June 12, 2007, 5:00 AM CT

Sleep restriction affects children's speech

Research examining the impact of sleep in school-age children suggests that even mild sleep loss produces marked deficits in their cognitive development and functioning. Sleep restriction can alter children's initial stages of speech perception, which could contribute to disruptions in cognitive and linguistic functioning skills necessary for reading and language development and comprehension, as per a research abstract that will be presented Tuesday at SLEEP 2007, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

Rachel Waford, of the University of Louisville, who authored the study, recorded event-related potentials, as a measure of neurocognitive development, from 32 children six-to-seven years of age while they listened to the following computer-generated speech syllables: /ba/, /da/ and /ga/.

The results showed that those children not getting an adequate amount of sleep were more likely to phonetically code incorrectly different speech sounds.

"Our research has shown that even minor sleep loss of one hour less per night for seven nights contributes to disruptions in neurocognitive functioning," said Waford. "The early school years are crucial windows that determine future learning. Therefore, it is imperative that children in this age range are well-rested to prepare for the demands of the school day."........ Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

May 6, 2007, 5:26 PM CT

CT imaging and car crash testing

Crash test injuries analyzed with CT imaging provide valuable data that can help engineers develop safer cars and reduce the severity of injuries during car accidents, as per a new study by scientists from The Ohio State University in Columbus.

For the study, two human cadavers were hit with a device that simulates a blunt impact equivalent to car collisions. CT imaging of the rib cages of the cadavers waccording toformed to evaluate the damage caused by the impact. "We observed that injuries to the rib cage caused by the simulated car collision could be identified on the Computerized axial tomography scans and that the CT results correlated with the usual, more involved methods of body damage analysis, which makes use of high speed videos and data from sensors attached to more than 30 locations on the body during the impact," said Steffen Sammet, MD, PhD, lead author of the study.

"The study was initiated by a project from the Department of Transportation to enable objective, noninvasive measures of crash impacts. The knowledge gained from those tests goes directly into automotive engineering to prevent those disabling injuries or death," said Dr. Sammet.

In addition to saving lives through the design of safer cars, the scientists foresee other possible uses for the data gathered from CT imaging of crash tests. "A direct further outcome of this research is understanding how imaging findings correlate to the force of impact, which can further improve our ability to provide better diagnosis as well as help in the understanding of forensic aspects of car crashes," said Dr. Sammet......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

April 25, 2007, 9:15 PM CT

computer modeling system for organ allocation

The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) announces evaluation of a new mathematical modeling system for lung allocation in the United States and the ethical issues surrounding organ allocation facing patients awaiting transplants. Both will be discussed at its 27th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions, today in Satellite Symposium 9, Continued Evaluation of Heart and Lung Allocation Using Evidence Based Research.

Worldwide, patients in need of transplant are placed on a waiting list for donor lungs, using a wide variety of systems. In the United States, patients are currently assessed for organ allocation based on a new mathematical modeling system, in which patient information is entered into a computer database and donors are then matched with recipients based on specific characteristics. Two of the most important criteria are the chance of survival without the transplant and the projected condition of the patient post transplant. The computer program then generates a list of patients that are ranked according to preset organ allocation policies. Once selected, there are a number of tests that must be performed in order to evaluate whether the recipient may in fact receive the organ. Taking into consideration the novelty of the system, an international representation of ISHLT membership will convene to evaluate this new modeling system to determine its effectiveness and Leah Edwards, Ph.D., United Network for Organ Sharing, will present How is the Lung Allocation Score Working in the US? during the Symposium......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

April 24, 2007, 11:10 PM CT

Study Could Help Stroke Victims

A University of Leicester study could help to provide a new lease of life for patients who have suffered a stroke.

The research published in the American Journal of Hypertension confirms the safety of a drug, Lisinopril, that lowers their blood pressure-without reducing the blood flow to the brain.

Now a larger Leicester trial is under way to investigate the drugs benefits for victims of strokes.

Dr David Eveson, of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Leicester, said: "High blood pressure is common immediately after a stroke. Stroke patients with high blood pressure tend to have a worse outcome than those with normal blood pressure and therefore it may be helpful to lower blood pressure immediately after stroke.

