http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (HealthDay)—About 10 percent of U.K. women who undergo cesarean section develop a surgical site infection, with the odds significantly increased for overweight or obese women, according to a study published in the October issue of BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-post-cesarean-infection-overweight-obese.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:55:08 EST news267886499 A recently published editorial in the Journal of the American Society of Hypertension (JASH), "Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Should Be Included in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES)," recognizes the importance of this national survey instrument but questions the efficiency of its diagnostic methods in assessing hypertension in the population. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-hypertension-simple.html Cardiology Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:26:12 EST news267808973 (HealthDay)—The risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in postmenopausal women differs considerably according to the formulation of hormone therapy (HT) used, with the highest VTE risk seen in users of oral estrogen-progestin HT containing medroxyprogesterone acetate, according to research published online Sept. 10 in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-vte-varies-hormone-therapy.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:08:31 EST news267192498 Chronic heart failure (CHF) patients are less likely to have died a year after discharge if they are involved in a programme of active follow-up once they have returned home than patients given standard care, according to a new Cochrane Systematic Review. These patients were also less likely to need to go back into hospital in the six months that follow discharge. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-follow-up-deaths-chronic-heart-failure.html Cardiology Tue, 11 Sep 2012 19:00:03 EST news266598347 A new article by Dr. Luisa N. Borrell, the chair of Lehman College's Department of Health Sciences, explores the disparities in periodontal disease (gum disease) among U.S. adults along age, sex, racial/ethnic and socioeconomic lines over a ten-year period. The article appears in the September-October issue of Public Health Reports. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-disparities-periodontal-disease.html Dentistry Tue, 28 Aug 2012 09:24:44 EST news265364675 (HealthDay) -- For adult patients with acute or chronic low back pain (LBP), assessing the baseline score for catastrophizing does not help clinicians in routine clinical practice predict the evolution of LBP or the patient's disability at three months, according to a study published online July 23 in The Spine Journal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-catastrophizing-doesnt-pain-evolution.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 16 Aug 2012 17:36:42 EST news264357378 A new spin-out from Oxford University will improve the quality and diagnostic power of the most widely used diagnostic imaging tool, ultrasound imaging. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-ultrasound-software-spin-out-nhs-millions.html Other Fri, 03 Aug 2012 06:32:22 EST news263194332 As the "individual mandate" of the Affordable Care Act moves forward, debate and speculation continue as to whether universal health insurance coverage will lead to significant cost savings for hospitals. The assumption is that providing appropriate primary care will improve the overall health of the population, resulting in less need for hospital services and less severe illness among hospitalized patients. Findings from a recent study published in Health Care Management Review challenge that assumption. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-massachusetts-individual-mandate-decreased-hospital.html Health Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:28:24 EST news262862844 (HealthDay) -- In patients with invasive breast cancer, lymphovascular invasion (LVI) is a strong and independent predictor of both breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), according to a study published in the Aug. 1 issue of Cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-lymphovascular-invasion-independent-predictor-survival.html Cancer Sun, 29 Jul 2012 17:04:47 EST news262800180 Researchers have developed a new metric to measure obesity, called A Body Shape Index, or ABSI, that combines the existing metrics of Body Mass Index (BMI) and waist circumference and shows a better correlation with death rate than do either of these individual measures. The full results are reported July 18 in the open access journal PLoS ONE, and the work was led by Nir Krakauer of City College of New York. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-metric-obesity-strongly-premature-death.html Health Wed, 18 Jul 2012 17:00:04 EST news261848808 A study lead by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) shows an association between increased concentrations of phthalates in the body and an increased risk of diabetes in women. Phthalates are endocrine disrupting chemicals that are commonly found in personal care products such as moisturizers, nail polishes, soaps, hair sprays and perfumes. They are also used in adhesives, electronics, toys and a variety of other products. This finding is published in the July 13, 2012 online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-chemicals-personal-products-diabetes-women.html Diabetes Fri, 13 Jul 2012 00:20:02 EST news261316664 A study of patients with stroke admitted to English National Health Service public hospitals suggests that patients who were hospitalized on weekends were less likely to receive urgent treatments and had worse outcomes, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Neurology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-poorer-outcomes-patients-hospitalized-weekends.html Neuroscience Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:00:18 EST news261066506 (HealthDay) -- Since 1964, the disparity between black and white children's dental care has narrowed dramatically, a new study finds. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-racial-gap-kids-dental.html Dentistry Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:50:01 EST news260726151 On the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the national health care law, medical researchers from around the globe gathered at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT for the annual New England Tuberculosis Symposium. The focus of the all-day event was a disturbing global health trend: the emergence of a form of incurable tuberculosis that is drug-resistant. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-drug-resistant-tb.