Annals of Internal Medicine, tip sheet, June 4, 2002
...pital medical records. In a new study, researchers reviewed 500 of the records used in the IOM report and found that two changes in the record review process markedly reduced the rates of negligent events: increasing the number of reviewers from one to three, and requiring reviewers to be highly confident tha...Statin drugs lower heart disease risk in postmenopausal women
...ced somewhat divergent results." Herrington's team reviewed data from the Heart and Estrogen/progestin Replacement Study (HERS). The primary purpose of HERS was to evaluate the effect of HRT on heart attack and death in 2,763 women with coronary heart disease. The principal finding of HERS showed no overall...Medical press releases may exaggerate results and fail to include study limitations
...ocess at several high-profile medical journals and reviewed recent releases to evaluate how study findings are presented and whether limitations and potential conflicts of interest are acknowledged. While medical journals strive to ensure accuracy and the acknowledgment of limitations in articles, press relea...Methods used in reporting results of new treatments may be misleading
...cines Department of Family and Community Medicine, reviewed 359 articles involving new treatments published between 1989 and 1998 in the frequently cited journals: the Annals of Internal Medicine, British Journal of Medicine, Journal of American Medical Association, The Lancet and the New England Journal of M...'Digital microscopes' for dentistry course
..." Students benefit because digitized images can be reviewed anytime and any place there is a computer, rather than during a designated three-hour lab session. Other benefits to the high-tech approach to learning are also being realized. The School avoids a huge financial commitment, in excess of $100,000, of...Largest ever study on European cancer prevalence shows large differences between countries
...examined the methods used to calculate prevalence, reviewed the problems encountered and how they could be overcome. The authors concluded that work in progress to break down total prevalence by disease stage would provide more informative indicators for planning the allocation of health resources....Current colon cancer screening recommendations supported by study of 40-49 year olds
...orectal cancers, and ulcerative colitis. The study reviewed the procedures and pathology reports of colonoscopies of 906 individuals between the ages of 40 and 49 who did not have symptoms of colorectal cancer and who have no established genetic risk for the disease. No cancer was found in any of these indiv...Rates of genital herpes infections rise
...men, finds a study in this week's BMJ. Researchers reviewed all genital samples of herpes simplex processed between 1986 and 2000 at the West of Scotland Specialist Virology Centre. Of the 3,181 swabs testing positive for the virus, 63% were from women and 37% were from men. Twenty-nine per cent of patients w...Probiotics may prevent antibiotic associated diarrhoea
... Researchers at the Hammersmith Hospital in London reviewed nine trials carried out to study the benefits of probiotics in the prevention of antibiotic associated diarrhoea. In all nine trials, the probiotics were given in combination with antibiotics and the control groups received placebo and antibiotics. T...Update on national asthma guidelines released
...t appropriate doses in children. The expert panel reviewed studies examining possible side effects of inhaled corticosteroids, including slowed growth in children. The update reports that large clinical trials have shown that the potential risk of a delay in growth linked to inhaled corticosteroids is tempor...Beta-blockers after heart surgery show double benefits
...ton General Hospital, Ontario, Canada. Researchers reviewed evidence from 52 randomized trials of drugs or treatments to prevent AF. These drugs included amiodarone (an anti-arrhythmic drug), beta-blockers and sotalol a beta-blocker analyzed separately because of potential pro-arrhythmic side effects. Beta...Learn and Serve announcement and call for proposals
... West Georgia Janice Purk Ph.D Applications were reviewed and final awardees were determined in April by a seven member selection committee led by AGHE and University of Pittsburgh staff. The selection criteria included the programs design, its timeline, the universitys organizational capacity, and the pot...Pregnancy prevention programmes are ineffective
...s a study in this weeks BMJ. Researchers in Canada reviewed 26 trials of adolescents (aged 11 to 18 years) that evaluated pregnancy prevention programmes including sex education classes, abstinence programmes, family planning clinics, and community based programmes. The prevention strategies evaluated did not...Simple questions may help predict death risk for heart patients
...r completing the SAQs. Spertus and co-researchers reviewed the completed SAQs and one-year follow up data of 5,558 patients who had visited outpatient clinics in the Veterans Administration system. Basing their research on the 83 percent of those patients who completed the SAQ, they evaluated the associatio...No link between epilepsy and criminality
...an in the general population. Fazel and colleagues reviewed seven surveys based on clinical interviews of 3,111 prisoners. All respondents were sentenced inmates, with an average age of 29. Ninety per cent were men, and 22% had been convicted of violent offences. Only about 1% of the prisoners reported a his...Sleep attacks from Parkinson's drugs do exist
... are predictable, preventable, and treatable. They reviewed 124 patients and found that sleep attacks do exist in up to 30% of patients. They are associated with all dopamine drugs and occur at both high and low doses of the drugs. However, their prediction, prevention, and treatment are yet to be solved. Des...New research suggests drugs might help women at risk of breast cancer
...ifene, which the FDA has not approved yet. We also reviewed studies of the costs of drug treatment to prevent breast cancer and others assessing the risks of that treatment." Conducted in the United States, the largest of the tamoxifen studies showed almost a 50 percent reduction in the risk of breast cancer ...American Heart Association updates heart attack, stroke prevention guidelines
...ion about disease prevention. The panel carefully reviewed the recommendations in each of these statements or guidelines to ensure the consistency. Notable updates to the guidelines include: low-dose aspirin for people who have an increased risk for coronary heart disease; and blood-thinning drugs to reduc...Researchers support early intervention for all children with reading difficulties
...nevertheless, difficulties in reading. The authors reviewed 320 potential studies and, through a carefully constructed process, eventually selected 46 studies that compare IQ-discrepant and IQ-consistent groups. According to the researchers, "The overlap between poor readers identified as learning disabled an...Smoke-free workplaces protect non-smokers and encourage smokers to quit
...tudy in this week's BMJ. Researchers in California reviewed 26 studies on the effects of smoke-free workplaces. Totally smoke-free workplaces were associated with reductions in prevalence of smoking of nearly 4%. The combined effects of people stopping smoking and reducing consumption reduces total cigarette ...