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A survey conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) research consortium found that the United States had among the highest lifetime rates of tobacco and alcohol use and led in the proportion of participants reporting cannabis (marijuana) or cocaine use at least once during their lifetime. The study, led by Dr. Louisa Degenhardt of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia and colleagues, looked at patterns in the use of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and cocaine in 17 countries representing all six WHO regions (the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania). The study, funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is published in the July 1, 2008 issue of the open access journal "PLoS Medicine".
Researchers conducting a study to learn if children with a urinary tract disorder known as vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) should be treated with an antibiotic for an extended period of time are seeking to enroll more participants. The study, known as the Randomized Intervention for Children with Vesicoureteral Reflux (RIVUR) study is funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Federal regulatory agencies have accepted recommendations of the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) for two methods that can reduce live animal use for ocular safety testing, the committee announced today. ICCVAM is a permanent interagency committee composed of representatives from 15 federal regulatory and research agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that use, generate or disseminate toxicology testing information.
Twelve investigators have received grants totaling $5 million over two years to lead high-impact, innovative studies of food allergy, a significant public health concern. This program, called Exploratory Investigations in Food Allergy, is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and two advocacy groups, the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) and the Food Allergy Project (FAP).
Scientists have found that the compound resveratrol slows age-related deterioration and functional decline of mice on a standard diet, but does not increase longevity when started at middle age. This study, conducted and supported in part by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, is a follow-up to 2006 findings that resveratrol improves health and longevity of overweight, aged mice.
Treating cancer patients with interleukin-7 (IL-7), a small protein that can stimulate the immune system, leads to an increase in lymphocytes, key to the production of effective immune responses, in the body, according to a new study by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The demonstration that IL-7 is able to broaden the possible immune responses in humans could have a wide range of clinical implications. This study was published online June 23, 2008, in The "Journal of Experimental Medicine".
Experts convened by the National Institutes of Health for the Office of the Surgeon General released an agenda today for activities in the public and private sectors to reduce the nation's rate of preterm birth.
Researchers have found that cells from a blood-borne cancer called multiple myeloma rely on the activity of a single protein, called IRF4, for the activation of a wide range of genes responsible for cell survival and spread. Blocking the production of this protein can be strikingly effective in eliminating cancer cells in laboratory models of multiple myeloma. Scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), published their results in the June 22, 2008, issue of "Nature", which highlight this potentially powerful new therapeutic target in multiple myeloma.
To accelerate the translation of basic discoveries about HIV into advances in vaccine design and evaluation, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has formed a new Vaccine Discovery Branch within the Vaccine Research Program in the Division of AIDS (DAIDS).
Scientists have long questioned whether the abundant amounts of amyloid plaques found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's actually caused the neurological disease or were a by-product of its progress. Now, using new research techniques, scientists have shown that a two-molecule aggregate (or dimer) of beta-amyloid protein fragments may play a role in initiating the disease. The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, suggests a possible new target for developing drug therapies to combat the irreversible and progressive disorder.
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Hoboken, N.J.-based Stevens Institute of Technology will launch a graduate certificate program to prepare professionals for careers in the healthcare IT industry. The four courses in the new graduate certificate, “Healthcare Information Technology Management,” will provide the knowledge needed to develop, acquire, and implement effective information technology solutions for in-patient and ambulatory settings, as well as home-health solutions, according to the Institute. The certificate is part of a new graduate concentration in Stevens’ Howe School of Technology Management Master’s in Information Systems and MBA programs that the school says will focus on administrative, clinical, and patient-centered e-health systems.
Researchers have found that cells from a blood-borne cancer called multiple myeloma rely on the activity of a single protein, called IRF4, for the activation of a wide range of genes responsible for cell survival and spread. Blocking the production of this protein can be strikingly effective in eliminating cancer cells in laboratory models of multiple myeloma. Scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), published their results in the June 22, 2008, issue of "Nature", which highlight this potentially powerful new therapeutic target in multiple myeloma.
San Diego-based Palomar Pomerado Health (PPH), the largest public healthcare district in Calif., is deploying agent-based software from Novo Innovations (Alpharetta, Ga.) to improve health information exchange with physician-practice EMRs throughout the community. During the first phase of implementation, PPH will utilize the Novo system to offer practices out-bound electronic results reporting, including face sheet data, transcriptions, radiology results, pathology results, and lab results. In addition, Novo’s Internet-based “drop box” functionality will be used to enable PPH to improve its data sharing with practices that do not have EMRs, says the company. PPH’s network includes Palomar Medical Center, Pomerado Hospital, Villa Pomerado, Palomar Continuing Care Center and the Jean McLaughlin Women’s Center.
