Consumers with disabilities empowered by American Disabilities Act
Respondents were asked to report on...their awareness of the ADA and to evaluate whether conditions had...improved over the years 1994-1998 in public transportation. A study publishing in the latest issue of the Journal of Consumer Affairs is the first to present the perspectives of people with disabilities regarding the effectiveness of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The study asks...Definition of persistent vegetative state available from American Academy of Neurology
The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has received many inquiries from the press regarding the definition of persistent vegetative state in light of the Terri Schiavo case. In 1995 the AAN published a practice parameter about the assessment and management of patients in the persistent vegetative state. This parameter includes definition and diagnosis information. It is publicly accessible at ....African-American women with endometrial cancer have more aggressive cancer than Caucasian women
Miami, March 21, 2005--In two studies of African-American women with endometrial cancer, a group of investigators from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Cancer Institute has found that African-American women with advanced endometrial cancer have more aggressive tumors than Caucasian women, potentially leading to worse outcomes. ...... Specifically, the investigators first performe...New colorectal cancer screening recommendations for African Americans
Bethesda, MD, March 21, 2005 Physician experts from the American College of Gastroenterology have issued new recommendations to healthcare providers to begin colorectal cancer screening in African Americans at age 45 rather than 50 years. Colonoscopy is the preferred method of screening for colorectal cancer and data support the recommendation that African-Americans begin screening at a younger...American Thoracic Society Journal news tips for March 2005 (second issue)
...In a large cohort of patients from 5 intensive care units (ICUs), patients who developed bloodstream infections while in the unit were 7 times more likely to die that those who did not develop such infections. In addition, researchers found that the mortality rate among the less severely ill ICU patients who developed a bloodstream infection was higher than that for more severely ill patient...Community care tops medical care at preventing heart disease in black Americans
Upgraded community health services, including checkups by phone or in person with a local nurse practitioner at a neighborhood clinic, and free charge cards for medications are almost nine times more likely to benefit black Americans at greater risk of heart disease than full-service physician care alone. The analysis by researchers at Johns Hopkins, to be published in the journal Circulation on...Researchers say breast cancer in Africa may provide clues to the disease in African-Americans
A new review finds similarities between the clinical presentation and course of breast cancer in Africans and African-Americans, suggesting that genetic factors may play a significant role in the racial differences encountered in the epidemiology of breast cancer in America. The article, published in the April 15, 2005 issue of CANCER ( ), a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, a...Obesity among African-American stroke survivors increases risk factors for recurrent stroke
CHICAGO Obesity may put African-Americans who have survived one stroke at risk for a second stroke by increasing their risk of hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes and high cholesterol, according to an article in the March issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. ......Obesity has become epidemic in the United States and African-Americans have the highest rate o...Awards & fellowships at the International & American Association for Dental Research General Session
Baltimore, MD...As part of the Opening Ceremonies of their 83rd General Session and 34th Annual Meeting, convening today at the Baltimore Convention Center, the International and American Associations for Dental Research will present numerous prestigious awards and fellowships. Details follow: ...... ...Presented to Tom Lehner (Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Hospital Medical and Dental School, King...American Academy of Neurology presents 57th Annual Meeting in Miami Beach
ST. PAUL, MN (March 9, 2005) More than 8,000 are expected to attend the American Academy of Neurology's (AAN) 57th Annual Meeting in Miami Beach, April 9 16, 2005....... Held in the Miami Beach Convention Center, the very latest research findings on Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, stroke, migraine, epilepsy, and other neurological disorders will be included in more...News tips from the 2005, 54th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology
... ...... Johns Hopkins scientists have found that modern, implanted heart devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators are safe for use in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, a diagnostic and imaging tool long ruled potentially unsafe and off-limits for more than 2 million Americans who currently have them in their bodies. The Hopkins team has also developed new guidelines fo...American Thoracic Society Journal news tips for March 2005 (first issue)
...... International experts in infectious disease and epidemiology consider it likely that there will be a recurrent outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or other newly emerging and serious transmissible respiratory pathogens, according to the published conclusions of a workshop on the highly infectious disease. Writing in the first issue for March 2005 of the American Thoracic...US cancer researchers launch first American-Israeli cancer conference
Leading cancer researchers from Baltimore, Miami and New Jersey have organized the first Joint American-Israeli Conference on Cancer. The meeting, scheduled for March 16 through 18 in Jerusalem, seeks to foster collaboration among physicians and scientists in the two countries. Close to 200 cancer experts from institutions throughout Israel and the United States are expected to attend, making it...African-Americans receive less aggressive heart attack treatment
