Culture

CHICAGO- A new procedure is now available for the treatment of chronic bowel incontinence, a disorder impacting the lives of more than 18 million Americans. The treatment, called InterStim® Therapy is a minimally invasive procedure which uses electrical impulses to stimulate the sacral nerve and improve muscle function. It is one of the only effective long-term treatments for bowel incontinence available to patients and Northwestern Memorial Hospital is one of the first medical centers in the country to offer the procedure.

Men who are married or in common-law relationships seek medical care sooner for heart attacks compared with single, divorced or widowed men, found a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/site/embargo/cmaj110170.pdf.

HACKENSACK, N.J. (July 18, 2011) — Researchers from the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center presented results from 14 cancer-related studies during the recently concluded American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, which took place June 3 – 7, 2011 in Chicago. The studies examined new cancer treatments, ways to predict the best treatment outcomes, and patient quality of life issues.

Coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) has excellent image quality and diagnostic confidence for the entire spectrum of pediatric patients, with significant reduction of risk with recent technological advancements, according to a study to be presented at the Sixth Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) in Denver, July 14-17.

(NEW YORK, NY, July 14, 2011) – In a study, Identification of unrecognized diabetes and pre-diabetes in a dental setting, published in the July 2011 issue of the Journal of Dental Research, researchers at Columbia University College of Dental Medicine found that dental visits represented a chance to intervene in the diabetes epidemic by identifying individuals with diabetes or pre-diabetes who are unaware of their condition.

When consumers taste a chocolate bar they think is made in Switzerland, they'll prefer it over one supposedly made in China, according to new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. But if you tell them where it's from after they taste the candy, they'll prefer the Chinese chocolate.

Consumers who are in a positive mood make quicker and more consistent judgments than unhappy people, according to a new study.

"There has been considerable debate about how affect (moods, emotions, feelings) influences the quality of people's decisions," write authors Paul M. Herr (Virginia Tech), Christine M. Page (Skidmore College), Bruce E. Pfeiffer (University of New Hampshire), and Derick F. Davis (Virginia Tech). "We join this debate by looking at affect's influence on a very basic element of decision-making: deciding if an object is liked or disliked."

DETROIT – In 2005, Jeffrey Martin, Ph.D., professor of kinesiology, health and sport studies in Wayne State University's College of Education, found that children living in underserved communities are less physically active than their higher-income counterparts. Now, in a follow-up study, Martin has found environmental factors that may affect underserved children's physical activity and fitness levels: classmate support, gender and confidence. The study was published in the June 2011 issue of Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport.

Whether patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus benefit from attempts to lower their blood glucose levels to near-normal levels through treatment ("intensive blood glucose control") remains an unanswered question. The studies currently available provide indications of a benefit but also of potential harm. This is the result of a report published by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG).

Of 180 patients in this study in whom a reference committee later identified coronary heart disease (CHD), 31.7% had originally been misdiagnosed by their family doctors as not having CHD ("false negative"). Stefan Bösner and his colleagues present the results of their cross-sectional study in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108[26]: 445-51).

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- For kidney disease patients, a large belt size can double the risk of dying.

A study lead by a Loyola University Health System researcher found that the larger a kidney patient's waist circumference, the greater the chance the patient would die during the course of the study.

The study by lead researcher Holly Kramer, MD, MPH, and colleagues is published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.

Waist circumference was more strongly linked to mortality than another common measure of obesity, body mass index (BMI).

BOSTON – Placebos are "dummy pills" often used in research trials to test new drug therapies and the "placebo effect" is the benefit patients receive from a treatment that has no active ingredients. Many claim that the placebo effect is a critical component of clinical practice.

A new study by investigators from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine has confirmed the existence of a "trial effect" in clinical trials for treatment of HIV.

Trial effect is an umbrella term for the benefit experienced by study participants simply by virtue of their participating in the trial. It includes the benefit of newer and more effective treatments, the way those treatments are delivered, increased care and follow-up, and the patient's own behavior change as a result of being under observation.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Improving and maintaining health factors not traditionally associated with dementia, such as denture fit, vision and hearing, may lower a person's risk for developing dementia, according to a new study published in the July 13, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

For many reasons -- including the rising cost of health care and aging of the U.S. population -- health care is increasingly moving from formal medical facilities into patients' homes.

A wide range of procedures and therapies are now carried out far from any hospital or clinic, often with no health care professional on site.