New biomarkers in acute cardiac care
Professor C Mueller adressed the issue of new biomarkers in acute cardiac care on the ESC on Monday, 1st September. Read his comment in the following.
Prevention
Childhood obesity
Recent studies have shown that overweight and obesity during childhood and adolescence have a negative impact on the functioning of the internal walls of the arteries, paving the way to the development of an arteriosclerotic disease from an increasingly early age.
New Molecular Imaging Techniques Aim at Detection of Earliest Steps of Disease Development
An emerging discipline of noninvasive cardiac imaging, molecular imaging, has evolved constantly in the last few years and is increasingly being translated from the preclinical to the clinical level. Molecular imaging allows for unique insights into specific disease mechanisms and holds great promise to change the practice of cardiovascular medicine by facilitating early disease detection,…
EuroPRevent 2009
This year sees the fifth anniversary of EuroPRevent.
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…
Article • Stroke prevention
Ultrasound brings many advantages, but trained sonographers are too few
What is the role of vascular ultrasound in stroke prevention? Asked by Karoline Laarmann of European Hospital, Professor Christian Arning MD, Medical Director of the Neurology Department at Asklepios Klinik Wandsbek, Germany, and Deputy Chairman of the German Society of Ultrasound in Medicine (DEGUM), gave an unequivocal answer: crucial - but only if the sonographer is properly qualified.
Economic recession: a cause of later CVD?
Bad economic conditions, e.g. a recession, at the time of birth may lead to a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality much later in life, according to a recent study published by researchers at the Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA) in Bonn.
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…
Sono-elastography
Martini Clinic, in the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) campus in Hamburg, is one of the world's major centres for nerve-sparing prostatectomy. The Martini physicians not only specialise in surgical intervention but are also at the cutting edge of diagnostics, being among the few in Germany to use sono-elastography, an innovative tool to detect prostate cancer. We asked Dr Georg Salomon (GS),…
A new nutrition guide: Green for fruits, red for fats
Do we have to create a food guide for people? The European Parliament already proposed this suggestion to protect people from getting cardiovascular diseases. This week experts will discuss the issue at the annual ESC Congress. They believe the UK traffic light system might help people keep more attention to nutrition
New relationship: 3M Health Care and Materials Management Microsystems
3M Health Care and Materials Management Microsystems recently announce plans to establish connectivity between Microsystems' SPM® sterile processing information system and 3M™ Attest™ Auto-readers and 3M™ Steri-Vac™ EO Sterilization Systems. This collaboration will provide hospitals more streamlined data collection, documentation and reporting capabilities.
Nosocomial infections reach the court rooms
According to recent survey by the Leapfrog Group 87% of hospitals fail to adhere infection prevention measures on a consistent basis. In the Wall Street Journal, Betsy McCaughey, chair of the Committee to Reduce Infection Death, warns against the next wave of lawsuits.
Medically sound for benefit of athletes worldwide
Compact ultrasound technology provides greater diagnostic confidence within close proximity of athletes. The portable equipment from GE Healthcare is not much larger than a laptop, and delivers comparable results in terms of display quality to the high-end equipment used in hospitals.
Young woman underrepresented in breast cancer studies
More than 250,000 women under the age of forty are living with the disease in the US and 11,000 will be diagnosed in the next year. Even so, young women are underrepresented in many research studies and treatments, according to genomic expert Simon Chin.
Prostate scanning too often performed?
Experts on a US panel expressed their doubts on the beneficial quality of prostate cancer screenings for elderly men. Prostate cancer often grows very slowly and may not kill an older man before he suffers from another death reason, they pointed out.
Focus: hygiene and nosocomial infections
They are one of the major threats in today's hospital: tiny pathogens that hide out in catheters, in ventilation tubes, on instruments or on the keyboards of medical technological equipment only waiting to attack patients whose immune system is already weakened. This week, EH Online will take a closer look at nosocomial infections, their causes, their effects and the available ways and means to…
New modell to predict risks of heart failure
Hospital admission might probably determine the severity of heart failure. By analysing data from 260 hospitals across the United States researchers created a model to reduce in-hospital mortality and more quickly identify triage methods and treatment decisions.
Better protection for nurses! - A global call to action
Provision of standard infectious disease precautions and safe workplaces for nurses all around the world are the main claims of a statement shaped during the International AIDS Conference by Physicians for Human Rights and the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care.
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.
Every or every second year doesn't make a difference
Researchers compared the Norwegian organised population based mammogram screening every second year and a physician- or self-referrals annual test in the US. Both are equally sensitive, but the recall rate for abnormal results was lower in Norway.
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.
What hips tell about breast cancer
As rocks keep the secrets of the earth, bones might keep those of the body. A new study that will be publish in the September 1, 2008 issue of CANCER suggests, that factors responsible for higher bone mineral density might also lead to higher risk of breast cancer.
ESCAIDE 2008
For the second time the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm, Sweden, invites to the European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE). The ECDC published now a forecast about expectations and the global hot topics of the international event in Berlin, November 19-21.
Two in one: atherosclerosis test for CV risk prediction
The ankle brachial index, a ratio of blood pressure measurements used to indicate the risk of peripheral artery disease and atherosclerosis, may be useful to improve the accuracy of cardiovascular risk prediction, according to a meta-analysis of previous studies.
Still a lot to learn about breast cancer
Since decades women carefully feel their breast. Hoping that they will not find any evidence for lumps or other changes, that might signal breast cancer. However, a review of recent studies conclude that self-exams do not appear to reduce deaths. Whereas radiation therapy may lower recurrence rate of rare breast cancer.