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. According to a study at the Maya Angelou Research Center on Minority Health at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, African-Americans continue to receive less aggressive treatment for heart attack than whites....... Alain G. Bertoni, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of medicine at Wake Forest Baptist, and his colleagues found that nearly 60 percent of every 100 whi...New patient magazine from American Academy of Neurology to launch in April
ST. PAUL, Minn. (March 1, 2005) Why would the leading international professional association of neurologists get into the business of publishing a magazine Neurology Now for patients and their caregivers?... ...Patients are overwhelmed and confused by the barrage of inaccurate information from unreliable sources. Neurology patients and their families are also often overwhelmed and their physi...NYU Child Study Center receives grant from the American Red Cross September 11 recovery program
NEW YORK, February 23, 2005 The NYU Child Study Center is pleased to announce the creation of the Silver Shield Life Enrichment & Continued Care Program which will be offered to widows and children of firefighters, policemen, emergency medical service and port authority personnel whose lives were lost as a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. This project was supported by a Se...Americans support most uses of reproductive genetic testing, report on US attitudes reveals
A majority of Americans believes it is appropriate to use reproductive genetic testing to avoid having a child with a life-threatening disease, or to test embryos to see if they will be a good match to provide cells to help a sick sibling, a new report of the Genetics and Public Policy Center reveals. However, most Americans believe it would be wrong to use genetic testing to select the sex or o...90 million Americans are burdened with inadequate health literacy
WASHINGTON -- Nearly half of all American adults 90 million people have difficulty understanding and using health information, and there is a higher rate of hospitalization and use of emergency services among patients with limited health literacy, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Limited health literacy may lead to billions of dollars in avoidable hea...23rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Pain Society to be held May 6-9 in Vancouver
Glenview, IL (April 7, 2004) The proceedings of the 23rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Pain Society (APS) will be held May 6-9, at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre. This year, the APS meeting will be held as a joint scientific conference with the Canadian Pain Society. APS is the leading multidisciplinary professional society in the United States dedicated to advancing...UM outreach programs increase kidney transplants among African-Americans
Transplant surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center say they have successfully reduced barriers to kidney transplantation for African-Americans to cut the median waiting time for transplant in half. Their achievement stems from a comprehensive program that includes patient education and efforts to increase living donation and improve overall kidney graft survival. Results of the...American Thoracic Society Journal news tips for February (second issue)
COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY DETECTS LUNG CANCER AT EARLIEST STAGE... ...In a study that screened 1,520 individuals age 50 and over at high risk for lung cancer, low-dose...computed tomography detected 23 cases alone while sputum cytology analysis detected two alone, according to Mayo Clinic investigators. (Lung cancer is the most common fatal malignancy among adults in the U.S.) Researchers pointed to...American Heart Association Comment: Lancet (Jan. 24, 1998) Report
. . American Heart Association Comment:Lancet (Jan. 24, 1998) report titled."Thrombosis prevention trial; randomized trial of low-intensity oral.anticoagulation with warfarin and low-dose aspirin in the primary.prevention of ischaemic heart disease in men and increased risk" . A combination anticoagulant treatment -- low-dose aspirin and low-dose.warfarin -- reduced the risk of heart att...Looking for the first time at the management needs in the Native...American health care sector, author Jay Noren writes in the January/February...1998 Public Health Reports that "Native American health care programs face...formidable challenges unprecedented in their history." Since the 1976 enactment...of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, increasing...numbers of tr...American Thoracic Society Journal news tips for February 2005 (second issue)
...... ...... ......Please contact Suzy Martin by phone at (212) 315-8631 or via e-mail at with questions.... MONTELUKAST SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCES ASTHMA EXACERBATIONS...IN YOUNG CHILDR...African-Americans may need more medication to control asthma
(NORTHBROOK, IL, February 7, 2005) - Racial differences may play a significant role in determining a patient's response to asthma medications. A new study in the February issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that asthmatic and nonasthmatic African-Americans required higher doses of glucocorticoids to suppress lymphocytes, which play...Canadian neurologist wins highest award as American Stroke Association honors five
NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 2 One of North America's foremost neurologists and stroke researchers, Vladimir Hachinski, M.D., D.Sc., professor of neurology at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ont., Canada, is the recipient of the American Stroke Association's highest honor the Thomas Willis Award for 2005.... Hachinski will receive the award and deliver the prestigious Willis Lecture today at t...American Thoracic Society Journal news tips for February 2005 (first issue)
