Stroke is a leading cause of hospital admission among older adults. Yet more hospital readmissions after stroke are for pneumonia or for heart disease than for another stroke, according to a study published in the June 2007 issue of the journal Stroke. This finding may alter the standard medical management of post-stroke patients.
The ATS and European Respiratory Society (ERS) published a new statement on pulmonary function testing in preschool children. The document, which appears in the June 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, addresses the clinical, technical and epidemiological implications of pulmonary function testing in children aged 2 to 6.
With nearly $1 million in government funding, University of Rochester scientists are testing a new innovation in biotherapy by altering a common childhood respiratory virus, the adenovirus, to destroy cancer cells.
Everyone knows that eating lean fish helps slim waistlines, but researchers from the Center for the Study of Weight Regulation and Associated Disorders at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, OR, have found a new way fish can help eliminate obesity.
In this study, Dr. Michael J. Schull and colleagues determined that restrictions on the non-urgent use of hospital-based services at 32 hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area imposed when a provincial health emergency was declared during the 2003 SARS outbreak in Toronto, Ontario, resulted in a 12 percent decrease in admissions.
Reducing environmental risks including pollution, unsafe water, ultraviolet radiation and climate change can save 13 million lives annually, the United Nations health agency said.
Results of the Option (TOcilizumab Pivotal Trial in Methotrexate Inadequate respONders) trial, the first multinational Phase III study outside of Japan, showed that patients treated with Actemra (either 4mg/kg or 8mg/kg) plus methotrexate achieved a significant and clinically important improvement in the signs and symptoms of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to patients treated with placebo and methotrexate, a current standard of care.
Researchers in the United Kingdom have found that patients with COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, have greater arterial stiffness. The researchers also found that those COPD patients with osteoporosis, a common complication of the respiratory disease, had even greater arterial stiffness. These premature signs of aging may explain why COPD patients are at greater risk for cardiovascular disease.
Researchers in the United Kingdom have demonstrated that high levels of pepsin, a digestive enzyme that is a marker for gastric aspiration, are associated with acute rejection of a lung transplant.
In a finding that could have important implications for HIV vaccine research, new research at Weill Cornell Medical College illuminates the ways in which the body prevents its mucosal surfaces from being overwhelmed by bacteria.