Culture

People at the highest risk of shingles are those with immunosuppressive conditions (such as HIV) but they are not entitled to vaccination due to safety concerns, suggests a paper published on bmj.com today.

Researchers say alternative strategies are needed to reduce the risk of shingles among these patient groups.

Among patients with high cholesterol receiving moderate- or high-intensity statin therapy, the addition of the human monoclonal antibody evolocumab resulted in additional lowering of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, according to a study in the May 14 issue of JAMA.

An analysis of more than 120 studies that examined the effectiveness of medications to treat alcohol use disorders reports that acamprosate and oral naltrexone show the strongest evidence for decreasing alcohol consumption, according to a study in the May 14 issue of JAMA.

A new report by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, shows the socioeconomic status of congestive heart failure patients does not influence hospital rankings for heart failure readmissions.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — May 13, 2014 — A Mayo Clinic review of 47 studies found that 30-day readmissions can be reduced by almost 20 percent when specific efforts are taken to prevent them. Key among these are interventions to help patients deal with the work passed on to them at discharge. The results of the review are published in this week's issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.

Eyewitness accuracy declines steadily and quite measuredly as the distance increases. Additionally, a good deal of guess work or so-called "false alarms" also comes into play as the distance increases. These findings have implications for the trustworthiness of eyewitness accounts that are used to solve criminal cases. Research led by James Lampinen of the University of Arkansas in the US and published in Springer's journal Psychonomic Bulletin & Review sheds light on the matter.

HANOVER, NH – Providing patient-centered care consistently in clinical practice requires practitioners who are able to recognize that different clinical situations require different approaches and are skilled enough to adapt.

New rules banning fishermen from throwing away unwanted fish they have caught could harm wildlife – and fail to improve fish stocks, a University of Strathclyde report has found.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, suggests new reforms to the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) – ending the practice of throwing away unwanted fish caught at sea – may have unintended consequences. The new CFP took effect on 1 January 2014 and will phase out the discarding of fish between 2015 and 2019.

One in three women around the world have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner. Although domestic violence is associated with a range of adverse health impacts, even after the abuse has ended, it is not easily identified by health care professionals, prompting some countries, notably the United States, to introduce screening programmes in healthcare settings. A new study, published online by the BMJ today [13 May], has found no evidence to support domestic violence screening.

Many people at high risk for cardiovascular events, including those with coronary artery disease, diabetes or both, are not receiving statins despite evidence that these agents reduce adverse events.

Long-term follow-up of the DIGAMI 1 trial – a landmark study of type 2 diabetes in Sweden – shows that intensive insulin treatment prolonged life by more than 2 years in patients with diabetes after a heart attack, compared with standard treatment for diabetes, reports Dr Viveca Ritsinger from the Unit of Cardiology of the Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden and colleagues in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Living near foreclosed property may increase your risk of higher blood pressure, according to new research in Circulation.

The study provides the first evidence that foreclosed property may affect neighbors' systolic blood pressure, the top number in a blood pressure reading.

In the first large-scale study to directly measure wasteful spending in Medicare, researchers found that Medicare spent $1.9 billion in 2009 for patients to receive any of 26 tests and procedures that have been shown by empirical studies to offer little or no health benefit.

With an aging population comes an increase in hip and knee joint replacement surgeries, totaling almost one million procedures per year in the United States. To provide better information on the outcomes of these surgeries, help inform patient choice, and improve the quality of the nation's hospitals, a team of Yale School of Medicine researchers have developed a measure for hospitals based on the complications following their patients' hip and knee replacements.

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2014 — It was the video that started it all, and now the latest installment of the segment that is one-part Mendeleev, one-part MacGyver is here.

The American Chemical Society's (ACS') Reactions video team is proud to debut round two of chemistry life hacks. This volume is packed full of new chemistry-fueled solutions for everyday problems, like spotting rotten eggs, reviving soggy green vegetables and fixing busted buttons.