To accelerate the translation of basic discoveries about HIV into advances in vaccine design and evaluation, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has formed a new Vaccine Discovery Branch within the Vaccine Research Program in the Division of AIDS (DAIDS).
Scientists have long questioned whether the abundant amounts of amyloid plaques found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's actually caused the neurological disease or were a by-product of its progress. Now, using new research techniques, scientists have shown that a two-molecule aggregate (or dimer) of beta-amyloid protein fragments may play a role in initiating the disease. The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, suggests a possible new target for developing drug therapies to combat the irreversible and progressive disorder.
Banner Health (Phoenix, Ariz.) has purchased licenses for EMR and enterprise practice management software from Horsham, Pa.-based NextGen Healthcare Information Systems. Through the agreement, the health system aims to strengthen physician infrastructure and recruit more physicians within the health system while continued with its long-term ambulatory physician strategy, it says. Banner Health has 20 hospitals in seven western states, and provides hospital care, home care, hospice care, long-term care, nursing registries, surgery centers, laboratories and rehabilitation services.
Pittsburgh, Pa.-based University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is adopting a system for distributing drug samples to its physician offices, hospital-based clinics and outpatient pharmacies. The UPMC eSample Center, which is being developed by Bothell, Wash.-based MedManage Systems Inc. , will enable physicians to order available samples, vouchers and coupons via a Web-based system accessible through UPMC’s intranet. This “virtual sample closet” will serve as a personalized, one-stop, online ordering utility through which UPMC physicians can request brands from multiple manufacturers, says the company.
Data published in the Medical Transcription Services Organizations (MTSO) report from Orem, Utah-based KLAS indicate that the percentage of MTSOs using offshore transcription services has declined in the past year. Thirty-five percent of study participants reported using the services, compared to 38 percent in 2007, according to the report, which was developed using input from 400 respondents. According to KLAS, quality, turnaround time and cost continue to be the main drivers for engagements in this market segment. While each provider organization ultimately determines the value of each of these variables, the market itself is changing, says the org, adding that healthcare providers are faced with growing dictation volumes, a shrinking transcription labor force, and rising costs due to the influx of new technologies being introduced to hospitals.
The CIS market has reached replacement status, according to data from Orem, Utah-based KLAS ’ 2008 Clinical Market Share Report, which states that more sales are coming from organizations that are replacing existing solutions than from those buying solutions for the first time. The KLAS report also found that only 26 percent of clinical use is through an older, legacy product which is down from 33 percent, which was reported in 2007. The findings, say the company, suggest that vendors developing solutions may be challenged to find a market unless they introduce a unique value proposition, and that vendors are going to be required to clearly demonstrate to organizations the benefits of purchasing a new CIS.
Waltham, Mass.-based Recombinant Data Corp. is launching a suite of products developed in collaboration with Partners HealthCare (Boston) to help healthcare providers make secondary use of clinical data from EHRs to achieve quality outcomes. The data warehouse and reporting suite will offer providers an incremental approach to realizing immediate value from data while working toward a long-range enterprise vision, says the company. The solution was originally developed to address the enterprise reporting challenges at Partners, says Recombinant. The suite includes the Recombinant Data Trust, which integrates data from multiple sources to generate an analytical health repository, and Recombinant Report Central, a clinical application that produces dashboards that the company says can help healthcare providers boost quality metrics and deliver quality patient care.
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An ingredient in microwave popcorn may cause potentially deadly lung problems.
Have a health question or concern? Ask Dr. Tim and tune in to News Now.
Doctors say test results on wrestler's brain may explain murder-suicide.
Waltham, Mass.-based Recombinant Data Corp. is launching a suite of products developed in collaboration with Partners HealthCare (Boston) to help healthcare providers make secondary use of clinical data from EHRs to achieve quality outcomes. The data warehouse and reporting suite will offer providers an incremental approach to realizing immediate value from data while working toward a long-range enterprise vision, says the company. The solution was originally developed to address the enterprise reporting challenges at Partners, says Recombinant. The suite includes the Recombinant Data Trust, which integrates data from multiple sources to generate an analytical health repository, and Recombinant Report Central, a clinical application that produces dashboards that the company says can help healthcare providers boost quality metrics and deliver quality patient care.
As much as 4 percent of U.S. children suffer from obstructive sleep apnea.
Expert: Some might be unaware of susceptibility to fireworks-triggered seizures.
A Indian woman has given birth to twins, making her world's oldest mom.
The transgender man born a woman was impregnated by a sperm donor.
The CIS market has reached replacement status, according to data from Orem, Utah-based KLAS ’ 2008 Clinical Market Share Report, which states that more sales are coming from organizations that are replacing existing solutions than from those buying solutions for the first time. The KLAS report also found that only 26 percent of clinical use is through an older, legacy product which is down from 33 percent, which was reported in 2007. The findings, say the company, suggest that vendors developing solutions may be challenged to find a market unless they introduce a unique value proposition, and that vendors are going to be required to clearly demonstrate to organizations the benefits of purchasing a new CIS.
