Malaria has long been endemic to the country of Kenya a fact that s not helped by the population s low compliance with treatment guidelines. But because cell phone use happens to be about as widespread as malaria, some enterprising researchers decided to take advantage of this concurrence by using text-messaging to remind health workers to adhere to national malaria treatment guidelines.
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It seems that the latest trend in treating cancer is a combination of cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (Hipec) or, as it is more familiarly called, hot chemotherapy.
Pregnant women of normal weight who were taking a multivitamin four weeks prior to and eight weeks after their last menstrual cycle had a 20 percent lower risk of delivering a preterm or small-for-age baby. Those are the results of a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition of 36,000 Danish women conducted by researchers from the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh.
A U.K. study just published in The Lancet suggests that ambulatory blood pressure monitoring could soon become standard practice for patients thought to have high blood pressure. The method requires a patient to wear a blood pressure cuff for a 24-hour period, which takes readings automatically at hourly and half-hourly intervals, and generates a report from the recorded data when the patient returns the device.
And, speaking of mistruths in advertising, soy supplements are another product whose health claims have not panned out.
And, from the Annals of What s Wrong with Outsourcing, a new study suggests that clinical trials conducted outside the U.S. may not be a reliable indication of a drug s efficacy for its intended American population. The study, just published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found that beta blockers had no effect when tested on U.S.
How is the birth control pill like a flu shot? According to the Department of Health and Human Service s newly adopted health recommendations, prescription contraception should join the list of items that health insurers offer at no charge. Since birth control is the most common drug prescribed to women ages 18 to 44, insurance plans should cover it, said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
It has long been clear that autism runs in families; for some time, scientists have estimated that the likelihood of having a second child with autism is between 3 and 10 percent for families who already have one child with the disorder. Now, a new study appearing in the journal Pediatrics has found that risk to be significantly higher.
We d like to take a moment to remember former New York Governor Hugh Carey. In addition to accomplishing a great deal during his two terms as governor (1974-1982), Carey was an enduring supporter and friend of ACSH. Here, you can read a 2004 interview ACSH conducted with the former governor, a discussion that touches on the Love Canal controversy and on chemophobia in general.
A recent UK study has compared the results of following standard weight loss guidelines to those achieved by the commercial weight loss program Weight Watchers and found that people were much more likely to drop kilos or pounds, in our country in the latter program. In fact, participants in the study lost twice as much weight on the commercial program, reports the UK Medical Research Council in The Lancet.
About 40 percent of cigarettes in New Jersey are smuggled into the state, according to a recent state Treasury Department report. And the figure hardly seems surprising, given that New Jersey levels a $2.70 tax on each pack of cigarettes sold. The high tax has created not only a significant black market for cigarettes in the state, but has also resulted in smokers purchasing their cigarettes out of state either via the Internet or by driving across state lines.
Large-scale outbreaks of foodborne illness have recently focused attention on the ability of the U.S. food safety system to protect the public health, writes Michael R. Taylor, the Deputy Commissioner for Foods at the FDA. In an article appearing in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Taylor outlines both the issues that have moved the agency to action and the components of the new Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
That the prevalence of obesity is rising in the U.S. is no secret. However, few people may realize that, among the other obesity-related diseases more commonly cited, such excess body weight puts them at risk for gout. In fact, the number of Americans with this very painful form of arthritis is on the rise: Between 1988 and 1994, just 1 percent of Americans had been diagnosed with gout; in 2008 that number was estimated at 4 percent, according to government health surveys.
As we ve reported several times, estrogen replacement therapy either with or without progesterone is currently the most effective means of treating menopausal symptoms. Now, a study just published in the journal Menopause has found that a skin patch that delivers the hormone has even fewer risks than the already quite safe standard method of delivery, pills. The general term for such hormone supplementation is hormone replacement therapy, or HRT.
The battle of the statins has resulted in a draw, as the data from the two-year SATURN study of over 1,300 patients are in. Scientists found that AstraZeneca s Crestor (rosuvastatin) and Pfizer s Lipitor (atorvastatin) actually have comparable effects when it comes to lowering the volume of fatty deposits in the arteries of patients with coronary disease a conclusion that surprised both cardiologists and AstraZeneca.
Simply stated, says ACSH s Dr. Ruth Kava, this is good news. Now people have the choice of taking either drug without sacrificing any of the benefits.
Cardiovascular disease affects more than 100 million people worldwide, yet the inexpensive drugs that could lower the risk for recurrence of these life-threatening illnesses are not getting to the majority of patients who need them.
The findings of a recent worldwide trial show that the new anticoagulant drug apixaban was 21 percent more effective at preventing strokes in patients with atrial fibrilliation than warfarin (Coumadin), the current standard of care. The study, presented at the European Society of Cardiology in Paris and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, spanned nearly two years and included over 18,000 participants.
A new study in the journal Menopause suggests that too many women are being unnecessarily screened for osteoporosis.
We've previously questioned some of the studies that have been accepted for publication in the journal Pediatrics, and now Dr. Sara B. DeMauro of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has done the same in her study which appears in that very journal.
Dementia is among the leading causes of death among older adults, but researchers from the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at Indiana University set out to determine if milder forms of cognitive impairment are also associated with an increase in long-term mortality among patients aged 60 and older. For the study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, nearly 4,000 patients were recruited between 1991 and 1993 and screened for cognitive impairment.
Those who suffer from the condition called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are often subject to acute episodes that include a worsening cough, wheezing, and difficulty breathing.
If the New York City Department of Education were graded on its provision of proper physical education for city students, it would receive a big fat F.
Screening healthy men for prostate cancer with a PSA blood test does more harm than good, a major government health panel has decided. The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), whose recommendations are usually followed by most medical groups and insurers, will next week release its draft recommendation stating that healthy men over 50 should no longer receive the test.
We ve often discussed the safety and benefits of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. We ve stressed how effective it is in preventing cervical cancer, as well as anal and oral cancer and genital warts in both men and women.
Household vinegar. Liquified carbon dioxide. Rural clinics. In Thailand, a successful procedure to screen for and treat cervical cancer demonstrates that innovative medicine need not always be at the cutting edge of technology.
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