Social Sciences

Philadelphia, PA, March 26, 2009 – Antipsychotic drugs, such as olanzapine (Zyprexa), risperidone (Risperdal) and quetiapine (Seroquel), are commonly used to treat psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, but also bipolar disorder and even behavioral problems related to dementia. Unfortunately, the weight gain commonly experienced with antipsychotic treatment is an important side effect for many patients, and causes many patients to discontinue their use leading to even further problems. Biological Psychiatry, in its April 1st issue, is now publishing a new study that has evaluated an add-…

Looking for a better treatment for the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis, researchers have found that a protein in tick saliva shows promise in limiting the severity of the disease in an animal model in a study published in the Annals of Neurology. "This disease can leave patients weak and on breathing machines, and conventional treatments can be toxic," said Henry Kaminski, M.D., chair of the department of neurology and psychiatry at Saint Louis University and one of the nation's leading experts on myasthenia gravis. "There is a real need for better treatments. This study is a step in…

PHILADELPHIA – Even when their products are implicated in harm to patients, manufacturers of healthcare information technology (HIT) currently enjoy wide contractual and legal protection that renders them virtually "liability-free," writes Ross Koppel, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, in the March 25th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The current system needs to be changed so that all liability does not rest entirely with physicians, nurses, hospitals, and clinics, even when these users of faulty HIT scrupulously follow vendor instructions…

(Boston MA) – Contrary to conventional wisdom, only a tiny fraction of U.S. hospitals have full health information technology (HIT) systems in place to improve how they deliver care, says a new study published in the March 26 on-line edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. A survey of nearly 3,000 hospitals shows that less than 2 percent use comprehensive electronic health records (EHRs), and about 8 percent use a basic EHR in at least one care unit that includes physician or nurse notes. The findings are the first reliable estimates of the prevalence of HIT adoption in U.S.…

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Norma Wooley checked into Loyola University Hospital on a recent Monday morning for brain surgery to repair a life-threatening aneurysm. She went home on Tuesday, cured of the slurred speech, drooping face and worst headache of her life. Dr. John Whapham used a less-invasive technique that's becoming increasingly common in brain surgery. The Loyola University Health System neurologist inserted a catheter (thin tube) in an artery in Wooley's leg and guided it up to her brain. The catheter released tiny platinum coils into the bulging aneurysm, effectively sealing it off. "She…

Sepsis, an infection of the blood, can quickly overwhelm the body's defenses and is responsible for more than 200,000 deaths per year in the U.S. alone. Premature newborns and people with weakened immune systems are especially vulnerable. Since most existing treatments are ineffective, researchers in the Vascular Biology Program at Children's Hospital Boston have come up with a first line of defense -- using magnetism to quickly pull pathogens out of the blood. Their blood-cleansing device, developed by Chong Wing Yung, PhD, a researcher in the laboratory of Don Ingber, MD, PhD, is described…

Royal Oak, Mich. – March 25, 2009 – A new study appearing in Clinical Cardiology examines the average fitness level of the morbidly obese (body mass indexes between 40.0 and 49.9). The findings show that the tested population was sedentary for more than 99 percent of the day and, on average, walked less than 2,500 steps per day – far below healthy living guidelines of 10,000 steps per day. The results provide important links between obesity, poor fitness and cardiovascular disease. The study used a precise body sensor to continually measure physical activity, caloric expenditure and movement…

Forget LED thumb-pad identification devices, complex retinal laser scanning, or even computerized iris recognition, the way forward for biometric validation is a quick X-ray snapshot of a person's knees, according to a report published in the International Journal of Biometrics. Lior Shamir of the Laboratory of Genetics, National Institute on Aging, at the National Institutes of Health, and colleagues working with State University of New York at Farmingdale computer engineer Salim Rahimi explain that identification of individuals often requires focusing on unique features such as their face,…

A visual learning study by scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston indicates that viewers can learn a great deal about objects in their field of vision even without paying attention. The findings will appear in the April 14 print issue of the journal Current Biology. Contrary to common belief, attention may actually impair the ability of people to draw conclusions based on the visual images or stimuli they observe, reports Valentin Dragoi, Ph.D., the study's senior author and an assistant professor at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. "Even…

Alexandria, Va. – On March 20, on behalf of the American Association for Dental Research, AADR Executive Director Christopher H. Fox, D.M.D., D.M.Sc., testified in support of oral health research and its inclusion in comparative effectiveness research before the National Academy of Sciences' (NAS) Committee on Comparative Effectiveness Research Priorities. AADR was the only group to testify for the inclusion of oral health research. Citing statistics about the disease burden and economic burden of dental diseases, Fox urged the Committee to include oral, dental and craniofacial diseases on…