Freegans eat food leftovers from restaurants and found in dumpsters.
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It's no secret that medical students typically carry such a heavy debt load coming out of medical school that it can influence their medical specialty and practice locale choices. Faced with that financial reality, many enter subspecialty areas of medicine, rather than family medicine and other primary care specialties. They also may choose to practice in more lucrative settings, such as larger cities and suburbs, rather than in rural communities.
As AAFP News Now reported earlier this year, the NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute halted the intensive glucose-lowering arm of the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes, or ACCORD, trial because of concerns about the number of deaths in patients who were participating. Results from that arm of the study now have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, but the troubling deaths that led the NIH to halt the study arm have not yet been explained.
If you're about to prescribe an alpha blocker for an older adult with hypertension or a prostate or urinary retention problem, consider whether the patient has cataracts before you prescribe. That's because the use of alpha blockers -- especially tamsulosin, marketed as Flomax -- is associated with an eye condition that makes cataract surgery more difficult, even in patients who no longer use these drugs.
Delegates at the recent annual meeting of the AMA House of Delegates in Chicago left little room for doubt when it came to their views on the appropriate role of nurses in patients' medical care. Although nurses -- including those with a terminal degree in nursing -- are welcomed as part of the medical team, physicians still need to take the lead. Despite strongly worded opposition from national nursing organization representatives who attended the meeting, the delegates adopted a resolution that called for new AMA policy stipulating that doctors of nursing practice, or DNPs, "must practice as part of a medical team under the supervision of a licensed physician who has final authority and responsibility for the patient."
Subscribers to AAFP's Home Study program might have noticed the most recent FP Essentials monograph -- the June edition -- has a new look. The changes were made at the request of Home Study program subscribers and come at no additional subscription cost.
Congress failed to pass a measure to block a steep reduction in the Medicare physician payment rate before adjourning for a weeklong July 4 recess. That failure allows a 10.6 percent cut to take effect on July 1 that could end up limiting or denying care to millions of Medicare beneficiaries.
The Bush administration has announced it will delay the processing, but not necessarily the payment, of Medicare claims to give Congress more time to pass a bill blocking a 10.6 percent reduction in the Medicare payment rate. However, the administration's action should not result in delayed Medicare payments to physicians, said Kent Moore, the AAFP's manager of health financing and delivery systems.
Unbelievable. Outrageous. Unconscionable. These are just a few of the adjectives that spring to mind when it comes to describing the U.S. Senate's inaction on legislation to address the Medicare physician pay cut last week.
A $161.8 billion supplemental spending bill the U.S. Congress recently passed includes provisions that will temporarily prevent the Bush administration from reducing federal Medicaid matching funds for graduate medical education, or GME.
It was with great concern that I read the AAFP News Now editorial on the doctor of nursing practice concept. I am the medical director of a hospital-based rural health clinic in Gonzales, Texas. We have four FPs, one pediatrician, two physician assistants and one nurse practitioner. Our clinic offers services ranging from urgent care to inpatient care covering obstetrics, orthopedic medicine and acute care. As such, we can see very complex patients.
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 AP - Home foreclosures will keep rising next year no matter who is elected president in November.
 Reuters - A man tore the head from a controversial waxwork figure of Adolf Hitler on the opening day of Berlin's Madame Tussauds museum Saturday, police said.
 AP - Thrilled as she was to win her fifth Wimbledon singles championship, Venus Williams dialed down her celebration. No hopping in place and skipping to the net after match point, the way she's done so often on that Centre Court lawn. No giddy laughter and whoops of joy, as she's let out in the past.
 AP - The three American hostages rescued by Colombia's military said in their first public statement that they are doing fine and are thrilled to "return home to the country we love."
 AP - "The Bachelor" is a bachelor no more. Andrew Firestone, star of the ABC-TV reality show, married Serbian model and actress Ivana Bozilovic Saturday, Firestone's publicist Alisha Mahon told The Associated Press.
 AP - Even folks in the Optimist Club are having a tough time toeing an upbeat line these days. Eighteen members of the volunteer organization's Gilbert, Ariz., chapter have gathered, a few days before this nation's 232nd birthday, to focus on the positive: Their book drive for schoolchildren and an Independence Day project to place American flags along the streets of one neighborhood.
 AP - The Emmy-winning daughter of the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin is getting her own doll.
AP - Gospel singer Timothy Wright was critically injured in a crash in central Pennsylvania that killed his wife and a wrong-way driver who hit their vehicle, police said.
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