Culture

Scientists from Queen Mary University of London have found text messaging prevents one in six patients from forgetting to take, or stopping, their prescribed medicines.

The randomised trial, published today in the journal PLOS ONE, tested whether text messaging improved the use of blood pressure and cholesterol lowering medication for the prevention of heart attacks and stroke - the most common causes of death worldwide.

The Ku Klux Klan's failure to defeat the black civil rights moment is well documented, but the group's lesser-known legacy may be its lasting impact on the U.S. political system, according to a paper published in the December issue of the American Sociological Review.

CHICAGO (December 5, 2014): Malnutrition is an important factor predicting long-term survival in older patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) (commonly called the Whipple procedure) to treat benign tumors and cysts of the pancreas as well as pancreatitis, according to new study results published in the December issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

ABBOTT PARK, Ill., Dec. 4, 2014 - Even in food-abundant industrialized countries like the U.S., an alarming number of people, particularly seniors, are in a state of diseased-associated malnutrition . Because of the impact on patient health, disease-associated malnutrition imposes a significant economic burden on society of $157 billion per year, according to new research published in a supplemental issue of the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (JPEN) and supported by Abbott .

Genetic mutations may cause more cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) than scientists previously had realized, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The scientists also showed that the number of mutated genes influences the age when the fatal paralyzing disorder first appears.

Apixaban (trade name Eliquis) has been approved since July 2014 for acute treatment of adults with deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. In addition, the drug can be used for low-dose long-term treatment to prevent recurrent thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined in a dossier assessment whether in these cases the drug offers patients an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapies.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- A "Viewpoint" published in JAMA urges readers to be patient with the new federal Open Payments Program database. The site, designed to report drug and device industry payments to physicians, debuted substantially incomplete, the authors wrote, but it is too important to dismiss before its shortcomings are addressed.

The widespread misconception that there are no proven treatments for Ebola virus disease has meant that simple treatments - especially intravenous fluids and electrolytes, which could reduce the number of deaths caused by the virus - have been neglected, according to a new Comment, published in The Lancet.

This news release is available in French.

Highlight

The eyes are arguably the most important features of an individual's face, if not a window to the soul, so the use of generic eye models when creating digital faces can have disappointing results. Scientists at Disney Research Zurich, noting the significant variation in eyes between individuals, have devised methods for faithfully capturing those features.

No relevant delay between referral and treatment was found when teleophthalmology was used to screen for suspected age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and, while teleophthalmology monitoring for recurrence of AMD did result in an average longer wait time for treatment reinitiation, it did not result in worse visual outcomes, according to a study published online by JAMA Ophthalmology.

WASHINGTON - Children in emergency departments can safely be treated for pain from limb injuries using intranasal ketamine, a drug more typically used for sedation, according to the results of the first randomized, controlled trial comparing intranasal analgesics in children in the emergency department.

In what is believed to be the first interview-style qualitative study of its kind among health care providers in the trenches, a team led by a Johns Hopkins geriatrician has further documented barriers to better care of older adults as they are transferred from hospital to rehabilitation center to home, and too often back again.

Nalmefene (trade name Selincro) has been approved since February 2013 for people with alcohol dependence who currently drink a lot of alcohol, but who do not have physical withdrawal symptoms and who do not require immediate detoxification. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined in a dossier assessment whether the drug offers an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapy in this patient group.