Tech

OAKLAND, Calif. (August 18, 2010) – To improve the quality of HIV care and treatment nationwide, 17 measures such as screening and prevention for infections and monitoring of antiretroviral therapy should be adopted uniformly, according a work group led by a Kaiser Permanente researcher.

The work group's study results appear in the current issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

ATLANTA, GA (August 18, 2010) – Spectrum, a health and science communications firm, announced the results of a global awareness campaign that "found" 24 percent more children identified with a rare, fatal, and rapid aging disease called Progeria. The findings are being shared at a Centers for Disease Control national conference on health communications.

Computer-based probabilistic models that are used to interpret verbal autopsy data- information from interviews with family, friends and carers about deaths that are later interpreted into possible cause(s) of death- are as effective as physician reviews of the data for establishing cause of death, according to research by Peter Byass from Umeå University, Sweden, and colleagues from Witwatersrand University, South Africa, that is published this week in PLoS Medicine. Probabilistic modeling is cheaper and faster than physician review and also completely internally consistent.

Computer-based probabilistic models that are used to interpret verbal autopsy data- information from interviews with family, friends and carers about deaths that are later interpreted into possible cause(s) of death- are as effective as physician reviews of the data for establishing cause of death, according to research by Peter Byass from Umeå University, Sweden, and colleagues from Witwatersrand University, South Africa, that is published this week in PLoS Medicine. Probabilistic modeling is cheaper and faster than physician review and also completely internally consistent.

Global initiatives to control specific diseases, such as polio or worm diseases, in low income countries not only do good. Sometimes they pull people and resources away from basic health care. Then the remedy may be worse than the disease. In an article in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, researchers from the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) caution the international aid community for complacency.

Hospitals vary in how they detect and treat drug-resistant staph infections, but most follow national guideline recommendations, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Researchers sent a 61-item questionnaire to pharmacy directors at 263 acute-care hospitals in the U.S. to learn of their policies and practices regarding methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. All of the hospitals are members of Broadlane, a health care cost management company based in Dallas.

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act — a largely overlooked component of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — has the potential to transform long-term care financing in the United States from a welfare-based to an insurance-based system, according to the latest issue of Public Policy & Aging Report (PPAR).

Trauma center care not only saves lives, it is a cost-effective way of treating major trauma, according to a new report from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Injury Research and Policy. Although treatment at a trauma center is more expensive, the benefits of this approach in terms of lives saved and quality of life-years gained outweigh the costs. The study finds that the added cost of treatment at a trauma center versus nontrauma center is only $36,319 for every life-year gained or $790,931 per life saved.

Amsterdam, Netherlands—August 17, 2010—The influence of traditional social structures such as neighbourhoods and local organisations has declined. The workplace has become the "new neighbourhood" and has become increasingly important for maintaining social interaction and forming relationships. A new article in Personal Relationships finds that those who retired just ten years ago, at the beginning of the 21st century, were more likely to maintain (or even gain) work-related personal ties after retirement, than were those who retired in the 1990's.

Taking care of business is becoming an ever-growing, 24/7 challenge for the American worker. A new study out of the University of Cincinnati is examining the effect this is having on marriages. The research by David Maume, a University of Cincinnati professor of sociology and director of the Kunz Center for Research in Work, Family and Gender, was presented Aug. 16 at the 105th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Atlanta.

Technologies for using laser energy to destroy threats at a distance have been in development for many years. Today, these technologies -- known as directed energy weapons -- are maturing to the point of becoming deployable.

Rising rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and large differences in diagnosis rates have led to fears that the condition is often being misdiagnosed. A new study from North Carolina State University demonstrates that these concerns are justified. The researchers found large discrepancies in diagnosis and treatment rates based on small differences in children's dates of birth.

August 16, 2010 ─ (BRONX, NY) ─ A study led by a researcher at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has revealed a unique "partnership" between two types of bone marrow stem cells, which could lead to advances in regenerative medicine. The aim of regenerative medicine is to enable the body to repair, replace, restore or regenerate damaged or diseased cells, tissues and organs.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Black patients are prescribed fewer pain medications than whites and few women receive medications strong enough to manage their chronic pain, according to a study in the August issue of Journal of Pain.