Other highlights in the October 15 issue of JNCI
...A new study confirms previous findings that hair color, number of moles on the legs, and history of sunburn are risk factors for malignant melanoma. The study also found that the use of sunbeds and other tanning devices is associated with an increased risk of the disease. Marit Veierd, Ph.D., of the University of Oslo in Norway, and colleagues surveyed 106,379 Norwegian and Swedish women betw...Updated press release to October 2004 Cochrane Review
The Cochrane Collaboration wishes to report that the review 'Interactive Health Communication Applications for people with chronic disease' (1) has been found to contain errors. The review originally determined that, among other findings, chronically ill people using interactive programmes had worse clinical outcomes than those who did not. Regrettably, errors in data analysis meant that these...Tip sheet for the October 26, 2004 Neurology
...Researchers in Minnesota report the effects in eight epilepsy patients when their health plans switched their medication from brand phenytoin to generic phenytoin, an antiepileptic drug. After the switch, the patients' seizures increased enough to require intervention. The study concluded that brand and generic phenytoin do not yield the same concentrations in some patients, and substitution...Cedars-Sinai October 2004 medical tipsheet
...Women who are expecting a baby should be considered high priority during this season when the Flu vaccine is in short supply, and should seek an influenza vaccine as soon as possible. Influenza vaccines do not have adverse effects on fetuses, and they have been shown to dramatically decrease health risks for mothers and their newborns, says Neil S. Silverman, M.D., a high-risk obstetrician wh...American Thoracic Society Journal news tips for October 2004 (second issue)
...LARGE ASTHMA STUDY ACHIEVES STRINGENT CONTROL IN FORMERLY UNCONTROLLED PATIENTS ... ...A 1-year randomized, stratified double-blind parallel-group study of 3,416 patients with uncontrolled asthma showed that the stringent standard of total control was achieved by 41 percent of all patients from 3 separate study groups during at least 7 out of 8 consecutive assessment weeks over the year. The...News briefs from the journal Chest, October 2004
... ...Children with siblings may be less likely to develop asthma than those without siblings, yet genetic and prenatal and postnatal factors may increase a child's risk for asthma. Canadian researchers followed 170,960 newborns to identify factors that may increase physician-diagnosed asthma in children from birth to age six. Of the newborns, 14.1 percent were seen for asthma,...Annals of Internal Medicine, tip sheet, October 21, 2003
Patients May Not Fare Best With Docs or Hospitals That Most Frequently Perform the Surgery... ...Many studies have suggested that patients who have surgery at hospitals that perform a large number of a specific surgery do better than patients who have the same surgery at low-volume hospitals. But two studies in the November 21 Annals of Internal Medicine find that simple calculations of volume v...American Thoracic Society Journal news tips for October 2003 (second issue)
... A simple, noninvasive clinical predictive rule has been developed to guide clinical diagnosis for the difficult-to-assess disease called hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Canadian researchers presented data on 400 patients from seven clinical sites in different countries to develop a predictive rule that distinguishes those with the disease. Among the group, there were 116 patients with hypers...Annals of Internal Medicine, tip sheet, October 7, 2003
...Almost 40 percent of 626 patients in pulmonary and lung-cancer clinics in five locations believed that exposure of lung cancer to air at the time of cancer surgery promotes spread of the cancer (Article, p. 558). The survey participants were predominantly middle-aged or elderly men using a voluntary, self-administered questionnaire. This belief was more common among those with lower incomes,...American Thoracic Society journal news tips for October 2003 (first issue)
TINY AIR POLLUTION PARTICLES TRIGGER ...CHRONIC BRONCHITIS IN CHILDREN WITH ASTHMA ... ...In a study of the effect of exposure to air pollution on children with asthma in 12 Southern California communities, researchers concluded that organic carbon and nitrogen dioxide deserve greater attention as potential causes of chronic bronchitis in children with asthma. They also assert that previous c...Other highlights in the October 1 issue of JNCI
...Adjuvant chemotherapy has been proposed as a way to improve the poor survival rates of patients with surgically removed non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, a new study has found no such benefit associated with adjuvant chemotherapy in these patients. Giorgio V. Scagliotti, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Torino, Italy, and colleagues compared outcomes of patients with completely re...American Thoracic Society Journal news tips for October (second issue)
BIG SAMPLE OF U.S. ASTHMA PATIENTS ...SUFFER FROM MODERATE TO SEVERE DISEASE ... ...In a cross-sectional, random-dial telephone survey of over 42,000 households in the U.S., researchers found that the majority of the population with asthma experienced moderate to severe persistent disease rather than mild illness, and that the resulting impact on patient activity was "substantial." The investig...Other highlights in the October 16 issue of JNCI
...Many women who undergo prophylactic bilateral mastectomy have an exaggerated perception of their breast cancer risk before surgery, suggests a study in the October 16 issue of the . ... ...Prophylactic bilateral mastectomy is a preventive option for women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer. A woman's perception of her risk can influence her decision to undergo this surgery. Ke...Annals of Internal Medicine, tip sheet, October 15, 2002
