2001-2002 survey finds that many recover from alcoholism
...ssue of Addiction. The fully recovered individuals show symptoms of neither alcohol dependence nor alcohol abuse and either abstain or drink at levels below those known to increase relapse risk. They include roughly equal proportions of abstainers (18.2 percent) and low-risk drinkers (17.7 percent). The a...American Thoracic Society Journal news tips for January 2005 (second issue)
...vestigators said that their study was the first to show that a high maintenance dose of the ICS budesonide is not necessary to reduce the incidence of first and repeat exacerbations requiring medical intervention. The authors noted that the risk of severe exacerbations requiring medical intervention was ...Tip sheet Annals of Internal Medicine, Jan. 18, 2005
...s, improved all lipid profiles, the study does not show whether the increased HDL levels or the decreased LDL levels led to the changes in artery disease....MGH researchers find way of regenerating cells key to hearing
...an patients. "It's taken over 10 years of work to show that hair cells can regenerate in tissues, and I hope it won't take another decade to achieve functional regeneration in a living animal," says Chen. "But my hope and belief is that, if we can do this in mice, we'll be able to achieve it in people."...Northwestern Memorial chosen to be featured in first-ever mini-med school TV airing on PBS
... a new era of heart care. "Participating in this show was an amazing opportunity not only for NMH, but for me individually. I'm not only a physician and researcher, but also a professor a teacher by nature and it's a dream to be given the opportunity to educate people across the nation through televi...First new treatment for alcoholism in ten years, now available Campral(R) (acamprosate calcium)
... fourth study, the Campral-treated group failed to show a difference on the primary efficacy endpoint, cumulative abstinence duration. In this trial, patients were not required to be abstinent prior to randomization as required in the positive studies. (1) In the clinical trial program, side effects fo...Long-term high consumption of red and processed meat linked with increased risk for colon cancer
...lowed us to obtain stable estimates of risk and to show differences by colorectal subsite. Our results demonstrate the potential value of examining long-term meat consumption in assessing risk and strengthen the evidence that prolonged high consumption of red and processed meat may increase the risk of ca...Elevated glucose levels and diabetes are associated with increased risk for cancer
...background information in the article. Recent data show that approximately 150 million people have diabetes mellitus worldwide, and this number may double by 2025, especially in developing countries, because of population growth, aging, unhealthy diets, obesity, and sedentary lifestyles. Sun Ha Jee, Ph.D...Baby talk: Infants have much to say if adults will only listen
...ung children with cochlear implants indicated they show the same discrimination in speech after only one month of cochlear implant use. Using varying images, sounds and stimuli, the researchers hope to gain a more in-depth understanding of how language is learned and why children who hear from birth resp...New study reveals treatment for 'silent killer' using diet, not drugs
...n addition to the population trends, these studies show that individual patients also experience the blood pressure-lowering effect of a vegetarian diet. Vegetarians tend to be slimmer, on average, and that is one reason their blood pressure is often in the healthy range. Other mechanisms include vegetari...News briefs from the journal Chest, January 2005
...tients and those who snore, but do not have OSAHS, show that the changes in heart function cannot be attributable to snoring alone. Researchers speculate that sleep fragmentation and sympathetic tone in OSAHS patients may be partially responsible for the ST-segment depression episodes, while many heart r...Jefferson scientists find zinc may help prevent esophageal, oral cancers
...tries are zinc-deficient. Epidemiological evidence show the incidence of esophageal and oral cancers is rising in recent years. As many as 13,000 Americans die from esophageal cancer each year. Dr. Fong has been studying zinc deficiency and its connection to esophageal cancer for some 20 years, and has d...Simple sputum test for confirmation of childhood tuberculosis
...h African study in this week's issue of THE LANCET show how a diagnosis of tuberculosis in young children can be confirmed by a straightforward sputum test, rather than the conventional and invasive procedure of gastric lavage. Diagnosis of tuberculosis is difficult in infants and young children and can ...More precise radiation therapy lets prostate cancer patients avoid erectile dysfunction
...e of limitations in the CT scan, the images do not show the bottom of the prostate. Doctors instead estimate where the prostate ends, based on average distance from identifiable structures. The U-M study, using MRI in addition to CT scans to get a better picture of the whole prostate, found the distance b...Workers with carpal tunnel find relief with night-time splinting
...lth System and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, show that night-time splinting can effectively improve ...sed and there's very little scientific research to show which initial treatments are actually the most effective for those with symptoms of carpal tunnel sy...Antibiotics protect nerves in mice by turning on genes
... by these drugs' abilities," says Rothstein. "They show for the first time that drugs, not just genetic engineering, can increase numbers of specific transporters in brain cells. Because we study ALS, we tested the drugs in a mouse model of that disease, but this is much bigger than ALS. This approach has...Scientists uncover new mechanism for the amygdala in fear recognition
...for conditions such as autism, where patients also show abnormal fixation on facial features and have a disrupted ability to interpret emotion from facial expressions. "That the amygdala is critical for recognizing fear expressions has been evident from prior studies," said Antonio Damasio, M.D., P...Sex habits of young women unchanged by morning after pill, UCSF study finds
...logy and reproductive sciences. "Sadly, these data show us we are still not influencing young women to take fewer risks in their sexual behavior," said Raine. "Given that only a fraction of the women having unprotected sex used emergency contraception, it seems we need to spend our energy trying to make i...New findings on patient safety at children's hospitals
... is not always possible. But the new analysis does show the need for very specific studies on, for example, measures to prevent hospital-acquired infections and bedsores among hospitalized children. The authors are already working with a collaboration of children's hospitals that will share the "best pra...Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt ranked 8th in nation by 'Child' magazine
...are honored to serve our families and we'reglad to show them they are in excellent hands" "This community came forth with unmatched charity and generosity tobuild the best children's hospital possible," said the hospital'snamesake, Monroe Carell Jr., who is a driving force behind thefund-raising efforts ...