Body

Premature births have increased significantly although survival rates of babies born early have improved dramatically, a study shows.

The risk of neonatal death from premature birth more than halved during a 25 year period and there has also been a 10 per cent reduction in stillbirth associated with pre-term births.

The University of Edinburgh research analysed data relating to nearly 90,000 births in Scotland between 1980 and 2005.

Virtually anyone has the skills to safely insert a laryngeal mask airway (LMA) to keep a patient's airway open during resuscitation, and medical expertise isn't required – perhaps just a familiarity with ER, House or Grey's Anatomy. A study, published in the open access journal BMC Emergency Medicine, also found that just two hours of training was enough to make first-responders faster and more efficient during these highly critical situations.

Severe trauma patients requiring a major transfusion are twice as likely to die if they receive red blood cells stored for a month or longer, according to research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care. The increased rate of death was measured up to six months post transfusion which is consistent with previous reports in cardiac surgery patients.

Berlin, Germany: Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who are given cetuximab (Erbitux) in addition to chemotherapy are 13% less likely to die than those who receive chemotherapy alone, regardless of which chemotherapy drug cocktail is used, new research finds. They also experience slower disease progression and an increased chance of tumour shrinkage.

Berlin, Germany: The largest study in the world of treatments for post menopausal, hormone positive breast cancer has shown that patients who continue to take exemestane or tamoxifen do significantly better than patients who start to take one or other drug (or tamoxifen followed exemestane) but then stop.

Berlin, Germany: New research has found that switching post-menopausal women with early breast cancer to the drug exemestane (Aromasin) after two or three years of tamoxifen rather than keeping them on tamoxifen for five years improves the chance of remaining cancer free and reduces the risk of death for at least the next six years.

Public smoking bans appear to significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks, particularly among younger individuals and nonsmokers, according to a new study published in the September 29, 2009, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Researchers find that smoking bans can reduce the number of heart attacks by as much as 26 percent per year.

Traumatic spinal cord injury causes permanent disability or loss of movement (paralysis) and sensation below the site of the injury. Currently, there are no treatments that can reverse the damage to the spinal cord, there are only approaches to prevent further damage and to help people return to an active lifestyle. However, Philip Popovich and colleagues, at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, have studied the problem in mice and identified potential new therapeutic targets for minimizing injury and/or promoting repair after traumatic spinal cord injury

Women with mutations in either their BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes have a dramatically increased risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. Identifying such women provides them with an opportunity to take preventive measures such as surgery to remove their breasts. One caveat to identifying such women by simply sequencing their BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes and detecting mutations is that not all mutations are harmful. However, Shyam Sharan and colleagues, at the National Cancer Institute at Frederick, have now developed an assay to distinguish harmful BRCA1 mutations from those that are not.

After more than 50 experiments in mice, medical scientists at Johns Hopkins have mapped out the basic steps taken by a particular set of white blood cells in setting the pace of recovery after serious lung injury.

The white blood cells are called regulatory T cells, or Tregs for short, and their best known function is to keep the body's immune system from attacking its own healthy tissues.

Researchers have identified a mechanism that may keep a well known signaling molecule from eroding bone and inflaming joints, according to an early study published online today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

STANFORD, Calif. - Public speaking, anyone? Or maybe a big job interview? Dry your palms and take a deep, calming breath; there may be a silver lining. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown that, at least in laboratory mice, bouts of relatively short-term stress can boost the immune system and protect against one type of cancer. Furthermore, the beneficial effects of this occasional angst seem to last for weeks after the stressful situation has ended.

One year after passing smoking bans, communities in North America and Europe had 17 percent fewer heart attacks compared to communities without smoking restrictions, and the number of heart attacks kept decreasing with time, according to a report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A new technique for reconstructing the palate after surgery for tonsil cancer maintained patients' ability to speak clearly and eat most foods, a new study shows.

The technique, developed at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, is described in the September Archives of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery.

Restricting elective surgeries, limiting incoming transfers and enhancing the efficiency of the discharge process helped one major hospital reduce capacity before a relocation without interrupting emergency or trauma services, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Similar principles could help hospitals absorb patients in the aftermath of a disaster, the authors observe.