ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

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• Thinking skills take biggest hit from anxiety in midlife women with HIV
• Huntington disease prevention trial shows creatine safe, slows progression
• Diaphragm pacing in spinal cord injury successful in weaning patients from ventilators
• Women fare worse than men following stroke
• Stroke trigger more deadly for African-Americans
• Large-scale studies to evaluate testosterone therapy risks
• Variability of contact precaution policies in US emergency departments
• Surprising new clue to the roots of hunger, neurons that drive appetite
• Genetic signals affecting lipid levels used to investigate heart disease risk
• Analysis of calls to IBD clinic predicts emergency visits, hospitalizations
• Exercise may slow progression of retinal degeneration
• The fatality rate among heroin, cocaine users 14 times higher than for the general population
• Rett syndrome genetic variants now available for advance testing, diagnosis & research
• Potential novel treatment against septic shock, one of the leading causes of mortality in ICUs
• Acute Kidney Injury May Be a Risk Factor for Later Heart Problems
• Quality problems in America's nursing homes tied to turnover
• Histones may hold the key to the generation of totipotent stem cells

Thinking skills take biggest hit from anxiety in midlife women with HIV Posted: 08 Feb 2014 05:07 AM PST Hot flashes, depression, and most of all, anxiety, affect the thinking skills of midlife women with HIV, so screening for and treating their anxiety may be especially important in helping them function, according to a study just published. The reproductive stage, whether it was premenopause, perimenopause or postmenopause, did not seem to be related to these women's thinking skills.

Huntington disease prevention trial shows creatine safe, slows progression Posted: 08 Feb 2014 05:07 AM PST The first clinical trial of a drug intended to delay the onset of symptoms of Huntington disease reveals that high-dose treatment with the nutritional supplement creatine was safe and well tolerated by most participants. In addition, neuroimaging showed a treatment-associated slowing of regional brain atrophy, evidence that creatine might slow the progression of presymptomatic disease.

Diaphragm pacing in spinal cord injury successful in weaning patients from ventilators Posted: 08 Feb 2014 05:05 AM PST Laparoscopic diaphragm mapping – an electronic reading of the diaphragm nerves – is safe and can be performed in multiple centers with success, a new study shows. Early diaphragm mapping can quickly determine if a phrenic nerve injury is complete, allowing for early ventilator planning and prevention of weaning trials for patients with spinal cord injuries.

Women fare worse than men following stroke Posted: 08 Feb 2014 05:05 AM PST The good news: More people survive stroke now than 10 years ago due to improved treatment and prevention. The bad news: Women who survive stroke have a worse quality of life than men, according to a study published.

Stroke trigger more deadly for African-Americans Posted: 08 Feb 2014 05:05 AM PST In a new study, results show that African-Americans were 39 times more likely to die of a stroke if they were exposed to an infection.

Large-scale studies to evaluate testosterone therapy risks Posted: 07 Feb 2014 12:13 PM PST According to a statement issued today by the Endocrine Society, the risks and benefits of testosterone therapy for older men with declining levels of the hormone need to be fully evaluated.

Variability of contact precaution policies in US emergency departments Posted: 07 Feb 2014 10:30 AM PST In a study, researchers surveyed a random sample of US emergency departments and found substantial variation in the adoption of policies relating to contact precautions.

Surprising new clue to the roots of hunger, neurons that drive appetite Posted: 07 Feb 2014 10:29 AM PST A scientific team has made a surprising discovery about the brain's hunger-inducing neurons, a finding with important implications for the treatment of obesity.

Genetic signals affecting lipid levels used to investigate heart disease risk Posted: 07 Feb 2014 10:28 AM PST New genetic evidence strengthens the case that one well-known type of cholesterol is a likely suspect in causing heart disease, but also casts further doubt on the causal role played by another type. The findings may guide the search for improved treatments.

Analysis of calls to IBD clinic predicts emergency visits, hospitalizations Posted: 07 Feb 2014 08:41 AM PST A comprehensive analysis of patient telephone records at an inflammatory bowel disease clinic revealed that 15 percent of patients account for half of all calls to the clinic. Forty-two percent of frequent-caller patients also were seen in the emergency department or hospitalized within the following year.

Exercise may slow progression of retinal degeneration Posted: 07 Feb 2014 08:40 AM PST Moderate aerobic exercise helps to preserve the structure and function of nerve cells in the retina after damage, according to an animal study. The findings suggest exercise may be able to slow the progression of retinal degenerative diseases.

The fatality rate among heroin, cocaine users 14 times higher than for the general population Posted: 07 Feb 2014 06:40 AM PST A new study analyses the risk factors and excess mortality among heroin and cocaine consumers admitted to treatment in Spain. The results reveal that the fatality rate among consumers of both drugs is 14.3 times higher than for the general population, while among those only using cocaine, it is 5.1 times higher.

Rett syndrome genetic variants now available for advance testing, diagnosis & research Posted: 07 Feb 2014 05:39 AM PST Through collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and members of the clinical-laboratory and non-profit–research communities, 35 DNA samples containing many common RS genetic variants have now been characterized and made publicly available, eliminating a major stumbling-block for investigators and opening the possibility of earlier, more accurate diagnosis of Rett syndrome.

Potential novel treatment against septic shock, one of the leading causes of mortality in ICUs Posted: 07 Feb 2014 05:37 AM PST Septic shock is caused by excessive and systemic reaction of the entire body against infectious agents, in most cases of bacterial origin. The number of deaths by septic shock in intensive care units is very high and is still increasing, despite numerous large scale clinical trials. Scientists demonstrated in a mouse study that a potential novel treatment for sepsis may consist of the simultaneous neutralization of two harmful cytokines in the blood circulation, namely interleukin-1 and interleukin-18.

Acute Kidney Injury May Be a Risk Factor for Later Heart Problems Posted: 07 Feb 2014 05:36 AM PST Hospitalized patients who recovered from acute kidney injury had a 67% increased risk of experiencing coronary events or dying during a recent study, suggesting that there is a linkage between the two. Acute kidney injury's harmful effects on heart health were comparable to those attributed to diabetes.

Quality problems in America's nursing homes tied to turnover Posted: 07 Feb 2014 05:36 AM PST Nursing researchers find adverse outcomes are linked to turnover in studies of a sample representing more than 16,000 nursing homes in the United States, suggesting that preventing staff turnover should be given greater emphasis.

Histones may hold the key to the generation of totipotent stem cells Posted: 06 Feb 2014 10:36 AM PST One major challenge in stem cell research has been to reprogram differentiated cells to a totipotent state. Researchers have identified a duo of histone proteins that dramatically enhance the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) and may be the key to generating induced totipotent stem cells.

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