http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Russian authorities on Wednesday evacuated 53 passengers to quarantine and sealed off a train after a Chinese woman died of what could be a mystery infectious disease, officials said. http://www.physorg.com/news159039415.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:37:23 EST news159039415 It started as something of a medical mystery that, at first, doctors couldn't figure out. http://www.physorg.com/news158941890.html Medicine & Health Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:32:55 EST news158941890 (AP) -- Just nine people accounted for nearly 2,700 of the emergency room visits in the Austin area during the past six years at a cost of $3 million to taxpayers and others, according to a report. The patients went to hospital emergency rooms 2,678 times from 2003 through 2008, said the report from the nonprofit Integrated Care Collaboration, a group of health care providers who care for low-income and uninsured patients. http://www.physorg.com/news157829120.html Medicine & Health Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:26:10 EST news157829120 When a patient is discharged from the hospital, just about the last thing he or she wants is to be back in again within the next month. But a new national study has found that's exactly what happens to one out of five Medicare patients, costing billions in health care and suffering for patients. http://www.physorg.com/news157826911.html Medicine & Health Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:49:06 EST news157826911 Hospitals that reported higher scores on measures of safe practices did not have a significantly lower rate of in-hospital deaths compared to hospitals that reported lower scores on these measures, according to a study in the April 1 issue of JAMA. http://www.physorg.com/news157738118.html Medicine & Health Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:09:10 EST news157738118 A new research study, published in the March/April issue of the journal Nursing Economics, has determined what factors can help keep new nurses from leaving their jobs and - in doing so - save health systems money. When nurses leave for another position or retire early, it dramatically affects a hospital's bottom line - as much as 5 percent of a hospital's budget may go to paying for nursing turnover costs. http://www.physorg.com/news157654908.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:02:23 EST news157654908 The level of exercise is linked with the reduction of hospitalization and death in patients with chronic heart failure, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study. http://www.physorg.com/news157637639.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:14:29 EST news157637639 Relaxine, a naturally occurring hormone that helps women adapt to pregnancy, is showing promise as a treatment for acute heart failure, a new study has found. http://www.physorg.com/news157616798.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:27:51 EST news157616798 (AP) -- Eighteen groups representing consumers, business, insurers, doctors and hospitals say they have reached agreement on how they would like to see the nation's health care system overhauled. http://www.physorg.com/news157376743.html Medicine & Health Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:46:01 EST news157376743 There is broad consensus that electronic health records (EHR) have the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare providers. Yet, to date, there has been no reliable estimate of the prevalence of EHR use among U.S. hospitals. In a new study, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), Massachusetts General Hospital and George Washington University found that less than 2% of surveyed hospitals had implemented comprehensive EHR; further, less than 8% had basic EHR in place. It is the first nationally representative study of the prevalence of EHR in hospitals. http://www.physorg.com/news157222044.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:47:57 EST news157222044 Hospital practices, such as supplementing newborns with formula or water or giving them pacifiers, significantly reduce the chances that mothers who intend to exclusively breastfeed will achieve that intention, according to a new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health researcher. http://www.physorg.com/news156705090.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:11:48 EST news156705090 Older people with comorbidities and those with multiple hospital admissions related to heart failure are unlikely to receive a meaningful survival benefit from implanted defibrillators, found a study in CMAJ by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg611.pdf. http://www.physorg.com/news156449760.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:16:29 EST news156449760 Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have linked a potential indicator of Alzheimer's disease to brain damage in humans with no signs of mental impairment. http://www.physorg.com/news155937931.html Medicine & Health Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:05:51 EST news155937931 When patients choose to leave the hospital before the treating physician recommends discharge, the consequences may involve risk of inadequately treated medical conditions and the need for readmission, according to a review in the March 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Additionally, the article examines the effect of costs as well as predictors and potential interventions to help manage and improve this important issue. http://www.physorg.com/news155816994.html Medicine & Health Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:30:28 EST news155816994 Cell phones belonging to hospital staff were found to be tainted with bacteria -- including the drug-resistant MRSA superbug -- and may be a source of hospital-acquired infections, according to study released Friday. http://www.physorg.com/news155538696.html Medicine & Health Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:12:40 EST news155538696 Sick or injured African-American patients wait about an hour longer than patients of other races before being transferred to an inpatient hospital bed following emergency room visits, according to a new national study published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine. The authors say the findings underscore the urgency to find equitable, cost-effective solutions to provide better care in the nation's emergency departments, which are already strained by unprecedented crowding and more visits from the nation's uninsured population, which is expected to balloon toward 55 million people in the next decade. http://www.physorg.com/news155474066.html Medicine & Health Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:15:07 EST news155474066 UCSF researchers have found that examining levels of antiretroviral drugs in hair samples taken from HIV patients on therapy strongly predicts treatment success. http://www.physorg.com/news155324477.