Mortality News and Research

RSS

Los Angeles Times examines health care in Sierra Leone

The Los Angeles Times writes: "Sierra Leone is one of those nations where decades of foreign aid have failed to appreciably lift the fortunes of the people. The country is a charity case: 60% of its public spending comes from foreign governments and nonprofit organizations.

16 Nov 2009

Lack of hemophilia treatment in the developing world costing lives

When modern medicine finds a way to treat a medical condition, people often think that the problem is solved. But we also have to find ways to get that treatment into the hands of those who need it. For example, new research from North Carolina State University shows that much more needs to be done to help get existing treatment to hemophilia patients in the developing world, and that the current lack of treatment there is costing lives.

16 Nov 2009

Transcendental Meditation lowers rates of heart attack, stroke, and death

Patients with coronary heart disease who practiced the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation® technique had nearly 50 percent lower rates of heart attack, stroke, and death compared to nonmeditating controls, according to the results of a first-ever study presented during the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Fla., on Nov.16, 2009.

16 Nov 2009

New faces of HIV/AIDS: A report

World AIDS Day 2009 will be marked with both grim and hopeful data: more than 25 million people have died of AIDS worldwide since 1981; 33 million are living with HIV/AIDS. While potent, effective medications have changed an HIV diagnosis from death sentence to manageable chronic illness in resource rich countries, global rates of infection still outstrip prevention and treatment capacity.

16 Nov 2009

RecordAF presents results of recently diagnosed and treated patients with atrial fibrillation

Results from the RecordAF registry (REgistry on Cardiac rhythm disORDers assessing the control of Atrial Fibrillation), presented today at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association, show that in recently diagnosed and actively treated patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), a rhythm-control strategy provides better short term control of the arrhythmia versus a rate-control strategy but does not translate into a reduction in the occurrence of clinical events at 1 year.

16 Nov 2009

Low-cost, simple interventions could save 2.5 million child lives a year: World Vision

Almost a third of the children under age five who die each year could be saved if governments rebalance health spending to ensure low-cost, simple interventions such as safe water and hygiene, bed nets and basic maternal and newborn care, leading aid agency World Vision said today. Currently, 8.8 million children a year die before age five, most of preventable causes.

16 Nov 2009

New reversible blood thinner for angioplasty patients not superior over placebo

A new reversible blood thinner for angioplasty patients wasn't superior over placebo for its primary combined endpoint of heart attack, all-cause mortality and need for revascularization, but it reduced mortality and in-stent blood clots, researchers reported in a late-breaking clinical trial presentation at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009.

16 Nov 2009

New reversible oral anti-platelet medication had fewer cardiac events in heart attack patients

Acutely ill heart attack patients who received both aspirin and a new reversible oral anti-platelet medication had fewer cardiac events than patients on aspirin and the most commonly used, irreversible anti-platelet drug, researchers reported in a late-breaking clinical trial presentation at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009.

16 Nov 2009

Recent releases in Global Health

As a follow-up to a survey conducted in May 2009, this poll examines Americans' attitudes toward U.S. global health investments and priorities.

16 Nov 2009

NIDA awards $17 million to University of California to establish TMARC

Igor Grant, MD, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and colleagues have been awarded a $17 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to establish the Translational Methamphetamine AIDS Research Center (TMARC) at UC San Diego. Grant is director of the HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center (HNRC), a clinical research center designated and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

16 Nov 2009

Maternal mortality, abortion rates decline in former Soviet bloc

Over the last decade, the maternal mortality rate has dropped by 50 percent in some former Soviet bloc and Balkan countries, according to a U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) report released Thursday, Agence France-Presse/France24 reports.

16 Nov 2009

New York Times examines impact of small, direct grants to boost development in Afghan village

The New York Times examines the use of small, direct grants to improve health and development in Afghanistan. The article focuses on efforts in "Jurm, a valley in the windswept mountainous province of Badakhshan, in the northeast," where small amounts of money - "often less than $100,000" - were given directly to villagers.

16 Nov 2009

Phase I clinical study for ETC-1002 commenced

Esperion Therapeutics, a privately held biotechnology company working to discover, develop and commercialize treatments for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, today announced that the company has initiated a Phase I clinical study for ETC-1002, the company's novel small molecule compound designed to beneficially regulate the levels of plasma lipids and lipoproteins.

16 Nov 2009

Study confirms that people with severe mental disorders more at risk of dying from heart disease

A large new study confirms that people with severe mental disorders — such as schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders — are 25 percent to 40 percent more prone to die from heart disease than people without mental illness are.

13 Nov 2009

Vanderbilt University researchers study role of statins in reducing flu-related deaths

Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers are studying statins, the class of drugs long associated with lowering cholesterol, as a way to reduce H1N1-related deaths.

13 Nov 2009

Mechanical ventilation damages lungs, says scientist

As more Canadians are diagnosed with H1N1 influenza infection, some will be admitted to hospital. The most severely affected may be treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) and placed on a mechanical ventilator to help them breathe while they recover from the infection.

13 Nov 2009

Adult smoking declines have stopped, says government report

The government's report today that adult smoking declines have stalled since 2004 is an urgent warning to elected officials that it is premature to declare victory over tobacco and much more must be done to continue reducing tobacco use, which remains the number one preventable cause of death in the United States.

13 Nov 2009

Results from first-in-man study of NO-donating HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor released

NicOx S.A. today announced that a phase 1b, first-in-man study for NCX 6560, versus placebo and Lipitor® (atorvastatin), has met its primary and secondary objectives. The top-line results demonstrated very good safety and tolerability for all the tested doses of NCX 6560, as well as the expected cholesterol lowering profile.

13 Nov 2009

Report on the epidemiology of PAD, TAO and CLI in India

A new analysis published by THE SAGE GROUP concludes that atherosclerotic peripheral arterial disease (PAD) afflicts over 20 million in India. Both PAD and CLI represent major and significantly underestimated problems for the Indian economy and healthcare system.

13 Nov 2009

Exposure to deadly bacteria can result in stillbirths

A new study shows the risk for severe effects of exposure to Listeria monocytogenes among susceptible populations may occur at doses lower than suggested by previous studies.

13 Nov 2009