disorder.

8 Sep 2010

NIH expands funding for Baylor College of Medicine Human Microbiome Project

The National Institutes of Health today announced expanded funding of the Baylor College of Medicine Human Microbiome Project clinical program initiated last year at Texas Children Hospital.

8 Sep 2010

Study finds increase in emergency department usage among US patients

Only 45 percent of the 354 million annual visits for acute care in the United States are made to patients' personal physicians, as Americans increasingly make busy emergency departments, specialists or outpatient care departments their first point of contact for treatment of new health problems or a flare up of a chronic condition like asthma or diabetes.

8 Sep 2010

Dispensary of Hope adds seven new sites

The Dispensary of Hope, a Nashville-based not-for-profit social venture, is pleased to announce that seven new sites across the nation have been added to the Dispensary network, bringing the total number of sites to almost eighty. Apart from Tennessee, the locations of new sites include Pennsylvania, Michigan, Louisiana and Alabama, widening the scope of the Dispensary and providing opportunities to many different communities.

8 Sep 2010

San Antonio podiatrist offers new MLS Therapy for pain management

Dr. Ed Davis, a podiatrist with offices in San Antonio, TX and Live Oak, TX, announces the immediate offering of a new form of laser therapy to patients in the San Antonio area. The addition is part of Dr. Davis' continued investment in advanced technologies and progressive procedures.

8 Sep 2010

Study finds non-hormonal therapies can relieve hot flashes in women with breast cancer

Many women enduring hot flashes experience the heat, sweat and reddened upper body as an uncomfortable inconvenience. However, hot flashes can greatly diminish a woman's quality of life, disrupting sleep at night or causing embarrassment as she goes about her daily business. Many women enduring hot flashes experience the heat, sweat and reddened upper body as an uncomfortable inconvenience. However, hot flashes can greatly diminish a woman's quality of life, disrupting sleep at night or causing embarrassment as she goes about her daily business.

8 Sep 2010

Researchers discover tolerance mechanism in chronic morphine treatment

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered a major mechanism underlying the development of tolerance to chronic morphine treatment. The discovery may help researchers find new therapies to treat chronic pain, and reduce tolerance and side effects associated with morphine use. The findings are published in the July 20th issue of Science Signaling.

8 Sep 2010

Local efforts seek to reduce childhood obesity; Sleep-deprived kids most vulnerable

NPR: "[A] new study finds that even for infants and preschoolers, a good, long night's sleep may be just as important as diet and physical activity. Over the past three decades, obesity rates have doubled among children age 2 to 5, and tripled among 6- to 11-year-olds. So University of Washington maternal and child health researcher Janice Bell wanted to know whether sleep had anything to do with it.

8 Sep 2010

NIH awards St. Jude $8.6M to focus on anticancer agent research in children

With its new expansion of the Pharmacogenomics Research Network (PGRN), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital a prestigious grant to focus on anticancer agent research in children.

8 Sep 2010

DTC consumers express concern on personal genetic risk test

One half of people using direct to consumer (DTC) personal genetic risk tests express concerns about testing yet more than 80 percent want to know their risk even for non preventable genetic diseases, according to a study in the September Genetics in Medicine, the official peer reviewed journal of The American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG).

8 Sep 2010

Obesity directly accelerates progression of acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The first study to demonstrate that obesity can directly accelerate the progression of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has been conducted at The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and will be published in Cancer Prevention Research, on October 5, 2010. Obesity has been associated with an increased incidence of many cancers, including leukemia, but it has been unknown whether the increase in incidence was a direct effect of obesity or associated with genetic, lifestyle, health, or socio-economic factors.

8 Sep 2010

Interventions targeting social cognition most effective in mitigating loneliness

Changing how a person perceives and thinks about others was the most effective intervention for loneliness, a sweeping analysis of previous research has determined. The findings may help physicians and psychologists develop better treatments for loneliness, a known risk factor for heart disease and other health problems.

8 Sep 2010

Bariatric surgery before pregnancy reduces odds of developing gestational diabetes

Obese women who have bariatric surgical procedures before pregnancy were three times less likely to develop gestational diabetes (GDM) than women who have bariatric operations after delivery, according to new research findings published in the August issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. The retrospective study also found that delivery after bariatric procedures was associated with reduced odds of cesarean section-an outcome associated with GDM.

8 Sep 2010

Penn receives $12M NIH grant to study pharmacogenetics of nicotine addiction treatment

A variety of smoking cessation treatments are currently available for the more than 18 million adult Americans try to quit smoking each year, but success rates vary widely. Despite the importance of quitting smoking, more personalized approaches to smoking cessation treatment are needed to help smokers pick the right method that will work best for them. A major new personalized medicine clinical trial, led by addiction researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, will study how a smokers' genetic make-up influences their quitting success.

8 Sep 2010

Static stretching leads to decreased running performance

Distance runners who stretch before running may not be able to run as far—and yet spend more energy doing it, according to a study in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning, official research journal of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.

8 Sep 2010

Study finds increase in bone morphogenetic protein usage for Off-Label procedures

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) is increasingly used as an alternative to the patient's own bone for spinal fusion surgery. Yet at least 85 percent of these procedures are operations for which BMP use has not been formally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), suggests a study in the September 1 issue of Spine.

8 Sep 2010

Further evidence on adverse effects of smoking on fertility

Two new studies have shed more light on how smoking may damage fertility, and give further weight to advice that mothers and fathers-to-be should stop smoking before attempting to conceive. The research is published online in the reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction today (Wednesday 8 September).

8 Sep 2010