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:42:11 EST news155324477 Following an acute coronary syndrome such as a heart attack or unstable angina, patients who receive a medication to reduce the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding that may be associated with the use of the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel and aspirin have an increased risk of subsequent hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome or death, according to a study in the March 4 issue of JAMA. http://www.physorg.com/news155320506.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:36:06 EST news155320506 UT Southwestern Medical Center's primary adult teaching hospital has cut its rate of preterm births by more than half in the past 15 years, even as national rates are rising, researchers have found. http://www.physorg.com/news154956040.html Medicine & Health Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:22:16 EST news154956040 Physicians at Northwestern Memorial Hospital successfully removed a patient's gallbladder through the vagina, making them the first in the Midwest and the third in the country to perform the innovative procedure. The technique, known as NOTES -natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery -is gaining in popularity and has been characterized by many in the medical profession as laying the groundwork for truly "incisionless" surgery. http://www.physorg.com/news154786732.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:19:32 EST news154786732 Vitamin D may be an important way to arm the immune system against disorders like the common cold, report investigators from the University of Colorado Denver (UC Denver) School of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Children's Hospital Boston. http://www.physorg.com/news154630523.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:56:22 EST news154630523 High summer temperatures, pushed higher by global climate change, may bring with them a spike in hospitalizations for respiratory problems, according to an analysis of data from twelve European cities, from Dublin to Valencia. The data comes from the "Assessment and Prevention of Acute Health Effects of Weather Conditions in Europe" (PHEWE), a multi-center, three-year collaboration between epidemiologists, meteorologists and experts in public health collaboration that investigated the short-term effects of weather in Europe. http://www.physorg.com/news154341716.html Medicine & Health Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:42:34 EST news154341716 In a study of more than 3,000 patients, researchers at the University of Liverpool have found that one in seven admitted to hospital experience adverse drug reactions to medical treatment. http://www.physorg.com/news153550212.html Medicine & Health Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:50:51 EST news153550212 Researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have designed a process to minimize discharge failures. The Re-Engineered Discharge (RED) program reduces hospital utilization within 30 days of discharge by over 30 percent, by redesigning the discharge workflow process. These findings appear in the February issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. http://www.physorg.com/news152818537.html Medicine & Health Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:35:48 EST news152818537 Surgeons at Northwestern Memorial Hospital are among the first in the country to use a new micro-laser, which uses light energy in place of a cutting tool to remove complicated brain and spine tumors. The technique offers greater precision and efficiency during surgery, reducing the incision size, surgery time and patient recovery period following surgery. http://www.physorg.com/news152371450.html Medicine & Health Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:24:36 EST news152371450 There is no good evidence supporting a harmful effect of exercise on joints in the setting of normal joints and regular exercise, according to a review of studies published in this month's issue of the Journal of Anatomy. http://www.physorg.com/news152279685.html Medicine & Health Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:55:14 EST news152279685 For select patients, hospital at home treatment produces similar outcomes to inpatient care at similar or lower costs, found a study by researchers from the United Kingdom and Italy to be published in CMAJ. http://www.physorg.com/news151608790.html Medicine & Health Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:33:47 EST news151608790 Scientists at The University of Nottingham are leading a major European study to unravel the genetic code of one of the most lethal strains of hospital acquired infections. http://www.physorg.com/news151592316.html Biology Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:59:02 EST news151592316 Looking at the retina in the eyes of patients with cerebral malaria has provided scientists with a vital insight into why malaria infection in the brain is so deadly. In a study funded by the Wellcome Trust and Fight for Sight and published today in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, researchers in Malawi have shown for the first time in patients that the build-up of infected blood cells in the narrow blood vessels of the brain leads to a potentially lethal lack of oxygen to the brain. http://www.physorg.com/news151222194.html Medicine & Health Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:09:54 EST news151222194 A new mathematical model of the physiological regulation of body weight suggests a potential mechanism underlying the difficulty of losing weight, one that includes aspects of two competing hypotheses of weight regulation. In the January issue of Cell Metabolism, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators outline a system in which there may be several steady states to which an animal's weight tends to gravitate, rather than a single "set point." http://www.physorg.com/news151158880.html Other Sciences Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:34:40 EST news151158880