...Office-Based Physicians May Offer Methadone Treatment Therapy ......Recent federal initiatives give trained physicians in office-based practices permission to use methadone for addicted patients (Perspective, p. 688). The initiatives, which include new legislation, regulations, and a shift in federal oversight, aim to expand access to substance abuse treatment. They permit primary care physic...United States to host World Sight Day celebration October 10
More Americans than ever are facing the threat of blindness from age-related eye disease. More than one million Americans aged 40 and older are currently blind and an additional 2.4 million are visually impaired. These numbers are expected to double during the next 30 years as the Baby Boomer generation ages....... With the goal of making vision a public health priority nationally and globally,...The lancet infectious diseases (TLID) October press release
... ...Otitis media (middle-ear infection) is a common infectious disease of early childhood; an estimated 20 million cases occur in the USA annually. This review assesses the impact of antibacterial treatment, commenting on how clinicians may become mislead by drug treatment as otitis media often resolves naturally within a few days of infection; the growing problem of widespread antibiotic res...American Thoracic Society journal news tips for October (first issue)
HOUSE DUST ENDOTOXINS ASSOCIATED WITH ...DECREASED ALLERGIC SENSITIZATION IN KIDS ......For the first time, German researchers have demonstrated that exposure to house dust endotoxin is associated with a lower prevalence of allergic sensitization in school children. The...researchers compared the effects of house dust endotoxins on different degrees of allergic sensitization in 444 boys and gir...Other highlights in the October 2 issue of JNCI
...In patients with advanced prostate cancer, the disease often spreads to the bone, causing pain, fractures, and spinal cord compression. In the October 2 issue of the , Fred Saad, M.D., of Notre Dame Hospital of the University of Montreal, and his colleagues show in a randomized double-blind study that patients given the biphosphonate zoledronic acid had fewer bone complications and experienc...Annals of Internal Medicine, tip sheet, October 1, 2002
Annals of Internal Medicine is published by the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM), an organization of more than 115,000 internal medicine physicians and medical students. The following highlights are not intended to substitute for articles as sources of information. For an embargoed fax of an article, call 1-800-523-1546, ext. 2656, or 215-351-2656....The Lancet Neurology October press release
...Can we predict whether an individual with a severe personality disorder will commit murder? Should compulsory treatment in the community be introduced? In a draft mental health bill, which was under consultation until September 16, the UK government has proposed a number of changes that have caused widespread concern. The government's intention is to protect the vulnerable in society; but in...Emergency physicians to convene in Seattle in October
Washington, DC More than 5,000 emergency physicians and others are expected to attend the annual Scientific Assembly of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), which begins Sunday, October 6, and ends Wednesday, October 9, at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. ... ...Emergency physicians will attend hundreds of courses on the latest clinical innovations in...Chemical society convenes regional meeting in San Antonio, October 17-20
... ...Over 320 research findings are scheduled for presentation at the 57th Southwest regional meeting of the American Chemical Society, the worlds largest scientific society, in San Antonio, October 17-20. Noted scientists as well as undergraduate and graduate students are expected to attend the meeting at the Omni San Antonio Hotel (210-691-8888).... ...On display at the meeting will be a t...Annals of Internal Medicine, Tip Sheet, October 2, 2001
Annals of Internal Medicine is published by the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM), an organization of more than 115,000 internal medicine physicians and medical students. The following highlights are not intended to substitute for articles as sources of information. For an embargoed fax of an article, call 1-800-523-1546, ext. 2656 or 215-351-2656. .....Annals of Internal Medicine, Tip Sheet, October 17, 2000
.Annals of Internal Medicine is published by the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM), an organization of more than 115,000 internal medicine physicians and medical students. The following highlights are not intended to substitute for articles as sources of information. For an embargoed fax of an article, call 1-800-523-1546, ext. 2656 or 215-351-2656....Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, October 2000
. . ENERGY Super-efficient water heater. . With water heating consuming about 17 percent of the energy for a typical household, its a good place to start when cutting costs. ORNLs Building Technology Center is assisting in developing a heat pump water heater as a "drop-in" replacement for a conventional 50- or 80-gallon water heater. It features the same footprint, electrical and plumbing requ....Tuberculosis Was Transmitted Among Inmates and Guards in a City Jail . .Jails are a prime site for detecting -- and possibly transmitting - tuberculosis.(TB), a new study finds (Article, p. 557). In an urban jail during a three-year.period, 38 inmates and five guards were diagnosed with active tuberculosis..Researchers also found that 43 percent of people in the city with newly.discovered tube.... .A new questionnaire effectively screened primary care patients for sleep apnea.(Article, p. 485). During routine office visits to five Cleveland doctors, 744.patients were given surveys about snoring, sleepiness, and obesity or.hypertension. Based on their answers, 279 (37.5 percent) were considered at high.risk for sleep apnea. Sleep studies then conducted at home confirmed sleep apnea.in ne...