Hospice Care has a very scary reputation. Patients are often frightened to hear the term, thinking it means imminent death, and many doctors are scared to use it. But it could actually mean a longer life, and certainly better quality of life, towards the end. Palliative care doctors say talking about death can also make the inevitable easier.
Managing psychological problems in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) is a big challenge, requiring pharmacological interventions. On the other hand, these patients are more prone to side effects and drug interactions associated with psychotropic drugs use.
Benzodiazepines (BZDs), antidepressants, and antipsychotics are commonly used in critically ill patients. Therefore, their therapeutic effects and adverse events are discussed in this study. Different studies have shown that non-BZD drugs are preferred to BZDs for agitation and pain management, but antipsychotic agents are not recommended.
Also, it is better not to start antidepressants until the patient has fully recovered. However, further investigations are required for the use of psychotropic drugs in ICUs.
Astronauts' blood changes in space but that may not stop them from getting to Mars. SpaceX founder Elon Musk often boasts about the imminent colonization of Mars, despite major human health problems that stand between us and the Red Planet. Fortunately for Musk and other aspiring space travelers, NASA scientists may have crossed one item off that list of potential problems.
Rutgers researchers have developed a tool to help neurologists screen for obstructive sleep apnea in people with epilepsy whose seizures can be magnified by sleep disorders. The study was published in the journal Neurology Clinical Practice.
Although detection and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can improve seizure control in some patients with epilepsy, providers have not regularly assessed patients for those risk factors. The researchers developed an electronic health record alert for neurologists to evaluate a patient's need for a sleep study.
Digital Health’s combination of healthcare, life sciences, and technology capabilities offers the potential to fill unmet needs in the patient journey. And by pushing this advantage and seizing the opportunity to build, buy or partner on new solutions life sciences firms have a chance to disrupt the disruptors.
There’s no rule that disruptive business ideas must be limited to nimble startups with flashy technology. Take Digital Health, for example, where incumbent life sciences companies are well-positioned to identify opportunities and then deliver new products and services to improve the lives and customer experiences of the patients they serve.
Scores of midwives are working in the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar to ensure health security, deliver babies and help young mothers.
Topical vitamin A provides no benefit in treating atopic dermatitis, whereas topical vitamin D may actually exacerbate symptoms, according to an evidence-based review. Biologic Treatments for Moderate to Severe Atopic Dermatitis.
Topical vitamin A provides no benefit in treating atopic dermatitis, whereas topical vitamin D may actually exacerbate symptoms, according to an evidence-based review. In contrast, topical formulations of vitamins B, C, and E appear to help the disease.
The study was published in the journal Dermatologic Therapy. They also found that three trace elements magnesium, zinc, and iodine seem to improve atopic dermatitis, due to their anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects.
A relatively new accelerated diagnostic protocol is effective in identifying emergency department patients with acute chest pain who can be safely sent home without being hospitalized or undergoing comprehensive cardiac testing, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
The study found that use of the HEART Pathway protocol was associated with a 6% reduction in hospitalizations and significant decreases in the median length of hospital stay and use of stress testing and coronary angiography compared to usual care.
These findings demonstrate that the HEART Pathway is a safe and effective way to determine which patients with acute chest pain are low-risk for the acute cardiac syndrome. The study was published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
A behavioral intervention program significantly reduced the sexual risk for HIV infection among young transgender women, according to the results of a Northwestern Medicine clinical trial.
Many migrant children separated from their parents at the U.S. border, some of them very young, have landed in shelters where they often experience stress, neglect, and minimal social and cognitive stimulation.
The latest findings of the long-running Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), involving children in Romanian orphanages, tells a cautionary tale about the psychiatric and social risks of long-term deprivation and separation from parents.
BEIP has shown that children reared in very stark institutional settings, with severe social deprivation and neglect, are at risk for cognitive problems, depression, anxiety, disruptive behavior, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
But BEIP has also shown that placing children with quality foster families can mitigate some of these effects if it's done early. The study was published this week by JAMA Psychiatry,
Researchers have developed a new mechanism to protect enzymes from oxygen as biocatalysts in fuel cells. The enzymes, known as hydrogenases, are just as efficient as precious metal catalysts, but unstable when they come into contact with oxygen.
They are therefore not yet suitable for technological applications. The new protective mechanism is based on oxygen-consuming enzymes that draw their energy from sugar. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
Even tiny amounts of viruses can have disastrous consequences. RNA identification can reveal the type of virus present. A fast and sensitive technique based on optical detection has now been outlined in the journal Angewandte Chemie. Scientists from Germany and Finland have demonstrated the binding of an RNA target to a probe made of gold nanorods and a DNA origami structure. Chirality switches triggered by binding can be measured by circular dichroism spectroscopy.