Culture

First comprehensive ESC Guidelines on aortic diseases published

Barcelona, Spain – Saturday 30 August 2014: The first comprehensive ESC Guidelines on aortic diseases are published today. They are presented at ESC Congress 2014 by Task Force Chairpersons Professor Raimund Erbel (Germany) and Professor Victor Aboyans (France).

The "2014 ESC Guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of aortic diseases" are published today online in European Heart Journal (1) and on the ESC Website.

ESC/EACTS revascularization guidelines stress benefit of revascularization in stable CAD

Barcelona, Spain – Saturday 30 August 2014: The therapeutic benefit of revascularisation in coronary artery disease (CAD) is emphasised in the 2014 ESC/EACTS revascularisation guidelines presented at ESC Congress by joint Task Force Chairs Professor Stephan Windecker (Switzerland) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and Professor Philippe Kolh (Belgium) of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS).

Options for weight loss your primary care doctor might not know about

NEW YORK – August 29, 2014 - Despite US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations for screening and treating obesity, there are many barriers, several of which may be ameliorated through technological approaches according to a new study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center published online August 21, 2014 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine (JGIM).

Intervention needed for survivors of childhood burns

Adults who have been hospitalized for a burn as a child experience higher than usual rates of depression and suicidal thoughts, according to new research at the University of Adelaide.

A 30-year follow up of childhood burns victims has been conducted by the University's Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies. They found that 42% of people surveyed had suffered some form of mental illness and 30% suffered depression at some stage in their lives.

Mobile app on emergency cardiac care aids best decisions in seconds

Barcelona, Spain –Saturday 30 August 2014: The ACCA Clinical Decision-Making Toolkit mobile app is now available on the App Store and Google Play.

When dealing with acute cardiovascular diseases, a few seconds can make the difference and instant access to the best recommendations can save lives. This led the Acute Cardiovascular Care Association (ACCA) of the ESC to develop a user friendly interactive application, allowing professionals to have immediate access to diagnostics pathways on their mobile devices.

Prevent premature deaths from heart failure, urges the Heart Failure Association

Barcelona, Saturday 30 August 2014. The Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) is calling for global policy change relating to heart failure. An international white paper, Heart failure: preventing disease and death worldwide, was published in May 2014.

Real tremors, or drug-seeking patient? New app can tell

A 42-year-old investment banker arrives at the emergency department with complaints of nausea, vomiting, anxiety and tremor. He drinks alcohol every day—often at business lunches, and at home every evening. Worried about his health, he decided to quit drinking and had his last Scotch 24 hours before coming to emergency.

It's a common scenario in emergency rooms across Canada—a patient suddenly stops regular, excessive alcohol consumption and develops withdrawal.

Socioeconomic status and gender are associated with differences in cholesterol levels

A long-term lifestyle study reports differences between the sexes when it comes to fat profiles associated with socioeconomic status. Research in the open access journal BMC Public Health breaks down factors associated with social class and finds surprising inequalities between men and women.

The researchers found that men in social classes (based on occupation) with manual jobs had lower cholesterol levels than their counterparts in non-manual social classes. In contrast, women's LDL-cholesterol levels were more closely tied to their educational level than men.

New model predicts patients with type 1 diabetes who will go on to develop major complications

New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) presents a new model for predicting which patients with type 1 diabetes will go on to develop major complications, through easily and routinely measured risk factors. The research is by Assistant Professor Sabita Soedamah-Muthu, Wageningen University, Netherlands, and colleagues.

Study finds shortcomings in doctor-patient discussions about transplantation

Highlights

After Great Recession, Americans are unhappy, worried, pessimistic, Rutgers study finds

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – The protracted and uneven recovery from the Great Recession has led most Americans to conclude that the U.S. economy has undergone a permanent change for the worse, according to a new national study at Rutgers. Seven in 10 now say the recession's impact is permanent, up from half in 2009 when the recession officially ended, according to the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development. Among key findings in "Unhappy, Worried and Pessimistic: Americans in the Aftermath of the Great Recession," the center's latest Work Trends report, are:

Complications of tube insertion in ears not worse for kids with cleft lip/palate

Bottom Line: Children with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) have no worse complications from ventilation tube (VT) insertion in their ears to treat otitis media with effusion (OME, a buildup of fluid in the ear) or acute otitis media (AOM, a common ear infection), two conditions which can result in hearing loss.

Author: Ian Smillie, M.R.C.S. Ed., of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow, Scotland, and colleagues.

Deadly remedy: Warning issued about Chinese herbal medicine

A herbal preparation prescribed by a Chinese herbal medication practitioner in Melbourne for back pain resulted in life-threatening heart changes, prompting a team of intensive care and emergency physicians to call for appropriate patient education by practitioners who prescribe complementary medications.

Arthritis patients failing to take expensive medication, according to new research

Twenty seven per cent of rheumatoid arthritis patients in the study who were on a class of drugs known as anti-TNF therapies did not take them as prescribed in the first six months. Patients from Manchester Royal Infirmary were among those from 60 hospitals around the UK involved in the study.

Researchers from the Arthritis Research UK Centre for Genetics and Genomics at The University of Manchester, who led the study, warned that failure to take the drugs correctly, known as 'non-adherence', reduced their effectiveness and may lead to a worsening of patients' disease.

Indoor mold poses health risk to asthma sufferers

Damp and mould in homes could pose a significant health risk to people with asthma according to a new study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

By critically reviewing the findings from 17 studies in eight different countries, the research has found that the presence of several types of mould can lead to breathing problems in asthma sufferers, as well as increasing the likelihood of developing the condition.