Body

An updated set of quality of care indicators for heart attack patients, developed by a 12 member panel of experts from across Canada, reflects new evidence and practice guidelines for optimal heart attack care http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg909.pdf. These indicators — such as drug therapies upon hospital arrival, assessment and referrals, mortality rates and others — help to measure the quality of cardiac care and identify where heart attack care and patient outcomes can be improved.

African American and Hispanic patients are more likely to die following trauma than white patients, and uninsured patients have a higher death risk when compared with those who have health insurance, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Health disparities based on race, income and insurance status have previously been documented in patients with cancer and those undergoing surgery, among other treatments and conditions, according to background information in the article.

Some patients who received beta-blockers before and around the time of undergoing non-cardiac surgery appear to have higher rates of heart attack and death within 30 days of their surgery, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Photodynamic therapy—which involves a light-activated medication and exposure to a light source—appears to produce changes at the molecular level in aging skin, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. These changes are consistent with increased collagen production and improved appearance of the skin.

Laser therapies commonly used for removal of unwanted hair appear to be safer and remove leg hair more effectively when used separately than when used as a combination treatment, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Adults and children who are referred for patch testing of allergens appear equally likely to have allergic contact dermatitis, although they tend to react to different allergens, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Among high-risk patients with head and neck cancer, chest computed tomography (CT) may help detect disease progression involving the lungs, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System Department of Dermatology have found scientific evidence that the appearance of sun-damaged skin may be improved by treatment with a topical product that increases the skin's sensitivity to light, followed by laser therapy.

Heart failure patients are at higher risk for fractures, including debilitating hip fractures, than other heart patients and should be screened and treated for osteoporosis, Canadian researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

One year after an emergency room visit, 4.6 percent of heart failure patients experienced a fracture compared to only 1 percent of other heart patients. The one-year rate for hip fractures was 1.3 percent for heart failure patients compared to only 0.1 percent for other heart patients.

Johns Hopkins scientists were dubious in the early 1980s when they stumbled on small sugar molecules lurking in the centers of cells; not only were they not supposed to be there, but they certainly weren't supposed to be repeatedly attaching to and detaching from proteins, effectively switching them on and off. The conventional wisdom was that the job of turning proteins on and off -- and thus determining their actions -- fell to phosphates, in a common and easy-to-detect chemical step in which phosphates fasten to and unfasten from proteins; a process called phosphorylation.

Boston, MA – More than 330,000 lives were lost to HIV/AIDS in South Africa from 2000 and 2005 because a feasible and timely antiretroviral (ARV) treatment program was not implemented, assert researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) in a study published online by the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) (http://www.jaids.com/).

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine may be one step closer to understanding why past oral contraceptive use dramatically lowers the risk of ovarian and uterine cancers later in life.

St. Louis, Oct.20, 2008 — Researchers have shown that self-induced breaks in the DNA of immune cells known as lymphocytes activate genes that cause the cells to travel from where they're made to where they help the body fight invaders.

Nalini Nadkarni of Evergreen State College currently advises a team of researchers who sport shaved heads, tattooed biceps and prison-issued garb rather than the lab coats and khakis typically worn by researchers. Why is Nadkarni's team composed of such apparently iconoclastic researchers? Because all of her researchers are inmates at Cedar Creek Corrections Center, a medium security prison in Littlerock, Washington.

A new study shows that a low-carbohydrate diet changes hepatic energy metabolism. When carbohydrates are restricted, the liver relies more on substances like lactate and amino acids to form glucose, instead of glycerol. These findings are in the November issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com).