Providence, RI ?V Breast cancer awareness month may have passed, but researchers remain focused on the disease with a new study showing that a unique estrogen receptor found in breast cancer tumors is a predictor of tumor size and metastases. The study, led by researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown Medical School, is published in the November 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.
In August 2004, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) began work on a programme called ‘Communication between patients and their hospital doctor’ in order to suggest ways in which greater understanding of the doctor/patient partnership can produce more effective treatment and care.
By combining four proteins of Staphylococcus aureus that individually generated the strongest immune response in mice, scientists have created a vaccine that significantly protects the animals from diverse strains of the bacterium that cause disease in humans. A report describing the University of Chicago study, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health, appears online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
An educational intervention program for parents of infants born prematurely that is implemented early in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) can reduce parental stress, depression and anxiety, enhance parent-infant interactions, and reduce hospital length of stay, according to a study led by Dr. Bernadette Melnyk, Dean and Distinguished Foundation Professor in Nursing at Arizona State University College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation, Phoenix.
A meta-analysis published in the October issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings indicts oral contraceptives as putting premenopausal women at significantly increased risk for breast cancer, especially women who use them prior to having a child.
The largest-ever study on the effects of health care co-payment costs on emergency department visits has revealed that requiring patients to pay for a portion of the cost can reduce the number of visits. The study also finds that this decrease does not negatively affect health.
New autopsy data provide the strongest evidence yet that sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is not a “mystery” disease but has a concrete biological basis. In the November 1 issue of JAMA, researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston document abnormalities in the brainstem — a part of the brain that regulates breathing, blood pressure, body heat, and arousal — in babies who died from SIDS. The term cot death is often used in the United Kingdom, and crib death in North America.
Pediatricians may seek payment in some instances for medical advice and care provided by telephone, according to a new American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement.
Child life programs, which address psychosocial issues and provide information to children and families pertaining to hospital stays, surgery or procedures, illness, and other health care experiences, are an essential component of quality pediatric health care for children and families, says a new American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement.
Methamphetamine (MA) abuse is a serious health problem of epidemic proportions. Exposure to this drug, particularly during pregnancy, is difficult to ascertain. Sparse information on gestational exposure is available. Crystal meth boosts alertness and promotes a sense of wellbeing, euphoria, and exhilaration. It also curbs appetite and enhances sexual arousal. But long term abuse damages nerves in the brain and can lead to psychotic behaviour and aggression.