Core needle beast biopsies safe for patients taking blood thinners
It is safe to take anticoagulants before core needle breast biopsies, according to a study performed at the Elizabeth Wende Breast Clinic in Rochester, NY.
Medication
NICE renewed flu guidance
The next flu season will come. To prevent high-risk people from infections, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recently published a final guidance on the use of the drugs oseltamivir, amantadine and zanamivir for the prophylaxis of influenza. "But vaccination is the main way to prevent flu", says Gillian Leng, NICE Deputy Chief Executive.
Hospital staff don't care for influenza vaccination — for themselves
Injections, that's everyday business for the men and women working in healthcare. As long as it is the patients who have to face the needle, it seems. Like in the years before Dr Heinzpeter Moecke, medical director of Asklepios Klinik Nord-Heidberg in Hamburg, Germany, set an example for his staff and had a vaccination.
Harmonising rules on information about prescription drugs
Pharmaceutical companies are not allowed to inform consumers on the internet or in ads about side effects, application and ingredients of medicines. The pharmaceutical industry would like to relax this ban and mustered support from EU Commissioner Günter Verheugen who will present a legislative proposal later this year.
Care of the elderly varies widely within the EU
Drug access by older citizens varies widely across 25 EU member countries, according to a new study by IMS Health. Per capita usage of drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease in the five EU countries where utilization was highest was 20 times greater than in the five lowest-use countries.
Cardioprotective effect of fluvastatin XL
Between June 2004 and April 2008 the Dutch DECREASE III Study observed patients treated with Fluvastatin. The results show that Fluvastatin XL therapy can be associated with improved postoperative cardiac outcome in high-risk patients undergoing elective vascular surgery.
How save are antiangiogenic and anti-inflammatory drugs really?
Since Rofecoxib (Vioxx) was withdrawn from the worldwide market based on the safety findings of the Adenomatous Polyp Prevention on Vioxx (APPROVe) study, the uncertainty around the cardiovascular safety of NSAIDs and COX-2 inhibitors remains and leaves practitioners with difficult management decisions for the hundreds of millions of patients worldwide who continue to require pain-relieving…
The 20th WorldLab IFCC International Congress of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
In the next 10-20 years, great changes will occur in the field of laboratory medicine.
Hypertension worldwide
Countries vary widely in their capacity to manage hypertension, but globally the majority of diagnosed hypertensives is inadequately controlled. Not treated it can cause cardiovascular disease (CVD), myocardial infarction and stroke. According to the WHO, hypertension is estimated to cause 4.5% of the current global disease burden and is as prevalent in many developing countries as in the…
Heart failure
The ageing population and growing risk factors have made a significant impact on driving up the number of registered heart failure (HF) cases. Existing pharmacological strategies are improving the survival rates of acute and early-stage HF patients, ironically providing a growing body of patients with progression of the disease to HF.
Simply operate giddiness away?
A compressed cranial nerve by blood vessels is responsible for numerous diseases. The most well-known example is trigeminal neuralgia, which is agony for many people affected by its sudden shooting pain in the face.
SYNCOPE Diagnosis and therapy
The diagnostic work-up of syncope patients often raises the question of how much diagnosis is necessary and what examination methods are really needed. To save time, specialists recommend focusing on determining whether the syncope may be caused by a cardiac problem - a question answered quite easily in many cases. Karl Eberius MD, European Hospital's new correspondent, discussed advice for…
Software aids medication dosing decisions
The drug information system AiDKlinik developed by Dosing GmbH is a software solution for the server-based intranet for medication dosing.
Hot topic cardiovascular imaging
Every summer the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) holds Europe's biggest annual meeting of specialists in cardiovascular medicine, inviting and drawing in top international medical professionals. Karoline Laarmann asked Professor Kim Fox, President of the European Society of Cardiology and Consultant Cardiologist at the Royal Brompton Hospital, and professor of clinical cardiology at Imperial…
Ethical concerns over clinical trials in India
As an increasing number of international drug companies are moving their clinical trials business to India, the clinical trial industry has been raising concerns about the lack of regulation of private trials carried out there, including the uneven application of requirements for informed consent and proper ethics review.
The source of medication errors
US- researchers found that inpatients experience an average of nearly one and a half potentially harmful errors in their medication record during a hospital stay. They started the search for the causes: admission and discharging are the most dangerous situations.
Good prospects for drug/radiation combo
It was a mistery: Why didn't drugs which boost the tumor-killing power of immune cells in lab do well in clincal trials? Now researchers from Rockefeller University describe a way to enhance the ability of these drugs by combining them with radiation therapy.
LIFE Nutrition founded
B. Braun Melsungen AG laid the foundation stone for a new manufacturing plant for production and development in nutrition solutions. The new production site includes a research lab and costs around 190 million Euro. In the future 270 employees will work on innovative denouements for the world market.
New strategies against MRSA
A new paper by Shahriar Mobashery, Navari Family Professor in Life Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and researchers in his lab provides important insights into promising new antibiotics aimed at combating MRSA.
Eradiction of H. pylori protects against stomach cancer
Almost all stomach cancers not related to the heart develop from the stomach ulcer causing bug H. pylori. A Japanese study shows that treatment to eradicate the mikrobe reduces the risk of developing new gastric carcinoma in patients.
Two more cancer drug-candidates for Bayer Schering Pharma AG
Bayer Schering AG, Germany, acquires the preclinical anti-cancer program from Swiss pharma company Nycomed. Two potential drug candidates are expanding the German oncology pipeline.
Seniors got more - prescriptions
Compared to 1997 people aged 60 and over receive a lot more from their physicians: Not more attention but more drugs or other medical aids. The average number of prescriptions for elder people doubled from 1997 to 2007, a report from The NHS Information Centre reveals.
Professional accountablity of nurses
A recent case from Eardisland, Herefordshire, demonstrates the impact of institutions like the Nursing & Midwifery Council in the UK that considers allegations of misconduct of nurses. A nurse was given a three-year caution for not adhering to the Council's professional code of conduct which led to serious consequences for the patient.
New treatment guidelines for HIV infection
An international panel of physicians has updated the guidelines and recommendations for antiretroviral treatment of adult human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection after evaluating recent data, according to an article in JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/AIDS.
OTC-gel for painless mammograms
It sounds impressively simple: An over-the-counter pain-relieving gel from the drugstore may reduce the uncomfortable and even dolorous feeling women experience during mammography exams, according to the a study published in the online edition of Radiology.