High-fat diets hammer memory, more than a waistline worry
...e than wreak havoc on your waistline. New research finds that a diet high in fat and empty calories may wreak havoc on your memory as well. The new research was presented at the 34th Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego. Reducing the amount of dietary fat and empty calories may impro...Misconceptions about sexual violence common among South African youth
...ion and AIDS are common among South African youth, finds a study in this week's BMJ. Researchers surveyed over 269,000 South African school pupils aged 10-19 years about their views on and experiences of sexual violence. Misconceptions about sexual violence were common among both sexes, but more females he...Widely used breast cancer drug not linked to stroke
...but a new study by Southern California researchers finds no link between tamoxifen and stroke. However, the study in the Oct. 20 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute does link stroke to another aspect of cancer treatment: chemotherapy. Use of chemotherapy was associated with increased risk...Whooping cough makes a national comeback
...a. Even when school is out of session, pertussis finds ways to sicken teenagers, with recent outbreaks at summer sleep-away camps. Although whooping cough is rarely fatal in older children, the mortality rate is highest in unvaccinated infants who can catch the illness from adolescent family members or ...Urinary incontinence runs in the family
... if their mother or older sisters are incontinent, finds a study from Norway in this week's BMJ. These findings add weight to the theory that a genetic predisposition may play a part in the development of this common and burdensome condition among women. The research team investigated the risk of urinary i...Flu crisis need not cost lives
...y people as possible to get a flu shot. Now the US finds itself with just 56 million doses, roughly half as many as expected. As the news hit the headlines, some Americans queued for hours for flu vaccinations, while Congress held hearings and accusations of mismanagement began to fly. But even such a seve...Epilepsy study shows memory loss after brain surgery
...recently published a one-year follow-up study that finds some post-surgical epilepsy patients have a significant decline in verbal memory. This type of memory loss is associated with learning, recall and recognition. Three months after surgery, patients with surgery performed on either the left or right b...Child heart deaths at Bristol fall below national average
...ve fallen markedly, to below the national average, finds a study in this week's BMJ. The Bristol inquiry between 1991 and 1995 showed that Bristol had a much higher death rate for open heart surgery in children aged under 1 year than other major centres. Since then, there have been major changes in the chi...One in 6 chronically ill adults skip Rx drugs due to cost
...t nationally representative survey of older adults finds that 18 percent of those with chronic conditions s... was funded by the VA. Not surprisingly, the study finds that seniors whose out-of-pocket prescription costs are more than $100 a month, and those with low i...Expensive new meds increase drug expenditures in the North Carolina Medicaid program
...ptember/October issue of Annals of Family Medicine finds that an increase in the number of prescriptions for new and more expensive medications resulted in a significant rise in drug costs in one state's Medicaid program. Analyzing claims for more than 1,204,000 North Carolina Medicaid enrollees between 19...Many who cut back on Rx drugs to cut costs don't tell doctors
...pt. 13 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, finds that two-thirds of 660 chronically ill patients who had cut back on their prescription drugs because of trouble paying for them didn't tell their doctors before they did it. And even after they had started skimping, 35 percent never told their doctor...Highlights of the September Journal of the American Dietetic Association
...h School Students A survey of 10th-grade students finds that 60 percent have made conscious efforts to lose weight. In response to the question "Have you ever tried to lose weight?" 36.5 percent of the boys said yes, compared with 73.6 percent of the girls. The study, conducted by researchers at Califor...VA beats managed care for diabetes, study finds
...ns with chronic illnesses, a new multicenter study finds VA patients with diabetes are more likely to receive recommended tests and have better outcomes than managed care patients. Researchers looked at 1,285 patients with diabetes from five VA medical centers and 6,920 patients in eight commercial managed...July/August 2004 Annals of Family Medicine tip sheet
...malities in cholesterol, a study of 8,228 patients finds that subclinical hypothyroidism does not lead to increased levels of cholesterol or triglycerides. Based on these results, the authors conclude that screening for subclinical hypothyroidism simply to identify lipid abnormalities would be no more use...Jefferson-based technology promises to help find hard-to-diagnose appendicitis cases
...ubstance. When injected into the blood, NeutroSpec finds and binds to a certain receptor on neutrophils, white blood cells that the body uses to fight infection. Doctors can then locate the antibody and the infection site by using a device called a gamma camera. In case of hard to diagnose cases, the gamma...Patients not sticking to cholesterol drugs -- and the higher their co-pay, the lower their use
...ovascular problems. Or do they? A new study finds that nearly half of patients who have a prescription for any of the cholesterol-fighting drugs called statins fail to fill their prescription often enough -- or stop filling it altogether, even though statins give the most benefit if used long-term. ...Soya foods may help to reduce cancer of the womb
... cancer (cancer affecting the lining of the womb), finds a study among Chinese women in this week's BMJ. Soya foods are a rich source of isoflavones, a major group of phytoestrogens, which act like oestrogen in the body. They also contain high amounts of dietary fibre. Researchers interviewed 832 women who...GPs' beliefs about patients influences treatment
... syndrome may be a barrier to effective treatment, finds new research available on bmj.com . Researchers analysed group discussions between 46 general practitioners in England, based on a series of clinical scenarios involving patients with chronic fatigue syndrome or irritable bowel syndrome. The partic...Half the population at increased risk of neural tube defects
...pulation at increased risk of neural tube defects, finds new research on bmj.com . This finding underscores the importance of folic acid supplementation for all women of childbearing age to prevent neural tube defects. Researchers in Ireland and the United States identified the genetic make-up (genotype) ......d by people who seriously misuse alcohol or drugs, finds a study from Sweden in this week's BMJ. Interventions to reduce the risk of violence in these patients would help to cut the enormous costs of drug related crime, which is estimated to be around 1bn annually in the United Kingdom. Researchers used na...