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Exposures to metals and diesel emissions in air linked to respiratory symptoms in children

November 23, 2009 -- Exposure shortly after birth to ambient metals from residential heating oil combustion and particles from diesel emissions are associated with respiratory symptoms in young inner city children, according to a new study by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

Lack of insurance may have figured in nearly 17,000 childhood deaths, study shows

Lack of health insurance might have led or contributed to nearly 17,000 deaths among hospitalized children in the United States in the span of less than two decades, according to research led by th

Muscle weakness a common side effect of long stays in intensive care units

After decades of focusing on the management of respiratory failure, circulatory shock and severe infections that lead to extended stays in hospital intensive care units, critical care researchers a

New therapy for vasculitis will help patients avoid infertility and cancer

Researchers have identified that Rituxan, a drug previously approved for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's B cell lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis, can treat severe ANCA-associated vasculitis as effectively as cyclophosphamide, the current standard therapy. The news will be presented October 18 at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in Philadelphia.

Tuberculosis patients can reduce transmissability by inhaling interferon through a nebulizer

New York, NY (September 14, 2009): A new study published in the September 15, 2009, issue of PLoS ONE found that patients with cavitary pulmonary tuberculosis receiving anti-TB medications supplemented with nebulized interferon-gamma have fewer bacilli in the lungs and less inflammation, thereby reducing the transmissibility of tuberculosis in the early phase of treatment.

Surgical scrub solution: It's good for patients, too

Giving critically ill hospital patients a daily bath with a mild, soapy solution of the same antibacterial agent used by surgeons to "scrub in" before an operation can dramatically cut down, by as much as 73 percent, the number of patients who develop potentially deadly bloodstream infections, according to a new study by patient safety experts at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and five other instit

Narrow-band imaging increases specificity of early lung cancer detection

AURORA, COLO -- Research published in the September 2009 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology has found that narrow-band imaging bronchoscopy increases the specificity of bronchoscopic early lung cancer detection and can serve as an alternative detection device.

Setting priorities for patient-safety efforts will mean hard choices

Is it more urgent for hospitals, doctors and nurses to focus resources on preventing the thousands of falls that injure hospitalized patients each year, or to home in on preventing rare but dramatic instances of wrong-side surgery? Is it best to concentrate immediately on preventing pediatric medical errors or on preventing drug interactions in the elderly?

Survival rates for elderly receiving hospital CPR did not improve from 1992 to 2005

A study of elderly patients receiving CPR in the hospital shows that rates of survival did not improve from 1992 to 2005. During that period, the proportion of hospital deaths preceded by CPR rose, and the proportion of patients who were successfully resuscitated and later discharged home fell.

New findings encourage more vigilant monitoring of seizure activity among intensive care patients

NEW YORK (June 17, 2009) -- Two new studies published by neurologists at Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital demonstrate a need for more vigilant monitoring for seizure activity among intensive care patients who may be experiencing subtle seizures that are typically unrecognized.

Pitt team reports in Nature that unique portion of enzyme fights lung infection

PITTSBURGH, June 17 -- An enzyme known to play a key role in the development of emphysema serves as the first line of defense against bacterial infection of the lung, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. They also found that the antimicrobial activity comes from a small portion of the enzyme that is structurally and sequentially unique in nature.

In the ICU, use of benzodiazepines, other factors may predict severity of post-stay depression

Psychiatrists and critical care specialists at Johns Hopkins have begun to tease out what there is about a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) that leads so many patients to report depression after they go home.



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