Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles

Tackling Major Health Challenges In England - The King's Fund Reveals New Approach To Supporting The NHS
The King"s Fund has announced a series of new initiatives and projects to take forward its work to improve health care.

Alkermes Initiates Two New Clinical Trials Of ALKS 33
Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) announced the initiation of two new clinical trials of ALKS 33, an oral opioid modulator for the potential treatment of addiction and other nervous system disorders. Study ALK33-004 is a phase 1 clinical trial designed to examine the ability of ALKS 33 to block the effects of an opioid following a single oral dose of ALKS 33 in healthy, non-dependent, opioid-experienced subjects. Study ALK33-003 is a phase 1 clinical trial designed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, safety and tolerability of multiple doses of ALKS 33 in healthy volunteers.
News of the day
Study Links Depressive Mood, Racial Disparities In Preterm Birth
Women who have depression symptoms prior to becoming pregnant are at an increased risk for having preterm births, with the risk twice as high for black women as for white women, according to a study in the Journal of Women"s Health, Reuters reports. For the study, Amelia Gavin of the University of Washington and colleagues examined the links between race, preterm birth and pre-pregnancy depressive mood among 555 women. The study used data collected from 1990-1996 as part of a larger, long-term investigation of heart disease risk.Researchers determined that 18.1% of the 249 black women in the study gave birth prior to 37 weeks" gestation, compared with 8.5% of the 306 white women in the study. The study also found that 9.4% of black women had pre-pregnancy symptoms of depressive mood, compared with 7.2% of white women. After researchers accounted for other factors associated with preterm birth, such as body weight and sociodemographic characteristics, black women"s risk remained more than twice that of white women.Gavin said, "The black-white disparity in preterm birth may be in part a consequence of different exposures to depressive mood prior to pregnancy." She said, "Reproductive outcomes must be viewed in light of women"s health over the entire life-course, as well as during pregnancy," adding that the study"s results suggest that "the experience of cumulative health disadvantages or "weathering"" might play a role in increased risk for preterm birth (Hendry, Reuters, 6/25).
Sexual Health

Sleeping Through Dialysis: No Nightmare For Kidney Patients

Dialysis takes hours of kidney disease patients" time several days a week, so why not do it at night while sleeping? Overnight dialysis is more convenient for some patients and offers significant benefits over shorter daytime treatments, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The findings indicate that overnight dialysis is a viable alternative for patients with irreversible kidney disease, particularly in dialysis clinics where there are constraints on time and res. Dialysis removes waste products such as phosphate and urea from the blood, usually in three to five hours of treatments three days a week. Unfortunately, even this difficult schedule may not be frequent enough to maintain many patients" health. Some clinics offer an alternative: three weekly overnight dialysis sessions lasting six hours or more. To test the effectiveness of this alternative schedule, Dr. Joanna Ruth Powell (Western Infirmary, United Kingdom) and her colleagues compared the health of patients who received long overnight dialysis sessions with those who received conventional dialysis during the day. During 10 years of study, 146 patients in their clinic chose long overnight dialysis (approximately 11% of their dialysis patients). Patients ranged vastly in age with 30 over the age of 70 years. The overnight therapy was well tolerated with only a third of patients converting back to conventional dialysis after an average of approximately two years, mostly for preferential rather than medical reasons. The investigators studied various health parameters of 106 of their patients, with equal numbers receiving overnight dialysis and conventional dialysis (for at least one year). The patients who underwent overnight dialysis had lower rates of anemia and reduced levels of urea in their blood. Previous studies have found that overnight dialysis also reduces patients" blood pressure, blood phosphate levels, and risk of premature death compared with conventional dialysis. This study did not observe these benefits, however. The researchers concluded that long overnight dialysis is a practical way for clinics to offer longer dialysis sessions that are well tolerated by most patients with kidney disease. The authors report no financial disclosures. Study co-authors include Colin Geddes, Neal Padmanabhan, Oyeniran Oluwaseun, Carol Latta, Alan Jardine (Western Infirmary, United Kingdom); Yuk Mun Woo, Julie Tortolano (Inverclyde Royal Infirmary, United Kingdom); and Eliyanachii Narasinghan (University of Glasgow, United Kingdom). Founded in 1966, the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) is the world"s largest professional society devoted to the study of kidney disease. Comprised of 11,000 physicians and scientists, ASN continues to promote expert patient care, to advance medical research, and to educate the renal community. ASN also informs policymakers about issues of importance to kidney doctors and their patients. ASN funds research, and through its world-renowned meetings and first-class publications, disseminates information and educational tools that empower physicians. American Society of Nephrology (ASN)


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009