Reducing anti-rejection meds after transplant shows less complications
SAN DIEGO, Dec. 10 Transplant researchers at the University of Pittsburgh's Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute have dramatically improved intestinal transplant graft survival, and reduced rejection and infection rates by successfully using a novel immunosuppression minimization protocol, thus improving patients' overall quality of life and avoiding the use of several anti-rejection drugs...Psychotherapy, meds best for youth with obsessive compulsive disorder
Children and adolescents with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) respond best to a combination of both psychotherapy and an antidepressant, a major clinical trial has found. Supported by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health, the study recommends that treatment begin with cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), either alone or with a serotonin reuptake inhibitor...Expensive new meds increase drug expenditures in the North Carolina Medicaid program
As states continue to struggle to find ways to control Medicaid costs, a new study published in the September/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 enrolle...Eating habits as important as meds for diabetic blood sugar control
For those with type 2 diabetes, the most prevalent kind, a person's eating habits -- their basic eating practices, selections while dining out, meal planning and carbohydrate and vegetable strategies -- matter as much or more as medicine for maintaining blood sugar control, says a Penn State researcher. ... Dr. Carla Miller, assistant professor of nutritional sciences, says, "Our recent study ide...Patients starting cholesterol-lowering drugs in hospital take meds longer
CHICAGO Starting patients on cholesterol-lowering drugs in the hospital instead of after they go home may increase the likelihood that they will continue taking their medications longer, according to an article in the November 24 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals....... Despite data demonstrating the health benefits of lipid-lowering drugs (drugs that...New research suggests that parents would rather send their children to counseling than give them medication for social anxiety disorder, a preference that has also been noted for childhood depression and attention-deficit disorder therapy.... ...Parents "may be particularly concerned about medication side effects," say Denise Chavira, Ph.D., of the University of California, San Diego and colleagu.... New Haven, Conn. -- Many medications work by binding tightly to a.protein and disrupting its normal function, including those that prevent.transplanted organs from being rejected, keep HIV infections in check, and.even stimulate nerve regrowth in spinal cord injuries. At Yale.University, chemists are putting that fact to good use to help design more.effective pharmaceuticals with the help of...