"However, trials to date have shown variable results, probably because treatment was either started too late or the wrong drug was used.

"The ACE inhibitor class of blood pressure lowering drugs, of which Lisinopril is a member, have been shown in studies to lower blood pressure but preserve the blood flow to the brain which may be all important after stroke. This study compared the use of blood pressure lowering with Lisinopril versus placebo treatment within a few hours of acute stroke in patients presenting to University Hospitals Leicester. The results showed that blood pressure was effectively lowered in the treated group and this did not result in any adverse outcome in comparison with placebo......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 05:21:40 GMT

Health and safety at work

Greetings comrades. It has been a while since we spoke. Last year was the most successful year ever for our glorious health service. And now more good news from the Health Commissariat. Comrade Hewitt's health and safety commissars will not rest until our health service is safe for comrade doctor, nurses, and patients.

Meanwhile, back at the coal face, Dr Crippen has just returned from a few days in his Windermere dacha to find there has been another initiative from those nice NHS Health and Safety at work people.

The following stickers have appeared in the Health Centre.



Where have they put them, you may wonder. Apparently, if you twist the top of a tap with a red roundel marked "H" in an anti-clockwise direction, hot water begins to flow. My colleagues and I are most grateful to the Health and Safety hot-tap nurse-specialist for this helpful advice.



There are, by my estimation, thirty-three hot taps in our health centre. I do not know how many there are in the whole of the NHS. I do not know how long it will take to apply the requisite stickers. I do not know how much the stickers cost. I do not know to what total the time-costs of the aforementioned hot-tap nurse-specialists will add up.

But this is health and safety. Better than wasting money on management consultants.Labels: health and safety, hot taps, nurse-specialists, stalin Posted by: Dr John Crippen      Read more     Source

April 23, 2007, 10:34 PM CT

Are higher doses of cholesterol drugs worth the extra money?

When it comes to cholesterol-lowering drugs, more is better. At least, thats what heart doctors and heart patients have been hearing in recent years. And as a result, more patients are taking higher doses of drugs called statins leading to lower heart and stroke risk, but higher prescription drug costs and more frequent side effects.

Now, a new study looks at whether those higher doses, and higher costs, are really going to pay off for some patients. For those with a recent heart attack or what doctors call acute coronary syndrome, the answer is yes, the researchers say.

But the picture is less clear for those patients with known heart blockages who have stable symptoms. For them, the usual dose of their statin may provide adequate heart-protecting benefit, and the higher cost of high-dose statins may provide only marginal benefit at much greater cost, especially if they use generic statins.

The study, from a team at the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, is published online in the journal Circulation, and will be in the May 8 print issue of the journal. Its based on a sophisticated computer analysis of data from thousands of patients.

The team finds that patients with a recent history of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) either a heart attack or hospital stay for chest pain get so much benefit from higher doses of statins (over four additional quality-adjusted months of life) that the extra cost of the increased dose is worthwhile, even if the difference is a few dollars a day......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

April 23, 2007, 9:49 PM CT

Overcrowded hospitals may increase risk

Hospitals that operate at or over their capacity may be at increased risk of adverse events that injure patients, according to a study led by scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Brigham and Woman's Hospital (BWH). The report in the recent issue of the journal Medical Care suggests that efforts to meet two primary challenges facing hospitals today reducing costs and improving patient safety may work against each other.

"While financial and political pressures to make health care more efficient are leading to increased hospital occupancy and greater patient turnover, patients and policymakers are quite rightly demanding that health delivery systems be made safer," says Joel Weissman, PhD, of the MGH Institute of Health Policy, the report's lead author. "Our study suggests that pushing efficiency efforts to their limits could be a double-edged sword that may jeopardize patient safety".

In order to examine their hypothesis that increased workload could raise the likelihood of adverse events, the scientists examined data from four hospitals in two states two large urban teaching hospitals and two suburban teaching hospitals over the 12 months from October 2000 through September 2001. To compile patient care information they reviewed patient charts and billing records on almost 25,000 patients, selecting 6,841 for comprehensive review, and analyzed that data against information on hospital workloads and staffing patterns, with a focus on variations within each hospital......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

April 15, 2007, 9:11 PM CT

Efforts To Develop A Melanoma Vaccine

In recent years, researchers have worked to develop a number of vaccines to help the immune system fight tumors. Cancer vaccines are not intended to prevent cancer; rather, they are used to boost immune responses to preexisting tumors. Unlike traditional chemotherapy, vaccines have relatively low toxicity and, potentially, a high degree of efficacy.

