Giving oxygen may do more harm than good, new report shows
...e areas where Drs. Iscoe and Fisher see particular benefits for patients from improved oxygen delivery are: heart attack; stroke; carbon monoxide poisoning; wound healing in hospitals, where drug-resistant infections are on the rise; cerebral blood flow to fetuses during difficult birth procedures; an...New study shows use of Lorenzo's oil prevents onset of pediatric neurological disorder
... these transplants can provide important long-term benefits to boys with X-ALD in whom brain involvement is still in the early stages, the procedure carries a significant risk of mortality and morbidity, and is not effective when brain involvement is already severe....Handwashing with soap key to reducing burden of childhood disease
... in Karachi, Pakistan, to measure the broad health benefits brought about by improvement of handwashing and bathing with soap. The investigators recruited 36 neighbourhoods to take part in the study. 600 households in these neighbourhoods were assigned to handwashing promotion and 300 to control. Half the hou...Are some medicines so good they should be free? In diabetes, the answer may be yes
...ile at Harvard University, explores drug costs and benefits though computer models. She worked with Sandeep Vi...at takes into account the substantial known health benefits of ACE inhibitors, the rates and costs of diabetes-related complications among people over the age o...Other highlights in the July 20 JNCI
...d in clinical trials of treatments for cancer, the benefits and toxicities of chemotherapy in elderly patients may be different than in clinical trial participants. Medicare claims may be a source of observational data for studies of chemotherapy in the elderly because Medicare reimburses for intravenous admi...Study questions mortality benefit of breast cancer screening in community settings
A new study calls into question the actual benefits of breast cancer screenings as practiced in the real world, as opposed to the well-controlled situations of previous screening trials. The study appears in the July 20 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. During the past two deca...Not enough is known about treating malaria in pregnancy, researchers say
...y of York in England. "Reliable research about the benefits and harms of treatments for malaria in pregnant women is scarce," Orton says. The review appears in the July issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Sy...Doctors should stop prescribing antibiotics for the common cold, review advises
...scant evidence they stop other infections, and the benefits do not outweigh the risks, according to a new systematic review of current evidence. "Antibiotics appear to have no benefit in the treatment of acute upper respiratory tract infections," conclude Dr. Bruce Arroll and Dr. Timothy Kenealy of the Univer...Diabetes drug controls blood glucose, cardiac risk
...c evidence review included 29 trials comparing the benefits of metformin to placebo, dietary changes, other oral medications and insulin therapy. The studies comprised a total of 5,259 participants and had a minimum follow-up period of three months. "This systematic review suggests the utility of metformin m...Regular yoga practice may help prevent middle-age spread
...rings so many benefits, and if one of the clinical benefits is that it can help you control your weight, then that's a great thing." The participants in the yoga study were part of a larger ongoing Hutchinson Center study involving more than 75,000 residents of western Washington called the Vitamins and Lifes...Efforts to improve hospital care
...juries during delivery," said Romano. "Perhaps the benefits of improving care in hospitals aren't visible until several months or years after hospitalization. Or perhaps some hospitals have figured out how to make their performance look better, without actually improving care at the bedside. Or perhaps othe...Scientists studying ways to help community college employees lose weight and keep it off
...irst six months? And what are the costs and health benefits of different types of weight-loss programs? Since evidence is limited and few worksite weight-loss efforts have been rigorously tested, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have begun trying to generate useful answers. The U...Fathers more involved when paternity is established in the hospital
...ovide unmarried parents with information about the benefits of paternity and require hospitals to inform parents about the legal obligations that occur, e.g. child support, once paternity is established. These programs are a friendly way to aid non-traditional families. "We believe that increasing fathers' ...Statin therapy may lower mortality in heart failure patients
... these conditions, possibly explaining some of the benefits observed by his team with statins in diastolic heart failure. "Because the patients were not randomized to which therapy they received, this is not a definitive study," said Little. "However, it certainly suggests that it's worth looking into using s...Hormone patch may provide some increase in sexual desire in menopausal women
...rmy Medical Center, Washington, D.C., writes, "The benefits found by Braunstein and colleagues are modest and not clearly dose related. Using the Profile of Female Sexual Function (PFSF) they found a statistically significant increase in only two of the seven domains of sexual function at the 300-g/d dose bu...Blood pressure control and treatment is low, especially among older women with hypertension
...tudy. "Despite numerous trials demonstrating the benefits of blood pressure lowering among older individuals with hypertension, available data suggest that rates of treatment and control are suboptimal." Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, M.D., Sc.M., from the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chica...Blood pressure poorly controlled in the elderly, especially women
...ss of the risks of hypertension, to understand the benefits and potential risks of treatment and to identify s...id. Despite numerous clinical studies showing the benefits of lowering blood pressure in older hypertensive persons, data suggest that rates of treatment and c...The Gerontolgogical Society of America taps Aetna's Rowe as annual meeting keynote speaker
...ne of the nation's leading health care and related benefits organizations. Prior to his current post, Rowe served as president and chief executive officer of Mount Sinai NYU Health, one of the largest academic health care organizations in the United States. In the past he was also a professor of medicine and ...Highly active antiretrovirals for HIV can substantially reduce rates of AIDS
...creased with time since initiation. These dramatic benefits provide a context for concerns about possible adverse effects of HAART. The very large benefits of HAART that are achievable in developed countries should remind us of the urgency of providing tre...Cannabis-based drugs could offer new hope for inflammatory bowel disease patients
...earch shows that whilst cannabis use may have some benefits for patients with IBD, the psychoactive effects and the legal implications associated with herbal cannabis use make it unsuitable as a treatment. Targeting drug development to components of the in-built cannabinoid system could be the way forward." C...