Difficulties in the heart’s ability to fill with blood are common causes of heart failure — and appear to be as significant in placing a heart patient at risk of death as are deficiencies in the heart’s ability to pump blood, new research from Mayo Clinic shows.
Growing up in the Bronx, Howell Wechsler, EdD, MPH always dreamed of becoming a writer. Not just any writer, but an investigative reporter like his heroes Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two Washington Post journalists who broke the Watergate scandal. Wechsler’s journalistic dream took a detour when service in the Peace Corps landed him in Zaire, Africa?a place that would eventually serve as the catalyst for his career in public health.
People who experience a pounding heart, sweaty palms or dizziness — even if the cause is something as mundane as stress, exercise or caffeine — are more likely to develop a clinical case of anxiety or panic disorder, according to a Florida State University researcher in Tallahassee, Fla.
Following a series of well documented natural disasters with grave human and economic consequences, the ability to predict these devastating events has once more come to the fore as a research priority for the European scientific community.This, amongst other things, is what leading scientists in ocean margin research came together to discuss at the recent EUROMARGINS conference in Bologna, Italy.
Doctors should probably stop using pulmonary artery catheters because they do not benefit patients, say doctors from Australia in this week’s BMJ.
The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Department of Defense’s military health system today released TeamSTEPPS, a new evidence-based team training and implementation toolkit that demonstrates techniques of effective communication and other teamwork skills. The new toolkit, which responds to the Institute of Medicine’s call for “interdisciplinary team training programs that incorporate proven methods for team management” to prevent medical errors, is designed to optimize team performance and outcomes across the health care delivery system.
Australians will have access to better, more affordable mental health care through new Medicare mental health items and support services costing $538 million over five years. The new MBS items for mental health will make Medicare rebates available for GPs who provide early intervention, assessment and management of patients with mental disorders as part of a GP Mental Health Care Plan.
Researchers have used a single compound to increase the lifespan of obese mice, and found that the drug reversed nearly all of the changes in gene expression patterns found in mice on high calorie diets–some of which are associated with diabetes, heart disease, and other significant diseases related to obesity. The research, led by investigators at Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging, is the first time that the small molecule resveratrol has been shown to offer survival benefits in a mammal. The study is reported in the November 1 advanced online edition of Nature.
On 30 October 2006, Dr Brian Gibbons, Health Minister for Wales, announced an additional ?700,000 funding for the beta interferons and glatiramer acetate. This should help to ensure that everyone with MS who lives in Wales and meets the prescribing criteria will be able to start treatment as soon as possible.
Long-term consequences of arsenic poisoning during infancy is due to contaminated milk powder, a study published in Environmental Health by Miwako Dakeishi, Katsuyuki Murata and Philippe Grandjean. Arsenic toxicity is a global health problem affecting many millions of people.