To date, these vaccines have rarely been designed to directly stimulate one of the body's most critical immune responders, the helper T cells. Though helper T cells contain receptors on their cell surfaces that are capable of recognizing and binding to tumor-related antigens, scientists have been stymied by the complex and time-consuming process required to isolate and clone the antigens for vaccine development.

In working to identify a key tumor antigen in melanoma and other cancers, scientists at The Wistar Institute have now developed a novel way to clone an antigen recognized by a helper T cell. Already, Herlyn's group has used the new cloning technique to identify a new tumor antigen called ribosomal protein L8, or RPL8. Findings on the new cloning method and the newly identified tumor antigen will be published as a Priority Report in the April 15 issue of Cancer Research.

The new antigen-cloning approach may allow scientists to design vaccines capable of directly stimulating helper T cells, aiding the development of vaccines not only for cancer but also for infectious diseases, says Dorothee Herlyn, D.V.M., senior author on the study and a professor in the Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis and Immunology programs at Wistar......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

April 1, 2007, 9:25 PM CT

Sleep Disturbance And Pain

Sleep continuity disturbance impairs endogenous pain-inhibitory function and increases spontaneous pain in women. This supports a possible pathophysiologic role of sleep disturbance in chronic pain, according to a study published in the April 1st issue of the journal SLEEP.

The study, conducted by Michael T. Smith, PhD, and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University, focused on 32 healthy females, who were studied polysomnographically for seven nights. On the first two nights, the subjects slept undisturbed for eight hours. Then, the women were assigned to one of three groups: "Control", "Forced Awakening" (FA) and "Restricted Sleep Opportunity" (RSO). From nights three-to-five, the "Control" group continued to sleep undisturbed, while the "Forced Awakening" group underwent eight forced awakenings, one per hour, and the "Restricted Sleep Opportunity" group received partial sleep deprivation by delayed bedtime. On night six, both the FA and RSO groups underwent 36 hours of total sleep deprivation, followed by 11-hour recovery sleep.

In an assessment of the subjects completion of twice-daily psychophysical assessments of mechanical pain thresholds and pain inhibition, it was discovered that the FA group demonstrated an increase in spontaneous pain, while neither the "Control" nor the RSO group showed changes in pain inhibition or spontaneous pain during partial sleep deprivation......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source

April 1, 2007, 8:56 PM CT

It's never too late to get your youth back

Much research has shown that reduced calorie intake can increase health and longevity. Professor Stephen Spindler (University of California) and his collaborators* have discovered that reducing calorie intake later in life can still induce many of the health and longevity benefits of life-long calorie reduction. Importantly, this also includes anti-cancer effects. They are using this knowledge to establish a novel screening technique to find drugs which mimic this longevity effect. Right now, there are no authentic anti-ageing drugs capable of extending the lifespan of healthy people. The technique we have developed allows us to screen a relatively large number of drugs in months rather than years. The hope is that these drugs will be able to extend the lifespan of healthy animals, and possibly, after further testing, healthy humans, says Professor Spindler who will present his results at the Society for Experimental Biologys Main Meeting in Glasgow on Monday 2nd April.

Previous research has show that mice can live up to 40% longer if they simply consume fewer calories, but a highly nutritious diet. Because people are not very good at dieting, Dr. Spindler and his colleagues would like to identify drugs which can produce the same beneficial health and longevity effects without the low calorie diet. The problem is to find a way to rapidly identify these drugs. Professor Spindler and his colleagues are examining the gene expression patterns which are induced by low calorie diets, and looking for drugs which mimic these changes. They are searching for drugs which will have these beneficial effects and slow ageing, even when they are given late in life. One drug, normally used to treat diabetic patients, seems to produce many of the beneficial effects of a low calorie diet. However, it is important to be sure that healthy people will benefit from the drug. A very low level of toxicity could interfere with the beneficial effects of such a drug, if it is taken for a lifetime......... Posted by: Sean      Read more         Source