Tech

The method of building a rabbit rectal VX2 carcinoma model by injecting the cell suspension of VX2 cells into the wall of the rectum guided by X-ray fluoroscopy is feasible. The advantages of the model are ease of establishment, short growth period, and high stability. The rectal VX2 carcinoma established in this rabbit model is similar to human rectal carcinoma in aspects of pathological representation, tumor development, and metastasis.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Aging adults living in nursing homes and relying on the care of others are often susceptible to a long list of medical problems. These problems are debilitating for the residents and cost facilities millions of dollars. In a new study, a University of Missouri researcher found that long-term care facilities in Missouri saved more than $6 million in the past three years after implementing a quality care improvement program. Savings for the facilities were more than 10 times the program costs.

A meta-analysis of 17 randomised controlled trials has shown that pre-procedural treatment with sodium bicarbonate based hydration is the optimal treatment strategy to prevent contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN). The research, published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, shows that although the benefit may have been overestimated by previous studies, sodium bicarbonate is clearly superior to normal saline.

DURHAM, N.C. and HOUSTON - A home-based program aimed at improving exercise and diet can lead to meaningful improvements in physical function among older long-term cancer survivors, according to the results of a study led by researchers from Duke University Medical Center and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The findings were published in the May 13 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

New research from the UC Davis Center for Healthcare Policy and Research has found that women who have been treated for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (abnormal cervical cell growth), are at higher risk for a recurrence of the disease or invasive cervical cancer.

MADISON — Early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease could save millions or even billions of dollars while simultaneously improving care, according to new work by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.

Patients with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias are heavy users of long-term care services, especially nursing home care, with estimated annual costs upward of tens of billions of dollars nationwide.

FAIRFAX, Va. (May 12, 2009)—The Society of Interventional Radiology hailed the extension of an American College of Radiology resolution in support of clinical patient management by vascular and interventional radiologists as an important reminder of the critical contribution these minimally invasive specialists bring to quality patient health care.

WASHINGTON, DC (May 12, 2009) – When Americans were asked to value the most important of dozens of health products and services as they consider spending their own money, they chose access to care over everything else, a new study revealed.

Currently, most medical device prototypes designed for use in heart surgery are tested on live pigs, which have heart valves that are anatomically similar to human heart valves. However, these tests are both expensive and time-consuming, and involve a lengthy permission process to ensure that the use of live animals is necessary. So, researchers at NC State have developed a "dynamic heart system" – a machine that pumps fluid through a pig heart so that it functions in a very realistic way.

Amsterdam, 12 May 2009 – Do biofuels always create smaller carbon footprints than their fossil-fuel competitors? Not necessarily, finds a paper published today in Elsevier's Environmental Impact Assessment Review (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eiar). The article, "Charcoal versus LPG grilling: a carbon-footprint comparison," reports that in the UK, the carbon footprint for charcoal grilling is almost three times as large as that for LPG grilling.

Choice, privacy and a sense of identity are just some of the things that older people living in residential care need to maintain a good quality of life, according to research in the May issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Researchers from the National University of Ireland (NUI), Galway, spoke to 101 older people living in 12 long-stay care homes, including small and large facilities, well-established and recently built homes and those provided by the public, private and voluntary sectors.

The tradition of American physicians handing out free drug samples to their patients "has many serious disadvantages and is as anachronistic as bloodletting and high colonic irrigations," say two academics in an essay in this week's PLoS Medicine.

While infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Clostridium difficile (C.difficile) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, are usually associated with in-patient settings, the potential for infection in out-patient clinics and offices exists. A review in CMAJ outlines infection control strategies for these settings to help minimize transmission of these potentially deadly pathogens.

Early findings about the emerging pandemic of a new strain of influenza A (H1N1) in Mexico are published today in Science.

Researchers from the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling at Imperial College London, working in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and public health agencies in Mexico, have assessed the epidemic using data to the end of April. Their key findings are as follows: