http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. More and more hospitals and general practitioners in the Netherlands are collaborating in urgent care facilities: a single point of contact (instead of two) for acute patient care outside office hours. Depending on the patient's medical needs upon intake, he will be referred to the hospital's emergency room or to the GP. This makes healthcare in the Netherlands more efficient, cheaper and better. Scientists at the University of Twente's CTIT research institute have developed a simulation model which gives insight into patient waiting times and the utilization of available equipment and treatment rooms. The simulation model helps the urgent care facility make better choices. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-urgent-facility-benefit-additional-gp.html Health Fri, 05 Apr 2013 09:10:02 EST news284370823 (HealthDay)—The results of a simulation model suggest that, when quality of life is considered, prophylactic bilateral salpingectomy with delayed oophorectomy may be an acceptable alternative to bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy for women with BRCA mutations, according to research published in the January issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-prophylactic-options-women-brca12.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:53:57 EST news275838821 Among individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD), African Americans experience faster progression of the disease during later stages compared with other races, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). Also, screening of African Americans with CKD can help improve care and is cost-effective. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-kidney-disease-faster-african-americans.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:26:13 EST news273432353 High cigarette prices, smoke-free air laws, marketing restrictions and other measures, all part of Brazil's strong tobacco control policies, are credited for a 50 percent reduction in smoking prevalence between 1989 and 2010. The reduction contributed to an estimated 420,000 lives saved during that time period. Those are the findings of a new study published today in PLOS Medicine by a team of researchers from Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Brazilian National Cancer Institute. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-strong-tobacco-policies-brazil-credited.html Health Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:00:16 EST news271417538 Little is known about oculomotor function in amblyopia, or "lazy eye," despite the special role of eye movements in vision. A group of scientists has discovered that abnormal visual processing and circuitry in the brain have an impact on fixational saccades (FSs), involuntary eye movements that occur during fixation and are important for the maintenance of vision. The results, which raise the question of whether the alterations in FS are the cause or the effect of amblyopia and have implications for amblyopia treatment, are available online in advance of publication in the November issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-abnormal-involuntary-eye-movements-amblyopia.html Neuroscience Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:07:23 EST news269622436 A new research model has estimated that the difference in prostate cancer mortality among men with low-risk disease who choose active surveillance versus those who choose immediate treatment with radical prostatectomy is likely to be very modest, possibly as little as two to three months. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-surveillance-viable-option-men-low-risk.html Cancer Mon, 24 Sep 2012 13:00:01 EST news267702660 Less than half of community-based substance abuse treatment programs in the United States currently make HIV testing available on-site or through referral. A new study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College shows the cost-effectiveness of integrating on-site rapid HIV testing into drug treatment programs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-cost-effectiveness-hiv-drug-abuse-treatment.html HIV & AIDS Sun, 09 Sep 2012 14:43:17 EST news266420590 (Medical Xpress) -- In the United States, radial artery (wrist) catheterization is performed in the minority of diagnostic angiograms and cardiac stenting procedures despite the benefits it offers to patients in terms of reduced complications and faster mobility after the procedure. Now, new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Washington Medical Center, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, indicates that radial access may offer a significant cost savings benefit to hospitals. The findings are published online first in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-cardiac-stenting-procedures-wrist-access.html Cardiology Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:30:03 EST news261040357 A major collaboration between US research centers has highlighted three factors that could ultimately determine whether an outbreak of influenza becomes a serious epidemic that threatens national health. The research suggests that the numbers in current response plans could be out by a factor of two or more depending on the characteristics of the particular pandemic influenza. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-uncertainties-pandemic-influenza.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 02 Jul 2012 11:03:30 EST news260445803 Nine out of 10 Californians under the age of 65 will be enrolled in health insurance programs as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to a joint study by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-non-elderly-californians.html Health Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:37:17 EST news258899801 The American Diabetes Association recommends hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) testing as one basis for identifying diabetes and prediabetes. Setting a specific HbA1c cutoff threshold for prediabetes, which could be used to determine eligibility for interventions to prevent progression to more serious type 2 diabetes, has generated much debate, with at least three different cutoffs recommended by different professional organizations. A new study led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrates that lowering the cutoff increases the health benefits of preventive interventions, although at higher cost. It concludes that a cutoff level of 5.7% would be cost-effective. The research is published in the April issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-optimal-threshold-hba1c-prediabetes.html Diabetes Tue, 13 Mar 2012 04:40:01 EST news250831358 Implementing a routine national glaucoma screening program for middle-age African American patients may be clinically effective; however its potential effect on reducing visual impairment and blindness may be modest, according to a computer-based mathematical model reported in the March issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-routine-glaucoma-screening-benefit-middle-age.html Ophthalmology Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:00:07 EST news250779451 Replacing visual acuity screenings for new Medicare enrollees with coverage of a dilated eye exam for healthy patients entering the government insurance program for the elderly "would be highly cost-effective," suggests a study being published Online First by the Archives of Ophthalmology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-medicare-visual-acuity-screening-dilated.html Other Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:28:10 EST news245348855 Fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) is more effective in its health benefits at the same or lower costs compared to guaiac fecal occult blood testing (gFOBT) at all levels of colonoscopy capacity, according to a study published November 9 by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-fecal-occult-blood-effective-colonoscopy.html Cancer Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:00:03 EST news240062601 The number of low-income, uninsured Americans enrolling in Medicaid under the expanded coverage made possible by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 could vary considerably from the levels currently projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), according to a new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers. They report that it's probably more realistic to say somewhere between 8 million and 22 million may enroll in Medicaid by 2014 instead of the 16 million predicted by the CBO. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-policymakers-major-uncertainties-medicaid-expansion.html Health Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:55:57 EST news238866949 Undergoing a knee replacement involves sophisticated medical equipment, but innovative prosthetic design may not offer the same benefits for all knee replacement recipients, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in a perspective article in the October 20 issue of New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-size-knee-medical-devices.html Other Thu, 20 Oct 2011 01:48:55 EST news238294019 A new study shows that 145,000 deaths could be averted in the next 30 years in the Netherlands by implementing stronger tobacco control policies. This set of policies, as recommended by the MPOWER report of the World Health Organisation, consists of increasing tobacco taxes to 70% of the retail price, bans on smoking in workplaces and public places, a complete marketing ban, well-funded tobacco control campaigns, graphic health warnings, youth access laws, and comprehensive cessation treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-stronger-tobacco-policy-netherlands-thousands.html Health Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:38:22 EST news236266376 The rising prevalence of obesity around the globe places an increasing burden on the health of populations, on healthcare systems and on overall economies. A major challenge for researchers is to quantify the effect of these burdens to inform public policies. Using a simulation model to project the probable health and economic consequences from rising obesity rates in the United States and the United Kingdom, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and Oxford University forecast 65 million more obese adults in the U. S. and 11 million more in the U.K. by 2030, leading to millions of additional cases of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer. The findings suggest that medical costs associated with treatment of these preventable diseases in the U.S. alone will increase by $48-66 billion per year. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-million-obese-adults-uk.html Health Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:07:44 EST news233597237 If Canada's smoking rates were cut by half to an average national rate of 11% within five years, it would result in 35,900 fewer cases of lung cancer by 2030 and save $656 million in treatment costs, according to analysis using a new web-enabled platform developed for the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and presented at the 14th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Amsterdam, hosted by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-canada-cancer-important-health-tool.html Cancer Wed, 06 Jul 2011 10:05:48 EST news229165536