Services for children: Training needed to tackle complexity of new labour's joined-up approach
...d practices. Attempting to share information more widely may create anxiety and conflict and affect the way teams work together - setting for instance, medical versus social work; education versus care. Researchers found that during meetings about major decisions, jargon could be used to 'exclude' some tea...Anti-depressants used during pregnancy linked to neonatal withdrawal syndrome
... presence of a withdrawal reaction to SSRIs is now widely recognised and several cases of neonatal withdrawal syndrome associated with the drugs - characterised by convulsions, irritability, abnormal crying and tremor- have been reported. Emilio Sanz (University of La Laguna, Spain) and colleagues screened...NHS Trusts meeting government target on stroke units 'in name only'
...roke unit, the audit revealed. There is as yet no widely accepted definition of a stroke unit, say the auth.... Staffing levels and available skills also varied widely within the units, and the quality of care provided in some specialist stroke units often failed to m...Cell phone users drive like old folks
...dy was Performed Strayer and his colleagues are widely known for their 2001 study showing that hands-free cell phones are just as distracting as hand-held cell phones, and for a 2003 study showing that the reason is "inattention blindness," in which motorists can look directly at road conditions but not ...Treatment for brain tumor does not always follow recommendations
...ded patients with brain tumors should be made more widely available to those with malignant glioma ," the editorialists write. "There are few proven risk factors for the development of brain tumors. It is difficult to imagine advancing cures unless the genetic, environmental, dietary, other risk factors, an...Balancing care decisions for gravely ill patients
... noted that APACHE III, a highly sophisticated and widely used computer tool for predicting outcomes, was more than five times more pessimistic than what they observed in their extremely ill subset of patients. The researchers also noted that physician insights of the likelihood of survival of some groups o...Diffusion-weighted MRI can diagnose 'mad cow'-related disease in humans before symptoms show
...ghted MRI is useful for many conditions, and it is widely used for early detection of stroke-related conditions. According to the study authors, early diagnosis of CJD is notoriously difficult and is often complicated by its frequent confusion with other causes of dementia, although its diagnosis is a criti...New way to diagnose sciatica may point to a different cause
...0 years, a damaged disc in the lower back has been widely accepted as the most common cause of sciatica a c... nerve in the body. However, the technology is not widely used and is only available on a limited basis, despite several recent studies demonstrating its effe......ced six decades ago, the Papanicolaou (Pap) smear widely credited with substantial reductions in the incidence and mortality from cervical cancer has become an annual screening rite among American women. Recently, however, long-accepted Papanicolaou smear screening standards have been re-examined. Curre...Penn study shows how next-generation diabetic drugs could work more selectively
...ew understanding of how thiazolidinediones (TZDs), widely used diabetic medications, work in fat cells. With yearly sales exceeding billions of dollars, TZDs such as rosiglitazone maleate (Avandia) and pioglitazone hydrochloride (Actos) help to maintain diabetics' blood-sugar levels. In fat cells, TZDs t...Need better social research but it doesn't come cheap
...the researchers involved than the sorts of surveys widely used at present.Professor Loomes sets out the case for his study in a speech at the international 'Learning about Risk' conference, in Canterbury, launching the ESRC Social Contexts and Responses to Risk Network (see Notes for Editors). He says: "The...From town planning to intimate sex: Understanding the risks in our lives
...ke sure that the latest developments are spread as widely as possible among researchers. "Our research investigates how people understand and respond to risk and uncertainty in their everyday lives and how this relates to the broader field of public policy decisions." He added: "A clear assessment of what ...Reviparin effective in reducing risk of death after heart attack
...ttack In a related study in this week's JAMA , a widely applicable, inexpensive therapy was found to have no effect on death rates when treating patients who had an acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a heart attack with a specific finding on the electrocardiogram. Shamir R. Mehta, M...Whole-body CT screening costs overshadow benefits
... and benefits of this technology before it is more widely used, as sufficient clinical data are not currently available to provide a definitive answer regarding whole-body CT screening, and the analytic model holds some limitations. "Models are by definition a simplification of reality," Dr. Gazelle said. ...January/February Annals of Family Medicine tip sheet
...rence to maintenance antidepressant therapy varies widely and can be explained by their beliefs about the medications prescribed. In a survey of 81 patients, researchers found that adherence was highest among patients whose perceived need for the medication exceeded their concerns about taking it, and it wa...Supermarket bakery workers risk developing asthma
...to one or more allergens, including flour but also widely used additives, was found in around a quarter of those with work-related asthma symptoms. Sensitisation is the process by which repeated exposure to certain allergens causes hypersensitivity, inducing or exacerbating asthma symptoms. Dr Paul Cullin...New leukemia drug shows promise in overriding all Gleevec resistance
...leevec came to market about four years ago, it was widely hailed as a miracle drug. For the first time, there was hope for this group of patients. "Gleevec has been a remarkable success for the treatment of CML. However, a significant number of patients eventually develop resistance to it because their c...Counseling encourages exercise; environment changes may help
...results, but they acknowledge the studies vary too widely to recommend any single approach. The differences between the studies also made it difficult to "determine if any type of physical activity is more likely to be adopted than any other type of physical activity," Hillsdon says. Most of the studies "we...Study shows drugs such as Vioxx and Celebrex were widely over-used long before recent problems
...e COX-2 inhibitors, introduced early in 1999, were widely promoted as "super aspirin." Ordinary aspirin blocks both COX-2, which triggers inflammation, as well as COX-1, which protects the stomach lining and helps to decrease the risk of GI bleeds and stomach ulcers. These newer and far more expensive dru...Pharmacist review does not keep older people out of hospital
... older people and the NHS plan that this should be widely introduced in primary care seems to lack a clear evidence base, they conclude....