Culture

WASHINGTON — Because strong evidence indicates that policies beyond the health sector have substantial effects on people's health, all levels of U.S. government should adopt a structured approach to considering the health effects of any major legislation or regulation, says a new report by the Institute of Medicine. In addition, federal and state policymakers should review and revise public health laws so that they adequately address current health challenges.

TORONTO, Ont., June 21, 2011—Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital have found more evidence of the benefits of home dialysis for patients with kidney failure.

Cells that help protect blood vessels work better in patients who undergo dialysis at home during the night than those who undergo standard daytime dialysis in a hospital, according to Dr. Darren Yuen, a nephrologist.

A shorter pause in CPR just before a defibrillator delivered an electric shock to a cardiac arrest victim's heart significantly increased survival, according to a study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

An exercise training program worked better than a commonly used beta blocker, significantly improving — even curing — patients with a debilitating heart syndrome, according to research published in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) — called "The Grinch Syndrome" because most patients have a heart that's "two sizes too small" — affects about 500,000 Americans, primarily young women.

TORONTO, Ont., June 20, 2011--Every second counts when performing CPR.

A new study has found the number of people who survive after suffering a cardiac arrest outside a hospital drops significantly if the pause between stopping CPR and using a defibrillator to administer an electric shock is longer than 20 seconds.

The number of people who survive rises significantly if the pause is less than 10 seconds.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Frequent use of energy drinks is associated with binge drinking, alcohol-related social problems and misuse of prescription drugs among musicians, according to researchers at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions.

A recent find by a University of Cincinnati archeologist suggests an ancient Mycenaean city was well protected from outside threats.

That research, by UC's Gisela Walberg, professor of classics, will be presented at the annual workshop of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Center in Nicosia, Cyprus, on June 25, 2011.

A new study from Cambridge University has for the first time found that autism diagnoses are more common in an IT-rich region.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) funded study, published today in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, has important implications for service provision in different regions and for the 'hyper-systemizing' theory of autism.

MANHATTAN, KAN. -- As housing prices in the United States continue to drop, a Kansas State University professor says the best way to help the market is to stop delaying foreclosures.

While negotiations continue between state attorneys general and banks over a settlement that looks at foreclosure practices, some of the settlement proposals may backfire and do more harm than good, according to two recent studies co-authored by Kansas State finance professor Eric Higgins.

Hamilton, ON (June 20, 20122) - Women with urinary incontinence after giving birth are almost twice as likely to develop postpartum depression as those without incontinence, according to a new study led by Wendy Sword, a professor in McMaster University's School of Nursing.

Patients who received poorly co-ordinated care or were unable to afford basic medical costs were much more likely to report medication, treatment or care errors, according to an international study published in the July issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Black patients having a heart attack wait longer at hospitals than white patients to get advanced procedures that will restore blood flow to their hearts, according to a University of Michigan Health System study.

The differences in care may be explained by hospital quality, rather than the race of individual patients. Black patients were much more likely to go to slow hospitals than were whites, and as a result waited six hours longer to get life-saving procedures.

University of Cincinnati analysis of hospital supply chains – how hospitals stock nursing stations with the hundreds of medicines, materials and even office supplies needed – holds promise in helping to make supply and re-supply efforts leaner and more cost effective.

In the United States, the blood-alcohol limit may be 0.08 percent, but no amount of alcohol seems to be safe for driving, according to a University of California, San Diego sociologist. A study led by David Phillips and published in the journal Addiction finds that blood-alcohol levels well below the U.S. legal limit are associated with incapacitating injury and death.

LOS ANGELES—(June 20, 2011)—Doctors warned of a potential public health epidemic in a recent report on patients in Los Angeles and New York who developed serious skin reactions after smoking or snorting cocaine believed to be contaminated with a veterinary medication drug dealers are using to dilute, or "cut," up to 70% of the cocaine in the U.S.