COLUMBIA, Mo. (Feb. 04, 2016) ? Randomized controlled trials often are considered the gold standard of research studies that help guide the medical care of patients across the world. However, in hospices, randomized controlled trials are difficult to conduct since patients are so close to the end of their lives, causing a gap in research that could improve the quality of hospice care overall. Now, a University of Missouri School of Medicine researcher has found that only 10 randomized controlled trials have taken place in U.S. hospices since 1985.
Culture
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a molecular regulator that allows salmonella bacteria to switch from actively causing disease to lurking in a chronic but asymptomatic state called a biofilm.
Their findings are published in the online journal, eLife.
New Haven, Conn.-- Better quality of care may reduce the risk of death for patients who are prescribed opioid painkillers for chronic pain, say Yale researchers. Their study, published Feb. 4 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, offers evidence that supports recommendations from clinical practice guidelines encouraging physicians to engage patients with mental health services and substance abuse treatment, as well as to avoid co-prescriptions for sedatives.
Why people lose their locks in old age may be related to the aging of hair follicle stem cells, two new studies suggest. Though it is known that mammals that live for longer lifespans lose their hair, the mechanisms underlying this fate have been a mystery. Hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs), which generate the sacs or follicles that produce hair, keep hair growth going repeatedly over time. Surprisingly, they have even been shown, in mice experiments, to resist aging.
A new analysis of one of the most widespread honeybee viruses, deformed wing virus, or DWV, shows that the virus has gone from an endemic to a global epidemic because of greater movement of a major vector, the Varroa mite. The mite has spread in large part due to human trade of the bee colonies it infests. The study contributes greatly to scientists' understanding of the globally pressing issue of pollinator health by describing the worldwide transmission routes and dynamics of DWV based on analysis of a new and large molecular data set.
(BOSTON) -- Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School and the University of Crete have conducted a phase I/II clinical trial investigating the efficacy of statins (cholesterol-lowering medications) for the treatment of patients with the dry form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) -- the leading cause of blindness in the developed world. Although effective treatments are available for the wet form of AMD, they are currently lacking for the more prevalent dry form.
A parent's incarceration has immediate, devastating effects on a family. Now, Virginia Tech and University of Toronto researchers say there may be a longer term risk: Men who as children experienced a family member's incarceration are approximately twice as likely to have a heart attack in later adulthood in comparison with men who were not exposed to such a childhood trauma.
New guidance from the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) aims to transform approaches to healthcare for our increasingly diverse older population. Developed by a committee of experts in ethnogeriatrics (the study of how ethnicity and culture impact the health and well-being of older people), "Achieving High-Quality Multicultural Geriatric Care" outlines present health disparities and the need for sensitivity to culture and health literacy when working with older individuals.
AUSTIN, Texas -- The public defunding of Planned Parenthood in Texas may have led to a decrease in highly effective forms of contraceptive services and an increase in Medicaid-paid childbirths among women who previously used injectable contraception, according to a peer-reviewed study by University of Texas at Austin researchers.
"To go running when is dark, leaving children unattended in carnivore zones, approaching a female with young, approaching wounded animal in hunting and walking with an unleashed dog along the said areas, are the main causes of the attacks" explain the CSIC researcher Vincenzo Pentariani, Doñana Biological Station.
- Proof-of-concept study shows new method could improve the accessibility and accuracy of diagnosis of bleeding disorders due to platelet abnormalities
- The innovative microscopy method provides detailed data so as to personalise treatments, saving the NHS money and improving patient outcomes
DURHAM, N.C. -- Meditation eases anxiety, fatigue and pain for women undergoing breast cancer biopsies, according to researchers at the Duke Cancer Institute. They also found that music is effective, but to a lesser extent.
The researchers note that adopting these simple, inexpensive interventions could be especially helpful in light of recent reports citing anxiety and pain as potential harms from breast cancer screenings and testing.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- The incidence of childhood and adult obesity has increased significantly over the past three decades. New research shows that there is an association between obesity development during adulthood and childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Mayo Clinic researchers led the multi-site study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
A study based on medical records from more than a quarter million adult patients found that African-American patients with connective tissue diseases such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis were twice as likely as white patients to suffer from narrowed or atherosclerotic blood vessels, which increase the risk of a heart attack, stroke or death.
SALT LAKE CITY - Anyone who's spent a night in a hospital knows the drill: In comes a phlebotomist, first thing in the morning, for lab tests. Physicians have long recognized that lab testing isn't necessary for all hospitalized patients on a daily basis. Regardless, such tests are often conducted because of routine.