Culture

Women with low bone density are seven times more likely to benefit from a bisphosphonate drug when their vitamin D blood levels are above recent recommendations from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) as adequate for bone health. These new study results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Instead of feeling stressed by the money they owe, many young adults actually feel empowered by their credit card and education debts, according to a new nationwide study.

Researchers found that the more credit card and college loan debt held by young adults aged 18 to 27, the higher their self-esteem and the more they felt like they were in control of their lives. The effect was strongest among those in the lowest economic class.

Only the oldest of those studied – those aged 28 to 34 – began showing signs of stress about the money they owed.

Patients with a very aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma who receive a stem cell transplant after standard chemotherapy during their first remission have comparable survival rates to those who receive the same standard therapy alone and, if needed, a transplant when they relapse. These findings from a U.S. and Canadian clinical trial of 370 patients conducted at 40 clinical institutions were presented today by Patrick Stiff, MD, lead investigator and director, Loyola Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, at the annual meeting for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

RENO, Nev. – In one of the most in-depth studies to date of adults who earn minimum wage, University of Nevada, Reno economist Bradley R. Schiller answers the question that many policymakers have been asking for years: Do a large number of families depend on the income from minimum-wage jobs? The answer, according to Schiller's research, is an emphatic "No."

COLUMBUS, Ohio – An interim analysis of a phase II clinical trial indicates that a novel experimental agent for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is highly active and well tolerated both in patients who are undergoing treatment for the first time and those who have relapsed and are resistant to other therapy.

The agent, called PCI-32765, is the first drug designed to target Bruton's tyrosine kinase, whose function is essential for CLL-cell survival and proliferation.

The drug topiramate can help people lose weight as long as they can tolerate the side effects, according to authors of a new study that reviewed the medical literature. Brazilian researchers will present the results Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.

Among more than 3,300 overweight or obese patients, those who took topiramate for at least four months lost 11.8 pounds more on average than individuals who took "dummy" pills, or placebo, found the meta-analysis, a systematic and quantitative review of published studies.

Young female athletes who have stopped menstruating have a weakening in the quality of their bone structure that may predispose them to breaking a bone, despite getting plenty of weight-bearing exercise, a new study finds. The results will be presented Sunday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.

Millions of people with knee injuries could benefit from a new type of stem cell bandage treatment if clinical trials are successful. The world's first clinical trial for the treatment of patients with torn meniscal cartilage has received approval from the UK regulatory agency, the MHRA1, to commence.

The current treatment for the majority of tears is the removal of the meniscus, a procedure that often results in the early onset of osteoarthritis.

An Indiana University study examining disparities in physical fitness levels between older adults who are patients of safety net community health centers (CHC) and those who are members of a medically affiliated fitness center is producing stunning results.

CHICAGO — Customizing targeted therapies to each tumor's molecular characteristics, instead of a one-size-fits-all approach by tumor type, may be more effective for some types of cancer, according to research conducted by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

DETROIT – Emergency department physicians are frustrated and burned out from treating patients who frequent the ED for their care, according to a Henry Ford Hospital survey of physicians from across the country.

The survey found that 59 percent of physicians acknowledged having less empathy for so-called frequent users than other patients, and 77 percent held bias for frequent users. Physicians defined frequent users in the survey as patients who visit the ED at least 10 times a year.

Other highlights:

TORONTO, Ont., June 3, 2011—Hospitals that provide quality care for young people do not always provide the same quality care for the elderly, a new study has found.

As our population ages and requires more healthcare, hospitals need to measure the quality of care they provide for the over 65s and implement programs to meet their distinct needs, said the study's author, Dr. Avery Nathens, trauma director at St. Michael's Hospital.

(Boston) - Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researchers have found that Gabapentin, (trade name Neurontin) a medication commonly used to treat neuropathic pain, seizures and biopolar disease in older and elderly patients, seems to have a higher incidence of anorgasmia, or failure to experience orgasm, than previously reported. This study appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Pharmacotherapy.

Albuquerque, NM – Under a completely new way of providing health care, primary care clinicians in remote villages, prisons and poor urban neighborhoods who were trained to treat patients with hepatitis C achieved excellent results identical to those of specialists at a university medical center.

CINCINNATI—In a review of nationwide hospital databases, University of Cincinnati (UC) emergency medicine and neurology researchers have found that the rate of treatment with the standard therapy for acute ischemic stroke patients has doubled since 2005.

Their paper, "Recombinant Tissue-Type Plasminogen Activator Use for Ischemic Stroke in the United States," is published online ahead of print in the journal Stroke. The study estimates between 23,800 and 36,000 U.S. patients received rtPA treatment in 2009—up from between 10,800 to 12,600 in 2004.