Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Experts warn Australia is surrounded by a ring of disease hot-spots

Australian biosecurity experts have warned that Australia is surrounded to its north by a 'ring of fire' where new human and animal plagues could appear with very little warning and with potentially dire consequences.

6 Jan 2009

Many teens discuss health risk behaviors on social networking websites

In a pair of related studies released by Seattle Children's Research Institute and published in the January 2009 issue of Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine , researchers found that 54 percent of adolescents frequently discuss high-risk activities including sexual behavior, substance abuse or violence using MySpace, the popular social networking Web site (SNS).

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

Watson Pharmaceuticals receives FDA approval for mint coated nicotine gum

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration to market its over-the-counter Nicotine Polacrilex Gum USP, coated mint flavor, in the 2 mg and 4 mg strengths.

1 Jan 2009

The culture of medicine

Everybody is familiar with the stereotypes of medical education from the student perspective: grueling hours, little recognition, and even less glory.

1 Jan 2009

Study examines impact of managed care on stroke prevention surgery

Policymakers and economists often promote managed-care plans based on the assumption that they prevent the overuse of unnecessary surgical procedures or help steer patients to high-quality providers, compared to traditional fee-for-service insurance plans.

1 Jan 2009

Medication errors among adults and children with cancer in the outpatient setting common

Seven percent of adults and 19 percent of children taking chemotherapy drugs in outpatient clinics or at home were given the wrong dose or experienced other mistakes involving their medications, according to a new study supported in part by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality through its Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics program.

1 Jan 2009

More private patients in public Australian hospital beds

According to a new report more Australian privately insured patients used the public hospital system last year than previously and there are concerns that encouraging people to take out private health insurance is doing little to reduce the burden on the public health system.

30 Dec 2008

Physicians perform rare surgery to restore hearing to a deaf patient

Marisela Leon, 44, has neurofibromatosis type 2 -- a rare genetic condition that causes tumors to grow on nerves in the brain or spinal cord, but most commonly on the auditory nerve. Leon lost her hearing more than four years ago when surgery to remove a tumor damaged her auditory nerve.

22 Dec 2008

Fewer hospitalizations for bleeding in digestive system

Improved treatments for acid reflux disease, ulcers, arthritis and other conditions helped reduce hospital admission rates for internal bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract by 14 percent from 1998 to 2006, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

18 Dec 2008

Magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging predicts effects of multiple sclerosis flare-ups on optic nerve

One of the most pernicious aspects of multiple sclerosis (MS) - its sheer unpredictability - may finally be starting to yield to advanced medical imaging techniques.

17 Dec 2008

Informed consent process has lost its educational value

It's time patient consent forms came back full circle to a tool for patient education, rather than the waiver of liability they have become.

17 Dec 2008

Relationship of dialysis modality and mortality

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

Study to examine how breastfeeding impacts cost of healthcare for very low birth weight babies

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded nearly $3 million to support Rush University Medical Center's study analyzing how human breast milk impacts the health outcomes and health care cost savings for very low birth weight infants – babies less than 1500 grams.

16 Dec 2008

Healthcare leaders vow to stop intravenous medication errors

Intravenous (i.v.) medication errors are twice as likely to cause harm to patients as medications delivered by other routes of administration (such as tablets or liquids), according to research commissioned by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).

16 Dec 2008

GPs 'could do more' to help obese avoid surgery

Surgery to treat obesity could be avoided if GPs and healthcare trusts put more time and money into early stage weight management programmes, a senior clinical researcher will say today (Wednesday, 17 December, 2008).

From The University of Manchester 16 Dec 2008

Low income men diagnosed more often with advanced prostate cancer

Coincident with the widespread adoption of PSA screening, the proportion of American men diagnosed with organ-confined, low risk prostate cancer has increased significantly during the last two decades. In a study scheduled for publication in the February 2009 issue of The Journal of Urology, researchers report that for low-income men, the opposite is true, with more men undiagnosed until their cancers had reached more advanced stages.

16 Dec 2008

Study to identify best rehabilitation therapies for patients with traumatic brain injuries

Rush University Medical Center and 10 other healthcare facilities in the U.S. and Canada have been awarded a $4.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to identify which rehabilitation therapies, or combination of therapies, can best help victims of traumatic brain injuries.

15 Dec 2008

Proactive care saves lives of seniors

Can a patient-centered, care management program utilizing nurse care managers and interdisciplinary teams, supported by electronic tracking and care coordination systems reduce the rate of deaths and hospitalizations among chronically ill older adults?

15 Dec 2008

Lessons from Northwick Park drug-trial disaster

Scientists investigating the 2006 Northwick Park drug-trial disaster that left six healthy volunteers hospitalised say they have developed new pre-clinical tests that could have stopped the trial from ever going ahead.

From The University of Manchester 15 Dec 2008