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Healthcare :: Mortality rates 71 percent lower at top-rated hospitals, HealthGrades 2008 hospital-quality study

Patients have on average a 71 percent lower chance of dying at the nation’s top-rated hospitals compared with the lowest-rated hospitals across 18 procedures and conditions analyzed in the tenth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, issued today by HealthGrades, the healthcare ratings company. The study, which documents a wide variation in the quality of care between the highest-performing hospitals and all others, also found that if all hospitals performed at the level of hospitals rated with five stars by HealthGrades, 266,604 Medicare lives could potentially have been saved over the three years studied.

Pain :: Nicotine patch decreases post surgical pain after prostate surgery

The use of a nicotine patch – successfully used to help many smokers decrease their dependency on nicotine – was shown to reduce pain in men after prostate removal surgery in a new anesthesiology study.

Asthma :: Household cleaning & spray cleaners linked to asthma

Household cleaning and home spray cleaners increase the risk of developing asthma by more than fifty percent, revealed by European researchers, first to investigate the effects of cleaning products on occasional users rather than occupational users, in a new study in Europe.

DNA :: New method of selecting DNA for resequencing accelerates discovery of subtle DNA variations

A new technology developed by scientists at Emory University will allow researchers to more easily discover subtle and overlooked genetic variations that may have serious consequences for health and disease. Called Microarray-based Genomic Selection (MGS), the research protocol allows scientists to extract and enrich specific large-sized DNA regions, then compare genetic variation among individuals using DNA resequencing methods.

Obesity :: Genes may make some people more motivated to eat, perhaps overeat

Science has found one likely contributor to the way that some folks eat to live and others live to eat. Researchers at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, have found that people with genetically lower dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps make behaviors and substances more rewarding, find food to be more reinforcing than people without that genotype. In short, they are more motivated to eat and they eat more.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome :: Bifantis can claim efficacy vs. placebo for IBS symptoms

A new analysis of randomized controlled trials evaluating probiotics in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has found that Bifantis®, Bifidobacterium infantis 35624, the sole ingredient in Align® (manufactured by Procter & Gamble), is the only probiotic currently able to demonstrate significant improvement in IBS symptoms based upon a properly designed research study.

Chocolate :: People are programmed to love chocolate – chocolate lover

For the first time, scientists have linked the all-too-human preference for a food — chocolate — to a specific, chemical signature that may be programmed into the metabolic system and is detectable by laboratory tests. The signature reads ‘chocolate lover’ in some people and indifference to the popular sweet in others, the researchers say.

Alzheimer’s Disease :: New blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease

A team of international researchers reported they have identified a group of cell-signaling proteins found in blood that serve as a unique “voiceprint” that can not only be used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, but also classify and predict presymptomatic individuals who will eventually develop the memory-robbing disorder.

Stent :: Horizons AMI trial data to be presented at TCT 2007

The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) will release results of its landmark research study, HORIZONS AMI (Harmonizing Outcomes with Revascularization and Stents in Acute Myocardial Infarction) at the nineteenth annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium in Washington, D.C.

Colon Cancer :: First colonoscopy with removal of polyps linked to reduction in colon cancer death

Using a model to predict reductions in death from colorectal cancer, epidemiologists and clinical researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering looked at the relative effect of an initial screening colonoscopy which clears pre-cancerous polyps from the colon versus surveillance follow-up colonoscopy.