Culture

Boston, MA - For patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), choosing the appropriate treatment depends heavily on the prognosis. Those patients at the highest risk of dying from their disease are typically offered the most aggressive therapies, while patients at lower risk could live several years with MDS, needing only supportive care or other relatively side-effect free treatments. While some clinical variables are useful, current methods for predicting prognosis for individual patients are not ideal.

The position of the foot just before ground contact during running and walking may put people at risk for ankle sprains, according to a new study published by a University of Georgia kinesiology researcher.

Washington, DC – African-Americans are less likely than whites to receive critical stroke treatment primarily because they do not get to a hospital soon enough for time-sensitive treatment and because of preexisting medical conditions. For patients who are eligible for treatment, no racial disparity was found.

In the first study to consider the impact of gender on patient outcomes in major gastrointestinal surgeries, researchers at UC San Diego Health System have found that women are more likely to survive after the procedure than men. The pattern is even more pronounced when comparing women before menopause with men of the same age.

Restrictions on eligibility for health care reform programs will result in the potential exclusion of up to 220,000 children from affordable health care coverage in California, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

The number represents approximately 20 percent of all uninsured children in California.

Of those children, up to 40,000 may be eligible for coverage but may not apply, due to confusion about new rules governing access to both the California Health Benefit Exchange and the state's expanded Medi-Cal program.

Generic anti-epilepsy drugs, pharmaceutical products similar to brand-name versions, save consumers billions of dollars each year, but some are different enough from branded formulations that they may not be effective, particularly if patients switch between two generic drugs, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests.

A report on the study, published online and in an upcoming issue of Annals of Neurology, raises questions about whether some generic products are safe and effective when a narrow dose range separates patients from help and harm.

A study by Columbia Business School Professor Sheena Iyengar, S. T. Lee Professor of Business, Management, and Emir Kamenica, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, found the more fund options an employee has to choose from when presented with 401k options deters he or she from enrolling in the plan.

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have found that children who watch adverts for unhealthy food on television are more likely to want to eat high-fat and high-sugar foods.

The study by researchers in the Institute of Psychology, Health and Society examined the food preferences of a group of 281 children aged six to 13 years old from the North West of England.

Sophia Antipolis, France: 30 June 2011: The European Society of Cardiology (ESC Working Group on Thrombosis) is calling for greater attention to be paid by health care staff to reducing bleeding in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), and for increased research in the field.

Junior doctors have no idea what they should be doing when a major incident, such as a terrorist attack or transport disaster, occurs, reveals research published in the online journal BMJ Open.

This knowledge gap could be critical, says the author, especially as the UK's current terrorism threat level is classified as "severe," meaning that a terrorist attack is highly likely.

Tel Aviv — Parkinson's Disease, brought to public awareness by figures such as Michael J. Fox, is not just difficult to diagnose. It's also difficult to accurately estimate how many people actually suffer from the disease. Current statistics come from small-scale studies, usually based on information from hospital clinics, and no registries or formal databases exist to track how many people have the disease.

PHILADELPHIA - An estimated 18 American military veterans take their own lives every day -- thousands each year -- and those numbers are steadily increasing. Even after weathering the stresses of military life and the terrors of combat, these soldiers find themselves overwhelmed by the transition back into civilian life. Many have already survived one suicide attempt, but never received the extra help and support they needed, with tragic results.

WASHINGTON — Every year, at least 116 million adult Americans experience chronic pain, a condition that costs the nation between $560 billion and $635 billion annually, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. Much of this pain is preventable or could be better managed, added the committee that wrote the report.

New research shows significantly higher osteoarthritis (OA) incidence rates in military populations than among comparable age groups in the general population. The magnitude of the difference in OA rates between military service members and the general population also increased with advancing age category. Black service members had higher OA rates than white military personnel or those in other race categories according to the study findings published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, a peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).

Alcohol and drugs are fuelling homicide and suicide rates in Northern Ireland, a new independent report by University of Manchester researchers has found, with alcohol appearing to be a key factor for the country's higher suicide rates, including among mental health patients, compared to England and Wales.