Mortality News and Research

RSS

Simple surgical checklist during major operations lowers deaths and complications

A collection of hospitals in eight cities around the globe has successfully demonstrated that the use of a simple surgical checklist during major operations can lower the incidence of deaths and complications by more than one third.

15 Jan 2009

Research confirms value of risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy for women with BRCA mutations

Prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy-removal of the ovaries and fallopian tubes--reduces the relative risk of breast cancer by approximately 50 percent and the risk of ovarian and fallopian tube cancer by approximately 80 percent in women who carry a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, researchers report in the January 13 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

13 Jan 2009

Diabetics with previous foot ulcers may be able to participate in walking program

More than 20 million Americans are living with diabetes, and that number is expected to increase by more than 5 million by 2010.

13 Jan 2009

Statistical analysis of bladder cancer

Bladder cancer is much more likely to be deadly for women and African-Americans, but the reasons long believed to explain the phenomenon account for only part of the differences for such patients compared to their white and male counterparts, according to results published in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Cancer.

9 Jan 2009

Smoking prevention programs badly needed in China

A study published this month in The New England Journal of Medicine, "Mortality Attributable to Smoking in China," provides an estimate of the number of premature deaths in China in 2005 that were caused by smoking.

9 Jan 2009

Mortality rates higher for heart disease patients in neighbourhoods with poor socioeconomics status

Heart disease patients living in poorer areas of B.C. are up to twice as likely to die from chronic diseases than patients living in better-off areas, a University of British Columbia study has found.

8 Jan 2009

Metabolic syndrome risk for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder

Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more likely to have metabolic syndrome than veterans without PTSD.

7 Jan 2009

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators improve survival in older heart patients

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) can improve survival in patients with heart damage - even those in their 70s - according to research reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

6 Jan 2009

Chimerix completes phase I study and starts phase II multi-dose trial for CMX001

Chimerix, Inc., a biotechnology company developing orally available antiviral therapeutics, has announced that the Company has completed a single and multi-dose Phase I study of CMX001 in healthy volunteers.

6 Jan 2009

Maternity leave appears to decrease cesarean deliveries and increase breastfeeding

Two new studies led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, suggest that taking maternity leave before and after the birth of a baby is a good investment in terms of health benefits for both mothers and newborns.

5 Jan 2009

New blood fights cancer

"New blood" can revitalize a company or a sports team. Recent research by Tel Aviv University finds that young blood does a body good as well, especially when it comes to fighting cancer.

1 Jan 2009

Vitamins C and E and beta carotene again fail to reduce cancer risk in randomized controlled trial

Women who took beta carotene or vitamin C or E or a combination of the supplements had a similar risk of cancer as women who did not take the supplements, according to data from a randomized controlled trial in the December 30 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

1 Jan 2009

Cystic fibrosis patients' self-assessment of health can predict prognosis

Adult Cystic Fibrosis patients can provide important information that helps to predict their prognosis, according to research that asked 223 adult CF patients to assess their own health and well-being.

30 Dec 2008

Bowel cancer screening set to save thousands of lives

Bowel cancer screening is predicted to save over two and a half thousand lives every year in the UK by 2025, according to new research published in the Journal of Medical Screening.

29 Dec 2008

Man dies from flesh-eating disease

A rare flesh-eating disease has claimed the life of a man in Britain. The 60 year old man Tony Williamson died days after a flesh-eating disease spread through his body from a small cut on the inside of his right arm.

28 Dec 2008

Patient-derived induced stem cells retain disease traits

The dying cells - the same type lost in patients with the devastating neurological disease spinal muscular atrophy - confirmed that the University of Wisconsin-Madison stem cell biologist had recreated the hallmarks of a genetic disorder in the lab, using stem cells derived from a patient.

22 Dec 2008

Hexokinase-1 gene variation associated with widely used marker of blood glucose concentration

Scientists have found that genetic variation at the hexokinase-1 gene is linked to variation in the blood concentration of glycated hemoglobin, an index of long-term blood glucose concentration widely used in the follow-up of diabetes patients.

22 Dec 2008

Drug eluting stents provide better outcomes that bare metal stents in angioplasty

Patients receiving drug eluting stents (DES) - stents coated with medication to prevent narrowing of the artery - as part of an angioplasty had better outcomes one year later than patients with bare metal stents, according to a new study to be published in CMAJ.

18 Dec 2008

Optimal dialysis treatment differs among kidney disease patients

For kidney disease patients who need to undergo dialysis, one type of treatment is not best for all, according to a study appearing in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology ( JASN ).

17 Dec 2008

Policymakers, the media and the public should use 20 specific health indicators

Policymakers, the media, and the public should focus on 20 specific health indicators as "yardsticks" to measure the overall health and well-being of Americans, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.