Culture

Input from a psychologist can help improve asthma symptoms

Munich, Germany: Psychological input into the treatment and management of people with severe asthma can help improve their symptoms, according to a new study.

People with severe asthma often experience symptoms that are difficult to treat. There is current debate in the healthcare community about the best way to treat these people. Around 27% of people with severe asthma are thought to experience psychological problems'; however, this isn't routinely addressed by asthma healthcare professionals.

Many patients in cancer centers may not experience a dignified death

A new study that surveyed physicians and nurses in hospitals within cancer centers in Germany suggests that many patients there do not experience a dignified death. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study indicates the need for cancer centers to invest more in palliative care services, adequate rooms for dying patients, staff training in end-of-life care, and advance-care-planning standards.

Many patients in cancer centers may not experience a dignified death

A new study that surveyed physicians and nurses in hospitals within cancer centers in Germany suggests that many patients there do not experience a dignified death. Published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study indicates the need for cancer centers to invest more in palliative care services, adequate rooms for dying patients, staff training in end-of-life care, and advance-care-planning standards.

The Lancet Respiratory Medicine: Benralizumab for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and sputum eosinophilia

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with eosinophilic airway inflammation in 10–20% of patients. Benralizumab, a monoclonal antibody, has been shown to decrease the number of blood and sputum eosinophils. In this trial of 101 patients with COPD whether benralizumab reduces the number of acute exacerbations was investigated. Benralizumab was found to be no more effective at preventing acute COPD exacerbations than placebo overall.

Molecular physics: Experience through movement at Stanford

Faculty members Michael St. Clair, left, and Camille Utterback work with dancers on a project building on the technology of 'dance Spectroscopy.'

Earlier this year, dS headlined at the Barbican, London's hot multi-arts and conference venue. Now it's coming west.

Patients call for health professionals to discuss care needs in life-threatening illnesses

Munich, Germany: Patients with COPD would like healthcare professionals to discuss palliative care needs in more detail, according to a new study.

Palliative care refers to care that is focused on making a person comfortable and relieving symptoms, rather than treating a condition. It is often connected with end-of-life care; although it can refer to any stage of care for any life-threatening condition.

Mandatory policy boosts flu vaccination rates among health care workers

DETROIT – Hospitals can greatly improve their flu vaccination rate among health care workers by using a mandatory employee vaccination policy, according to a Henry Ford Health System study.

Citing its own data, Henry Ford researchers say the health system achieved employee vaccination rates of 99 percent in the first two years of its mandatory policy, in which annual vaccination compliance is a condition of employment.

New single-dose influenza drug appears safe and effective

An analysis of phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials shows that a single injected dose of the neuraminidase inhibitor (NAI) peramivir is safe and effective at alleviating influenza symptoms, including fever and viral shedding, when administered within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms. Researchers report their findings today at the 54th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), an infectious diseases meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).

IBD patients: Consider giving infliximab a second try

Bethesda, MD (Sept. 5, 2014) — Restarting infliximab therapy after a drug holiday is safe and effective for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a new study1 in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association.

Hospitalizations for heart failure increase CKD patients' risk of kidney failure

Highlight

2-D or 3-D? That is the question

The increased visual realism of 3-D films is believed to offer viewers a more vivid and lifelike experience—more thrilling and intense than 2-D because it more closely approximates real life. However, psychology researchers at the University of Utah, among those who use film clips routinely in the lab to study patients' emotional conditions, have found that there is no significant difference between the two formats. The results were published recently in PLOS ONE.

Breast radiation trial provides more convenience, better compliance, lowered cost

SAN FRANCISCO – An experimental regimen of once-weekly breast irradiation following lumpectomy provides more convenience to patients at a lower cost, results in better completion rates of prescribed radiation treatment, and produces cosmetic outcomes comparable to the current standard of daily radiation.

INFORMS study: Customer experience matters more when economy is doing better, not worse

Customer experience matters more when the economy is doing well than when it is doing poorly, according to a new study in the Articles in Advance section of Marketing Science, a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).

Normal-weight counselors feel more successful at helping obese patients slim

A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that normal-weight nutrition and exercise counselors report feeling significantly more successful in getting their obese patients to lose weight than those who are overweight or obese.

A report on the findings, published online Sept. 4 in the journal Obesity, suggests that patients may be more receptive to those who "practice what they preach."

Phase III FIRST™ (MM-020/IFM 07-01) trial of REVLIMID® (lenalidomide) plus dexamethasone in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma pat

SUMMIT, N.J. (Sept. 4, 2014) – Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) today announced that data from FIRST (MM-020/IFM 07-01)—an open-label phase III randomized study of continuous REVLIMID (lenalidomide) in combination with dexamethasone in patients newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma (NDMM) who are not candidates for stem cell transplant—have been published in the Sept. 4 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.