The recent economic recession affected hospitals across the nation, regardless of financial status, but following the rebound, financially weak and safety-net hospitals continue to struggle, according to health researchers.
"Poor financial outcomes [for hospitals] could lead to poor care," said Naleef Fareed, assistant professor of health policy and administration, Penn State. "This is an issue that needs attention as health care reform moves forward."
In addition to its known capacity to promote bleeding events, aspirin also inhibits wound healing. New research published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine now describes how aspirin acts on key skin cells called keratinocytes, delaying skin repair at wound sites. A better understanding of this process offers hope for the development of drugs to encourage wounds to heal.
The more time a child is exposed to a parent addicted to smoking, the more likely the youth will not only take up cigarettes but also become a heavy smoker.
So warns a team of researchers led by Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center scientists in Pediatrics. The study, published online today, is among the first to take a prospective, intergenerational view of the impact a parent's behavior has on smoking risk for their adolescent offspring.
A new study by researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City has found that atrial fibrillation patients who are on blood thinning medications are at higher risk of developing dementia if their doses are not in the optimal recommended range.
The study of more than 2,600 AFib patients found they are significantly more likely to develop dementia when using medicines to prevent blood clots, such as warfarin, when their dosing is too high or too low for an extended period of time.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – May 6, 2014 – For over 30 years, aspirin has been known to prevent heart attacks and strokes, but who exactly should take a daily aspirin remains unclear. New research published today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes shows that your coronary artery calcium (CAC) score, a measurement of plaque in the arteries that feed the heart, may help determine whether or not you are a good candidate for aspirin.
The ability to create conducting polymer films in a variety of shapes, thicknesses and surface properties rapidly and inexpensively will make growing and testing cells easier and more flexible, according to a team of Penn State bioengineers.
Fresno, CA – New research presented last week at the Experimental Biology conference in San Diego, California, suggests that regular grape consumption may help alleviate pain associated with symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee, and improve joint flexibility and overall mobility. Researchers attribute these potential benefits to the polyphenols found in grapes.
Vivek Reddy, MD, Director of Arrhythmia Services for The Mount Sinai Hospital, reported his promising12-month follow-up data showing the world's first leadless pacemaker is demonstrating overall device performance comparable to conventional pacemakers. Dr. Reddy presented the one-year LEADLESS study data findings during his late-breaking clinical trial presentation on May 9 at Heart Rhythm 2014, the Heart Rhythm Society's 35th Annual Scientific Sessions in San Francisco, CA.
Amsterdam, 9 May. Rates of obesity and overweight in both male and females are projected to increase in almost all countries of Europe by 2030, according to a statistical modelling study. However, the forecast rates vary throughout the 53 Euro-region countries, with projected male obesity levels ranging from 15% in the Netherlands and Belgium, to 47% in Ireland. The highest obesity prevalence in females was projected in Ireland (47%), and the lowest in Romania (10%).
HOUSTON – (May 9, 2014) – Texas Hispanics were more than twice as likely as whites to have enrolled in health insurance plans offered through the Affordable Care Act's Health Insurance Marketplace between September 2013 and March 2014, according to a report released today by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation.
WASHINGTON, DC and NEW YORK (May 9, 2014)— An estimated 1.1 million community health center patients are left without the benefits of health coverage simply because they live in one of 24 states that have opted out of the Medicaid expansion, a key part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to a new report.
From the age of 30 onwards, physical inactivity exerts a greater impact on a woman's lifetime risk of developing heart disease than the other well-known risk factors, suggests research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
This includes overweight, the finding show, prompting the researchers to suggest that greater effort needs to be made to promote exercise.
Washington, DC (May 8, 2014) — More frequent face-to-face physician visits in the month following hospital discharge may help reduce a kidney failure patient's chances of needing to be sent back to the hospital. That's the conclusion of a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The study also found that closer outpatient monitoring of kidney failure patients following hospital discharge could cut health care costs significantly.
Social work researchers from the University of Washington have found that among a group of active-duty Army personnel who use illicit drugs, the most abused substance is synthetic marijuana, which is harder to detect than other drugs through standard drug tests.
The research will be published in the July 2014 issue of Addictive Behaviors, but is already online.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — By simply carrying around their cellphones, patients who suffer from chronic disease could soon have an accurate health monitor that warns their doctors when their symptoms worsen.