Women on osteoporosis drug can discontinue use with no risk
..., for FIT Long-Term Extension. It was designed to evaluate the effects on BMD for a total of 10 years, comparing those who continued to take the drug with those who stopped after five years. A total of 1,099 women who had previously received alendronate in FIT and afterwards, were re-randomized to receive p...Psychological treatments improve outcomes for back pain sufferers
...cal disease process or risk reduction effort. To evaluate the effects of psychological interventions on pain-related outcomes, Kerns and his team gathered data from 22 randomized trials published between 1982 and 2003. Trials were limited to adults with nonmalignant low back pain that had persisted for at l...Prediction markets accurately forecast influenza activity
...flu vaccine effectiveness and a separate market to evaluate the probability of human-to-human transmission of avian influenza in different parts of the world. "We think prediction markets can accurately forecast the future activity of a wide variety of infectious diseases and related phenomena by aggregating ...Ability of biomarkers to predict risk of heart disease, stroke appears limited
...omarkers, either to compare their usefulness or to evaluate the testing of several markers at once. The cur...t the ability of a multimarker testing approach to evaluate cardiovascular risk in a group of apparently healthy individuals. Participants were members of the ...New imaging compound might 'see' Alzheimer's earlier
...ed FDDNP, also holds promise as a research tool to evaluate new treatments for Alzheimer's. The study was funded in part by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). FDDNP binds to plaques and tangles, enabling researchers to see these abnormal deposits that form ...Brains can recover from alcoholic damage but patients should stop drinking as soon as possible
...al brain changes. Usually this has been applied to evaluate the degree and speed of brain degeneration in illnesses such as Alzheimers disease or multiple sclerosis. Here, we show that neuroimaging can also demonstrate and quantify brain regeneration in substance and function. Data analysis is crucial to thes...Hospital performance measures may not accurately reflect quality of care or predict patient outcomes
... and policymakers will all benefit from efforts to evaluate rigorously and further understand the relationship between performance measures and clinical outcomes." (JAMA. 2006;296:2731-2732. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org .) Editor's Note: Dr. Horn reports that she in an employ...New research explores limits of non-invasive coronary imaging tests
...hen clinicians may proceed to use SPECT imaging to evaluate if the patient has ischemia." "Future studies are needed on how to apply both techniques in the clinical setting in patients with intermediate likelihood of CAD," he added. Sharmila Dorbala, MD, Divisions of Nuclear Medicine/PET and Cardiovascu...Higher physical activity associated with reduced risk of breast cancer
...are needed to confirm these novel findings, and to evaluate similar relationships among premenopausal women," the authors conclude. "If found to be causally related to breast cancer, physical activity would have a substantial public health effect on the prevention of this disease, along with its other positi...'Dua Anti-reflux Valve' found to improve quality of life for bile duct/pancreatic cancer patients
...it to the bile duct stent. Laboratory studies to evaluate the flow dynamics of this modified stent showed th...ysis of clogged standard and anti-reflux stents to evaluate the role of reflux of intestinal contents in stent clogging," Dua says. "We also hope to look at oth...Pioneers in field of functional genomics work toward gene therapy for vision defects
... The Medical College of Wisconsin Eye Institute to evaluate the plasticity of the adult human visual system. Gene therapy has been demonstrated to correct deficits in the retina, but the major unanswered question is whether the brain can interpret new information it receives from the therapeutically-treated r...UCSF pharmacy school receives major grant from Amgen Foundation for Medicare Part D outreach
... held in Sacramento, will help underserved seniors evaluate their Medicare Part D options and enroll in Part D prescription drug plans. Medicare Part D is the federal governments voluntary prescription drug insurance program for Medicare-eligible individuals. In the state of California, 55 different Medi...RAND study shows solitary drug, alcohol and cigarette use puts adolescents at higher risk
...rom California and Oregon enrolled in a program to evaluate Project ALERT, a drug use prevention program developed by RAND for middle school children. People involved in the study were asked about their substance use and a variety of other issues several times during middle school and high school, and again ...SCAI president testifies before FDA on safety of drug-eluting stents
...nterventions (SCAI), today urged a review panel to evaluate new data on the safety of drug-eluting stents (DES) from the perspective of prior developments in the history of coronary intervention, and with an appreciation for the balance of benefits and risks that guides all clinical decision-making. As pre...Rochester study rolls out RU-486 to treat uterine fibroids
...cebo pill daily, for six months. Doctors sought to evaluate physical changes as well as quality of life improv...r study, the authors wrote. Further studies should evaluate whether the drug can be safely taken for longer periods, and how long after stopping the drug would ...New research sheds light on stroke development
...euroimaging. DWI is being used to systematically evaluate patients with crytogenic stroke comparing patterns of abnormalities in those with and without patent foramen ovale and atrial septal aneurysms.The study has found that DWI can be beneficial to doctors in helping to establish relationships between sev...Postpartum depression is a major public health problem that requires more resources
...ession care management methods. This study aims to evaluate screening methods and interventions for postpartum depression, and the researchers hope that the information gained through this study will be used to develop universal best practices for screening and treatment....High-resolution imaging with contrast agent shows promise in osteoarthritis research
...rat knee joints. Researchers will nondestructively evaluate osteoarthritis progression and then attempt to use this approach to monitor cartilage changes over time in vivo, or inside the same live animals. "Ultimately, if we can monitor cartilage changes with good resolution and do it with little or no inv...Study shows interruption of antiretroviral therapy increases risk of disease and death
...adr also stated that further research is needed to evaluate the effect of interrupting antiretroviral therapy on immune function, inflammation, and other markers....... brief question was included with each stimulus to evaluate perception of the brand. The volunteers pressed a button to respond using a four-point scale ranging from disagree to agree strongly. During the sequence, the fMRI acquired images of the brain, depicting areas that activated in response to the differ...