http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. In the first study of its kind in the United States, researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital will examine the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy alone to treat appendicitis in children, research that could allow patients to avoid a surgery many may not need. The $1.6 million project also will explore the impact that involving children and their parents in medical decision-making may have on a child's response to treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-million-appendicitis-treatment-children-surgery.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 29 May 2013 07:14:24 EST news289030457 "Borreliosis" or "Lyme disease" is caused by the bacterium "Borrelia burgdorferi". In Austria approximately 16,000 people fall ill with borreliosis annually following a tick bite. Roughly every fifth tick in Austria carries the pathogen. Borreliosis can be treated effectively with antibiotics, however a prophylactic vaccination is not available. In a current multicentre study, in which the MedUni Vienna participated, the reliable effectiveness of a possible vaccine against borreliosis has now been proved. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-effective-vaccination-borreliosis.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 14 May 2013 08:53:29 EST news287740400 Today, at the start of the "Tick Week", the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and Wageningen University are commencing a large-scale study to discover whether preventive use of antibiotics can stop Lyme disease developing after a tick bite. Of the more than 3400 ticks that were sent to RIVM via Tekenradar.nl (Tick radar) last year, more than 20% turned out to be infected with the Borrelia bacteria which can cause Lyme disease. Around 3% of the people bitten by ticks developed Lyme disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-large-scale-antibiotic-usage-lyme-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:13:46 EST news285322416 (HealthDay)—Quality improvement (QI) methods can be used to rapidly implement national guidelines relating to appropriate first-line antibiotic therapy for children aged 3 months or older with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), according to a study published online April 15 in Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-quality-methods-antibiotic-rx.html Pediatrics Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:20:01 EST news285249405 A major review recently published in Frontiers of Microbiology examines the broader issues associated with widespread antibiotic resistance. The paper, by Professor Michael Gillings from Macquarie University, discussed the increasing concentration of antibiotics in densely populated areas. He says that the effects of antibiotics and resistance genes have now spread to locations distant from the influence of developed societies, such as the Artic, Antarctica, and the Amazonian jungle. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-consequences-overuse-antibiotics-amazon.html Medical research Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:20:01 EST news280489325 What cancerous conditions lead to what kinds of bacterial infections? If doctors knew, they could predict which patients would likely benefit from pre-treatment with certain kinds of antibiotics. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in this month's issue of the International Journal of Infectious Diseases shows the answer: E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae are especially prevalent in patients with lung and GI cancers, more so for Klebsiella if these patients have been treated previously with aminopenicillins. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-bacteria-cancer-patients-hospitals-infections.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:43:18 EST news278181790 In an examination of the effectiveness of cefixime, the only oral cephalosporin antimicrobial recommended for treatment of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (gonorrhea) infections, researchers found a clinical treatment failure rate of nearly 7 percent for patients treated at a clinic in Toronto, according to a preliminary study published in the January 9 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-documents-failure-antibiotic-treatment-gonorrhea.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:00:08 EST news276874549 As a result of concerns about antibiotic resistance, doctors in the United States are increasingly prescribing newer, more costly and more powerful antibiotics to treat urinary tract infections, one of the most common illnesses in women. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-antibiotic-resistance-urinary-tract-infection.html Medications Thu, 11 Oct 2012 15:40:43 EST news269188834 Although the standard approach to acute appendicitis is to remove the appendix, a study at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, reveals that treatment with antibiotics can be just as effective in many cases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-antibiotics-surgery-appendicitis.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:35:19 EST news267878108 (HealthDay)—When Sierra Jane Downing's fever shot up to 107 degrees and she suffered a seizure, her parents knew their 7-year-old daughter had more than the flu. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-plague.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:40:01 EST news266238470 Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have made a novel discovery that could have widespread clinical implications, potentially affecting everything from nutrient metabolism to obesity in children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-early-exposure-antibiotics-impact-obesity.html Medications Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:22:39 EST news264860550 (Medical Xpress) -- Non-infectious proteins of the species of bacteria that causes Lyme disease can remain in the body for a long time after antibiotic therapy, and are capable of causing an inflammatory immune reaction that could contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant arthritis, Yale researchers have found. The study appears in the online Journal of Clinical Investigation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-lyme-disease-perpetuate-inflammation.html Inflammatory disorders Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:23:37 EST news259914197 Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and Rockefeller University have identified the first gene to be linked to a rare condition in which babies are born without a spleen, putting those children at risk of dying from infections they cannot defend themselves against. The gene, Nkx2.5, was shown to regulate genesis of the spleen during early development in mice. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-gene-linked-spleen-newborns.html Genetics Thu, 03 May 2012 15:00:03 EST news255273938 Patients with infective endocarditis involving implanted cardiac devices experience a high rate of complications such as valve infections, heart failure, and persistent bacteremia, and high in-hospital and 1-year mortality rates, particularly if there is valve involvement, according to a study in the April 25 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-heart-infection-involving-icd-high.html Cardiology Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:44:41 EST news254504670 Giving antibiotics to patients with acute uncomplicated appendicitis is a safe and viable alternative to surgery, say experts in a study published in the British Medical Journal today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-antibiotics-safe-viable-alternative-surgery.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:30:02 EST news252860630 Respiratory tract infections, including pneumonia, are the most common cause of death in children under the age of five. In a study looking at children given standard antibiotic therapy, new research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine shows how zinc supplements drastically improved children's chances of surviving the infection. The increase in survival due to zinc (on top of antibiotics) was even greater for HIV infected children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-pneumonia-drug-zinc.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:10:04 EST news247894844 An international team of scientists led by Monash University researchers has uncovered how a common hospital bacterium becomes a deadly superbug that kills increasing numbers of hospital patients worldwide and accounts for an estimated $3.2 billion each year in health care costs in the US alone. Their findings appear October 13th in the Open Access journal PLoS Pathogens. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-hospital-superbug-debugged.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:30:51 EST news237745839 A new commentary published online in The FASEB Journal argues that patients should be diligent and demand proof of safety and benefit before beginning any treatment regimen for chronic pain, as some treatments have very little scientific evidence that they actually alleviate the conditions for which they are prescribed. In the article, Phillip J. Baker, Ph.D., Executive Director of the American Lyme Disease Foundation, dispels myths surrounding chronic Lyme disease, using it as an example of why patients should ensure that diagnostic and treatment tools are approved by the Food and Drug Administration and not just recommended by other patients and physicians. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-chronic-pain-diagnosis-treatment.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:14:43 EST news234713669 A novel imaging probe developed by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators may make it possible to diagnose accurately a dangerous infection of the heart valves. In their Nature Medicine report, which is receiving advance online publication, the team from the MGH Center for Systems Biology describes how the presence of Staphylococcus aureus-associated endocarditis in a mouse model was revealed by PET imaging with a radiolabeled version of a protein involved in a process that usually conceals infecting bacteria from the immune system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-imaging-probe-noninvasive-dangerous-heart-valve.html Medical research Sun, 21 Aug 2011 13:00:30 EST news233150142