Medicine | Page 295 of 378 | SpiritIndia.com

Stroke :: Surgery Better Than Stents

Surgery outperformed the use of stents in a French trial of patients who had warning symptoms of stroke because of blockage of the carotid arteries, the main blood vessels to the brain. Indeed, the trial was cut short “for reasons of both safety and futility,” said a report in the Oct. 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The incidence of stroke or death in the 30 days and six months after a procedure was about twice as high for patients given a stent, a tube-like device to keep an artery open, than for those who had the surgery called endarterectomy.

Aging :: DHEA not an anti-aging compound for elderly adults

Taking supplements of the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone, better known as DHEA, does not improve body composition, physical performance, insulin sensitivity, or quality of life in elderly adults, according to a report in The New England Journal of Medicine. The new findings strongly contradict advertisements promoting these supplements as anti-aging compounds, lead author Dr. K. Sreekumaran Nair, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues conclude.

Celiac Disease :: Celiac disease linked to impaired thinking

Impaired thinking may follow the onset or worsening of celiac disease, a common digestive disorder triggered by eating wheat products and other foods containing the protein gluten, as reported in the Archives of Neurology by Dr. Keith A. Josephs and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, who studied 13 patients who experienced cognitive decline within 2 years of the onset or worsening of celiac disease.

Renal Failure :: Homeopathy in Chronic Renal or Kidney failure (CRF)

Chronic Renal (Kidney) Failure is a fatal disease where bodily waste products (in the form of urine) collected in the body which leads to multiorgan failure. There are three procedures in modern medicine for such condition –

Influenza :: Novartis cell culture-derived influenza vaccine well tolerated and efficacious

Novartis (NYSE: NVS) announced today results of pivotal Phase III clinical trial data for its innovative cell culture-derived influenza vaccine demonstrating that it is highly capable of producing an immune response (“immunogenic”), one at least as strong as the traditional egg-derived influenza vaccine Aggripal? for each of the three influenza strains studied.

Fertility :: Protein important in blood clotting may also play a role in fertility

A protein known to play a role in blood clotting and other cell functions is also critical for proper sperm formation in mice, according to researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

Health :: NIH Opens Health Information Center at Jackson Medical Mall

The National Institutes of Health opened a new health information center today at the Jackson Medical Mall in Jackson, Mississippi, affirming NIH?s commitment to providing accurate, up-to-date health information to Mississippi residents.

Health :: Racial disparities in preventive health care persist

The racial gap in preventive health care — such as Pap tests, mammograms, and prostate and colorectal cancer screenings — persists and might be larger than previously thought, a study published online in BMC Heath Services Research finds, the Washington Post reports. For the study, Kevin Fiscella, an associate professor of family medicine and community and preventive medicine at the University of Rochester’s School of Medicine, and colleagues compared self reports from patients and Medicare claims from their physicians to see when they were eligible for and last had screenings for several conditions.

Health :: Think safety first, not candy, when prepping for Halloween treats

As Halloween approaches, taking a few safety precautions can ensure that trick-or-treaters and their families have a safe and enjoyable autumn holiday.

Eyes :: Receptor that enables clear corneas is identified

The cornea stays clear by expressing a soluble form of a receptor that traps factors enabling growth of vision-obstructing blood vessels, researchers say. When sflt-1, a free-floating receptor for vascular endothelial growth factor A, is eliminated, vision-obstructing blood vessels start growing, teams of researchers led by the Medical College of Georgia and University of Kentucky report in Nature. The paper was published online Oct. 18 and will be in the Oct. 26 print issue.