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 02 Jul 2012 12:20:01 EST news260448326 In an examination of the effect on energy expenditure and components of the metabolic syndrome of 3 types of commonly consumed diets following weight loss, decreases in resting energy expenditure and total energy expenditure were greatest with a low-fat diet, intermediate with a low-glycemic index diet, and least with a very low-carbohydrate diet, suggesting that a low-fat diet may increase the risk for weight regain compared to the other diets, according to preliminary research published in the June 27 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-effect-common-diets-energy-expenditure.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 26 Jun 2012 16:00:01 EST news259940995 Faulty breast implants made by PIP, the French company that sparked a global health scare, do not pose any long-term medical threats, British health authorities said in a final report Monday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-faulty-pip-breast-implants-toxic.html Other Mon, 18 Jun 2012 06:41:38 EST news259220492 (HealthDay) -- More effective than body mass index (BMI) alone, the Tool for Assessing Glucose Impairment (TAG-IT) for adolescents (TAG-IT-A) is a simple screening tool that identifies adolescents who may have impaired fasting glucose, according to a study published in the June issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Preventing Chronic Disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-tool-teens-impaired-fasting-glucose.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:30:01 EST news258983849 (Medical Xpress) -- Creating specialized hospital units for elderly people with acute medical illness could reduce national health care costs by as much $6 billion a year, according to a new study by UCSF researchers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-specialized-hospital-elderly-patients-significantly.html Health Mon, 11 Jun 2012 10:30:01 EST news258628378 Rising prices for care were the chief driver of health care costs for privately insured Americans in 2010, according to the first report from the newly formed Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI). The per capita spending on inpatient and outpatient facilities, professional procedures, and prescriptions drugs rose 3.3 percent in 2010 for beneficiaries under age 65 with private, employer-sponsored group insurance. HCCI data show that this 3.3 percent increase follows spending increases in 2008 (6.0%) and 2009 (5.8%). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-private-health-prices-growth.html Health Mon, 21 May 2012 03:51:59 EST news256791109 (AP) -- The girls slumped in wheelchairs look barely conscious, their blond heads lolling above the plastic vomit bags tied like bibs around their necks. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-britain-bedeviled-binge.html Addiction Mon, 14 May 2012 09:50:01 EST news256206939 Treatment of subclinical hypothyroidism with the medication levothyroxine appears to be related to fewer ischemic heart disease events in younger patients but this finding was not evident in older patients, according to a report published Online First in Archives of Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-treatment-subclinical-hypothyroidism-linked-ischemic.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:00:01 EST news254398138 A pair of British plastic surgeons said Tuesday the rupture rate of PIP breast implants behind a global health scare may be as high as one in three, significantly more than previously thought. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-pip-implants-rupture-british-surgeons.html Other Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:33:49 EST news253881220 A study based on the National Health and Sexuality Survey, involving nearly 2000 people, describes the sexual practices of senior citizens in Spain. The most common are kisses, caresses and vaginal penetration. The main causes of sexual inactivity are physical illness and widowerhood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-percent-men-women-age-sexually.html Health Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:51:34 EST news252751878 Although cancer recurrence may be the overriding fear for many survivors, nearly half of survivors from a recently presented study died from other conditions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-cancer-survivors-died-conditions.html Cancer Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:20:01 EST news252684211 The British government will introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol in England and Wales to tackle their infamous binge-drinking culture, Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Friday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-england-wales-minimum-alcohol-price.html Health Fri, 23 Mar 2012 09:11:53 EST news251712706 Brazil said Wednesday it has temporarily suspended the import of breast implants pending quality control tests in the wake of last December's health scare over defective French-made implants. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-brazil-temporarily-breast-implant-imports.html Surgery Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:22:34 EST news251554943 There is no solid evidence to support the widely held belief that regions of the United States that spend more on health care and have higher rates of health care use deliver more unnecessary care to patients, or that low-cost areas deliver higher quality and more efficient care, according to a study led by Salomeh Keyhani, MD, a physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-evidence-higher-regional-health-inappropriate.html Health Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:40:54 EST news251480447 In a study that included a nationally representative sample of nearly 45,000 adults, participants who met more of seven recommended cardiovascular health behaviors or factors (such as not smoking, having normal cholesterol levels, eating a healthy diet), had a lower risk of death compared to participants who met fewer factors, although only a low percentage of adults met all seven factors, according to a study appearing in JAMA. The study is being published early online to coincide with its presentation at a specialty meeting of the American Heart Association. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-greater-cardiovascular-health-factors-linked.html Cardiology Sat, 17 Mar 2012 06:11:26 EST news251183480 Around 7,000 more women than first thought in Britain have received potentially faulty PIP breast implants, the government said on Thursday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-women-britain-implants.html Surgery Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:23:52 EST news251040225 (AP) -- Britain's health minister was angrily heckled Monday over health care reforms that the government says will improve efficiency but opponents claim threaten the foundation of the country's state-funded health care service. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-british-minister-heckled-health-reforms.html Health Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:22:17 EST news248984531