A Focus
'Protective effect of obesity' against dementia challenged in 2 studies
March 13th, 2019 Two new studies appear to refute some earlier research suggesting obesity might protect against dementia. A large UK study over 15 years found that long-term, being obese was associated with increased risks of dementia. The second study that linked...
Home births 3x more dangerous than hospital deliveries
March 13th, 2019 Women who give birth in non-hospital settings are three times more likely to encounter complications and perinatal mortality compared with hospital births, according to a study presented by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU)...
Comprehensive study debunks, again, the MMR/autism link
March 6th, 2019 A massive 13-year followup study of more than 650,000 children strongly supports previous findings that MMR vaccination does not increase the risk for autism, does not trigger autism in susceptible children, and is not associated with clustering of...
GPs exceed antibiotic duration guidelines for most infections
March 6th, 2019 For most common infections treated in primary care, a substantial proportion of antibiotic prescriptions have durations exceeding those recommended in guidelines. Substantial reductions in antibiotic exposure can be accomplished by aligning...
Remodulating hospital microbiota cuts infections and costs
March 6th, 2019 The spread of antimicrobial resistance in hospitals can be limited by sanitation methods that re-modulate the hospital microbiota, according to a multi-centre trial conducted in Italy. The new sanitation system was associated with a 83% decrease of...
Bag-mask ventilation helps to save lives
February 27th, 2019 Among critically ill adults undergoing tracheal intubation, patients receiving bag-mask ventilation had higher oxygen saturations and a lower incidence of severe hypoxaemia, found the multi-centre PreVent trials. The authors believe the results have...
CMS coy on why it prematurely terminated probe into Bonitas
February 27th, 2019 New questions have been raised by Business Day about the Council for Medical Schemes' decision in 2018 inexplicably to terminate a two-year investigation into allegations of trustee election fraud, improper contracts and conflicts of interest at...
Eastern Cape Health hostage to ‘brutal thuggery’ of unions — Judge
February 20th, 2019 A Labour Court judge says Eastern Cape Health appears to be held hostage by a concentrated union campaign of "violence and intimidation" at its Fort England Hospital. However, despite the unions seemingly dictating policy at the high-security...
Is interval training the magic bullet for fat loss? — Systematic review
February 20th, 2019 Interval training may shed almost 30% more kilos than a continuous moderate intensity workout, suggests an international pooled analysis of the available evidence in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. And sprint interval training may be most...
Forget 'resiliency training' for doctors - the entire system needs to change
February 20th, 2019 It's absurd to try to train doctors to become more "resilient", MedicalBrief's Alastair McAlpine writes in his Digital Clubbing column. Doctors are unhappy, depressed, and are killing themselves - quite simply, we need to completely re-imagine...
Expert panel strongly recommends against almost all shoulder pain surgery
February 13th, 2019 Surgery should not be performed in almost all patients with a common cause of shoulder pain known as subacromial pain syndrome or SAPS (also called shoulder impingement or rotator cuff disease), say a panel of international experts. Their strong...
'Watchful waiting' rather than surgery for benign ovarian cysts
February 13th, 2019 'Watchful waiting' rather than removal is suitable for most women diagnosed with non-cancerous ovarian cysts, avoiding potential surgical complications, found a two-year study following 1919 women from 10 countries. “Our results may lead to a...
After years of uncertainty, meta-analysis finds statins benefit all ages
February 6th, 2019 A new analysis of clinical trials reverses current thinking on giving statins to most people over 75, finding that the cholesterol-lowering drugs benefit all ages with minimal risk, found the international Cholesterol Treatment Trialists'...
Fake news and celebrity fads 'put lives at risk’ — joint editorial
February 6th, 2019 The editors of more than two dozen cardiology-related scientific journals worldwide have published a joint editorial to sound the alarm that medical misinformation is putting lives at stake. Meanwhile, NHS England’s national medical director has...
Provincial health services at risk over R80.4bn in medical negligence claims
January 30th, 2019 A "near exponential" increase in medical negligence claims against the state has left provincial health departments with R80.4bn in contingent liabilities, equivalent to more than 40% of total budgets for next year, Treasury data shows. Teams of...