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Quick dose of empathy may help close racial gaps in pain treatment

Years of research show black patients getting less treatment in the American health care system than their white counterparts, but a new study suggests that a quick dose of empathy helps close racial gaps in pain treatment.

8 Mar 2011

Study: Residential treatment greatly improves smoking abstinence

In the March issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers report that residential treatment for tobacco dependence among heavy smokers greatly improves the odds of abstinence at six months compared with standard outpatient treatment.

8 Mar 2011

Harvard study finds increase in medical bankruptcies in Massachusetts

The percentage of personal bankruptcies linked to medical bills or illness changed little, and the absolute number actually increased in Massachusetts after the implementation of its landmark 2006 law requiring people to buy health insurance, a Harvard study says.

8 Mar 2011

Post-discharge calls to patients help reduce 30-day readmissions, improve satisfaction

A recent study shows that post-discharge calls to patients help reduce 30-day readmissions and improve patient satisfaction. The yearlong study, conducted by Beryl, a technology-focused patient experience services company dedicated to improving relationships between healthcare providers and consumers, included data from four hospitals using Beryl's Post-Discharge Services to provide follow-up calls and monitor results.

8 Mar 2011

Vegetables can help reverse or prevent cancers

Mothers around the world now collectively can say, "I told you so." Your vegetables are good for you, says a research review published by scientists from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the journal Clinical Epigenetics.

8 Mar 2011

Institute for Genome Sciences plays key role in investigation of anthrax attacks

Researchers at the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and collaborators at the FBI, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and Northern Arizona University have published the first scientific paper based on their investigation into the anthrax attacks of 2001.

8 Mar 2011

New insight into multiple sclerosis

Scientists have blocked harmful immune cells from entering the brain in mice with a condition similar to multiple sclerosis.

8 Mar 2011

Study shows that satisfaction of older parents rise with more number of children

The satisfaction of young parents decreases with their number of children, while older parents are happier than their childless peers.

8 Mar 2011

SMER28 can reduce beta-amyloid accumulation in patients with Alzheimer's disease

If you can't stop the beta-amyloid protein plaques from forming in Alzheimer's disease patients, then maybe you can help the body rid itself of them instead. At least that's what scientists from New York were hoping for when they found a drug candidate to do just that.

8 Mar 2011

Study reveals prevalence of overweight in Sweden schoolchildren

Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy - University of Gothenburg, Sweden - and Karolinska Institutet have carried out the first ever national study of the prevalence of overweight and obesity in schoolchildren.

8 Mar 2011

Study: Role of air pollutants in cardiometabolic syndrome

To explore one of the most critical health/environment intersections - how the very air we breathe can cause heart disease and diabetes and contribute to the problems of obesity - Michigan State University has been named a Clean Air Research Center by the Environmental Protection Agency.

8 Mar 2011

Scientists develop new method that uncovers combined effects of genes

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and the German Cancer Research Centre, both in Heidelberg, Germany, have developed a new method that uncovers the combined effects of genes.

8 Mar 2011

Klotho protein discovery can lead to new class of drugs for treatment of obesity

An important discovery in mice may make a big difference in people's waistlines thanks to a team of Harvard scientists who found that reducing the function of a transmembrane protein, called Klotho, in obese mice with high blood sugar levels produced lean mice with reduced blood sugar levels.

8 Mar 2011

New study: Circadian system may contribute to daily pattern of vasovagal syncope

Fainting, or syncope, is quite common. About 50% of people will experience fainting at some point during their lifetime. The most common type of fainting is vasovagal syncope that is caused by a sudden drop in blood pressure resulting in reduced blood flow to the brain.

8 Mar 2011

Study: Moderate drinking can reduce risk of dementia even among older adults

3202 German individuals attending general practitioners , who were free of dementia were studied at baseline, were followed up 1.5 years and 3 years later by means of structured clinical interviews including detailed assessment of current alcohol consumption and DSM-IV dementia diagnoses.

8 Mar 2011

Study: Physicians' empathy can improve patients' positive clinical outcomes

It has been thought that the quality of the physician-patient relationship is integral to positive outcomes but until now, data to confirm such beliefs has been hard to find. Through a landmark study, a research team from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University has been able to quantify a relationship between physicians' empathy and their patients' positive clinical outcomes, suggesting that a physician's empathy is an important factor associated with clinical competence.

8 Mar 2011

Study shows how individual cells behave during blood vessel formation

Biologists tend to look at cells in bulk, observing them as a group and taking the average behavior as the norm - the assumption is that genetically identical cells all behave the same way.

8 Mar 2011

Scientists receive March of Dimes grant for preterm birth research

With the help of funding from the March of Dimes, scientists will study whether low doses of inhaled carbon monoxide may prevent inflammation that triggers preterm labor, analyze the role genes play in causing preterm delivery, and develop blood tests to help identify women at risk of preterm delivery.

8 Mar 2011

Two studies show how laminin plays a central role in breast cancer development

Laminin, long thought to be only a structural support protein in the microenvironment of breast and other epithelial tissues, is "famous" for its cross-like shape.

8 Mar 2011