...... In a study of 46 patients from six hospitals with severe community-acquired pneumonia, a 7-day course of low-dose hydrocortisone infusion hastened the resolution of the patients' pneumonia and prevented the development of life-threatening sepsis-related complications. The researchers infused hydrocortisone in 23 patients as an intravenous 200-mg bolus followed by infusion at a rate of 10...American Academy of Neurology program receives Grassroots Award
ST. PAUL, Minn. (January 31, 2005) The American Academy of Neurology received a Grassroots Innovation Award from the Public Affairs Council during the National Grassroots Conference held last week in St. Pete Beach, Fla. The Academy received the award specifically for its Donald M. Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum, which provides formal advocacy training and leadership development to neurolog...Good medicine, good economics: African-Americans need equal treatment for pain, SLU study finds
ST. LOUIS -- As if doing the right thing isn't enough, Saint Louis University researchers have found another reason African-Americans and the poor should receive equal medical treatment and compensation for occupational back pain. ......It's actually cheaper in the long run, concludes study author John T. Chibnall, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry at Saint Louis University School of Medi...Beliefs may hinder HIV prevention among African-Americans
CORVALLIS, Ore. A new study suggests that a number of African Americans are distrustful of the government's role in the origin and treatment of HIV/AIDS and that African American men who have such beliefs also have more negative attitudes toward condoms and use them less consistently.... The study was funded by the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, one of the National...The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and Blackwell Publishing announce partnership
Boston, MA--January 25, 2005--The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) and Blackwell Publishing are pleased to announce a new publishing partnership. The AANP has chosen Blackwell to publish its peer-reviewed monthly publication, which has a current circulation of over 19,000. ...... With approximately 18,000 individual members, AANP is the oldest, largest and only full service prof...American Academy of Neurology names two Advocates of the Year
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Maureen A. Callaghan, MD, and Mohammad Wasay, MBBS, MD, have been selected as the American Academy of Neurology's 2004 Advocates of the Year. They were honored during the third annual Donald M. Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum held January 6 9, 2005, in Huntington Beach, Calif.... ...Callaghan was recognized for her efforts to advocate for tort reform in the state of Washing...African Americans half as likely to receive surgery for esophageal cancer
Alexandria, VA-- African Americans with esophageal cancer are half as likely as whites to be seen by a surgeon and to receive life-prolonging surgery, a new study shows. The study, which examined racial disparities in access to surgical evaluation, receipt of surgery, and survival among older patients with esophageal cancer, found that only 25% of African-American patients received potentially cu...American Thoracic Society Journal news tips for January 2005 (second issue)
...... Researchers studying diet during late pregnancy showed that total maternal vitamin C intake was positively associated with wheeze in certain infants who did not have a cold during their second year of life. Initially involving 1,924 youngsters born of 2,000 mothers who volunteered for the study, 1,300 women completed the entire 2-year program. They answered the 145-item food frequency q...American Thoracic Society journal news tips for January 2005 (first issue)
AIRFLOW OBSTRUCTION IN SURVIVORS ...OF BRONCHOPULMONARY DYSPLASIA... ...In a study of school-age children who were survivors of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), the chronic lung disease of prematurity, researchers uncovered long-term airflow limitation as demonstrated by impaired lung function test results, while at the same time finding low levels of a marker of pulmonary cellular dysfunction,...Penn professor earns 2004 award from the American College of Psychiatrists
(Philadelphia, PA) -- Dwight L. Evans, MD, the Ruth Meltzer Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has earned the 2004 Award for Research in Mood Disorders from the American College of Psychiatrists. This award which honors an individual or individual whose group has made major contributions to the understanding and treatment...Study suggests obesity has lesser financial impact on African-Americans
BOSTON Obesity may impose a smaller healthcare cost on African-Americans than other demographic groups, according to a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) that found spending on obesity-related problems becomes progressively higher as adults grow older....... The study published in the January 2005 issue of the Journal of American Public Health is among the f...Few Americans are aware they have chronic kidney disease
Ten to 20 million people in the United States have kidney disease but most don't know it, according to researchers at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findi...Few Americans aware they have chronic kidney disease
Ten to 20 million people in the United States have chronic kidney disease but most don't know it, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health and the National Center for Health Statistics. The findings are published in the January 2005 print edi...American Thoracic Society Journal news tips for December 2004 (second issue)
HIGH-RISK ASTHMA PATIENTS REDUCE ASTHMA ...MEDICATION USE AFTER HOSPITALIZATION ...... In a study of high-risk patients with severe asthma who were hospitalized for serious exacerbations, researchers showed that within 7 days of discharge their use of prescribed inhaled corticosteroids and oral steroids had fallen rapidly to approximately 50 percent of their prescribed dose. The investigators...