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New scientific findings in anticoagulation for stroke prevention

New scientific findings in anticoagulation for stroke prevention are paving the way for updates to the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation.

14 Jun 2012

Acute levodopa may worsen motor plasticity in late-stage PD

Administering acute doses of levodopa appears to worsen motor cortex plasticity as Parkinson’s disease advances, researchers report.

14 Jun 2012

Potential predictor of fast PD progression identified

The identification of genetic variants of the α-synuclein gene may help to predict which individuals with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease are likely to experience fast progression of motor symptoms, according to findings from a US-based genetic study.

14 Jun 2012

Surgeon, not hospital expertise affects spine surgery outcome

The risk for complications after spine surgery are significantly lower among patients treated by very high-volume surgeons compared with those treated by very low-volume ones, report US researchers.

14 Jun 2012

Cancer experts call for global action on diesel fumes

Diesel exhaust fumes have been classified as carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, following a week-long meeting of international experts.

14 Jun 2012

Inadequate information encoding linked to poor language ability

Study findings suggest that the impaired ability to retain and repeat unfamiliar phoneme sequences in children with specific language impairment reflects inadequate encoding of phonologic information, rather than problems retaining encoded information.

14 Jun 2012

Oxidative stress linked to NSS severity in schizophrenia

The severity of neurologic soft signs negatively correlates with antioxidant superoxide dismutase activity in patients with schizophrenia, research shows.

14 Jun 2012

Tooth scaling reduces CV disease risk

Taiwanese study results show that undergoing tooth scaling significantly reduces the risk for future myocardial infarction, stroke, and total cardiovascular events.

14 Jun 2012

Prior chemotherapy extends postpalliative survival in pancreatic cancer

Patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer have a more favorable prognosis after palliative chemoradiotherapy if they have previously been treated with a gemcitabine-based therapy, say Danish researchers.

14 Jun 2012

Laparoscopy technique lights up invisible metastases

Fluorescence laparoscopy could be the way forward for cancer surgery and staging, say researchers writing in the Archives of Surgery.

14 Jun 2012

Preterm birth increases psychiatric disorder risk

Individuals born preterm are at increased risk for a range of psychiatric disorders in young adulthood, researchers report.

14 Jun 2012

Dark chocolate cuts CV risk in metabolic syndrome

Eating dark chocolate on a daily basis appears to decrease risk for cardiovascular events in patients with the metabolic syndrome, say researchers.

14 Jun 2012

Osteoporosis self-reports unreliable measure for case defintions

Self-reports of incident osteoporosis in middle-aged and older women should not be relied on for a case definition, suggest study findings showing poor-to-moderate validity for this measure.

14 Jun 2012

Targeting noradrenergic system combats gait freezing in Parkinson’s patients

Methylphenidate may be a useful treatment for patients with advanced Parkinson's disease receiving subthalamic nucleus stimulation who experience gait hypokinesia and freezing, show findings from a randomized trial.

14 Jun 2012

First inventory of microbial diversity in the world's oceans

The landmark publication this week of a "map" of the bacterial make-up of healthy humans has deep roots in an unexpected place: the ocean.

14 Jun 2012

Multimedia intervention effective in changing patients' perceptions, attitudes toward clinical trials

Seeking ways to change cancer patients' perceptions and negative attitudes towards clinical trials participation, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center conducted a study offering two different kinds of intervention to two groups of adults with cancer who had not previously been asked to participate in clinical trials. They found a multimedia psychoeducational intervention to be more effective in changing patients' perceptions and negative attitudes toward clinical trials than standard educational literature.

14 Jun 2012

Clinical trials can benefit under-represented populations in developing countries

While conducting more clinical trials in developing countries can help under-represented populations benefit from new medical developments, trials in low-income settings face challenges such as complicated regulations, Trudie Lang of the Centre for Tropical Medicine at the University of Oxford and Sisira Siribaddana of the University of Rajarata and the Institute of Research & Development in Sri Lanka write in an essay published Tuesday in PLoS Medicine.

14 Jun 2012