http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. For critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation, early tracheostomy (within the first 4 days after admission) was not associated with an improvement in the risk of death within 30 days compared to patients who received tracheostomy placement after 10 days, according to a study in the May 22/29 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-early-tracheostomy-mechanically-ventilated-patients.html Other Tue, 21 May 2013 16:00:06 EST news288368854 (HealthDay)—Weight gain is higher in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who receive more intensive glycemic control treatment and is associated with a reduction of A1C from baseline, according to research published online Feb. 14 in Diabetes Care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-intensive-glycemic-linked-highest-weight.html Diabetes Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:30:03 EST news283083370 A new and experimental anti-clotting drug, cangrelor, proved better than the commonly used clopidogrel and was significantly more effective at preventing blood clots in a large trial of patients who underwent coronary stent procedures. These data, from the phase III CHAMPION PHOENIX study, were presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-anti-clotting-drug-effective-current-treatment.html Cardiology Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:21:55 EST news282216106 (HealthDay)—Polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) do not reduce the recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF), according to a study published online Dec. 19 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-fatty-acids-dont-atrial-fibrillation.html Cardiology Fri, 21 Dec 2012 06:50:01 EST news275289336 A workshop sponsored by NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has produced a set of consensus recommendations to improve the design and reporting of animal studies. By making animal studies easier to replicate and interpret, the workshop recommendations are expected to help funnel promising therapies to patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-workshop-animal.html Other Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:21:06 EST news269101225 After years of having it drilled into their heads, most people now know that LDL (low-density lipoprotein) is the "bad" cholesterol package that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, and HDL (high-density lipoprotein) is the "good" type that helps reduce it by removing cholesterol from artery walls. So if your HDL number is high, you've probably patted yourself on the back; if it's low, you may have tried to raise it by, for instance, exercising more, losing weight, drinking a daily glass of wine, or even taking medication, such as high-dose niacin. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-hdl-good.html Health Tue, 28 Aug 2012 08:47:10 EST news265362415 (HealthDay) -- For patients with infective endocarditis and large vegetations, early surgery reduces death from any cause and embolic events, compared with conventional treatment, according to a study published in the June 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-early-surgery-ups-outcomes-infective.html Surgery Thu, 28 Jun 2012 04:30:01 EST news260075718 (HealthDay) -- Fluid resuscitation with hydroxyethyl starch (HES) 130/0.4 for patients with severe sepsis leads to an increased risk of death at day 90 and an increased likelihood of requiring renal-replacement therapy, compared with Ringer's acetate, according to a study published online June 27 in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-ringer-acetate-patients-severe-sepsis.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 28 Jun 2012 04:13:07 EST news260075524 (HealthDay) -- Mental imagery (MI) training does not result in an improvement in objective surgical assessment of novice gynecological surgeons performing vaginal hysterectomies (VHs), but does correlate with improvements in resident self-confidence, according to a study published online June 7 in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-mental-imagery-doesnt-surgeon.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Mon, 18 Jun 2012 13:03:40 EST news259243406 (HealthDay) -- Medicare patients who have advanced non-small cell lung cancer appear to get no survival benefit from adding the drug Avastin to standard chemotherapy, researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-avastin-benefit-older-lung-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:47:39 EST news253892752 Many observational cohort studies have shown that moderate alcohol use is associated with better cognitive function. However, since such studies are vulnerable to residual confounding by other lifestyle and physiologic factors, the authors conducted a Mendelian randomization study, using aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) genotype (AA, GA, or GG) as an instrumental variable in 2-stage least squares analysis. Cognitive function was assessed from delayed 10-word recall score (n = 4,707) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score (n = 2,284) among men from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study (2003-2008). The authors had previously reported an association between reported alcohol intake and cognitive function from a larger group of subjects from the same study finding that women reporting occasional alcohol intake and men reporting occasional or moderate intake had better scores related to cognitive function than did abstainers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-association-alcohol-intake-cognitive-functioning.html Addiction Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:44:25 EST news251631859 Two studies available in the December issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, have uncovered limitations in screening for primary liver cancer, also known as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The first study found that, if given the choice during a clinical trial, most patients with cirrhosis prefer surveillance over the possibility of non-screening, therefore making a randomized study of HCC screening not feasible. A second study determined that ultrasonographic screening at three monthly versus six monthly intervals did not improve the detection of small liver cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-patients-cirrhosis-uncover-limitations-liver.html Cancer Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:20:05 EST news241963900