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Clinical Practice
Why knee osteoarthritis patients avoid restorative activity – Australian study
Although physical activity is known to ease the painful symptoms of knee osteoarthritis (OA) – a common cause of pain and joint stiffness –...
Medical community at a crossroads on child gender-affirming care
The release of a major review of gender identity services for children has sparked debate about the best approach to providing care for young...
Life support withdrawal may have been premature in some cases, scientists find
Around 40% of people with brain injuries whose life support had been turned off, may have survived or at least made a partial recovery,...
Women doctors’ patients ‘less likely to die’ – US study
Patients treated by women doctors have less chance of dying or being readmitted to hospital, possibly because male and female physicians practise medicine differently,...
New 'more reliable' NHLS LDL-cholesterol calculation method
Clinicians rely heavily on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) – the main target for lipid-lowering therapies and preventing cardiovascular disease – and in randomised control...
Trio of chronic disease stories to watch for in 2024
Chronic disease is, by its very definition, omnipresent. But changes year to year have the potential to make certain conditions into flaming-red targets for...
BP readings’ accuracy differences between men and women – Canadian study
The association between sex and both brachial cuff accuracy and non-invasive central BP estimation remains unclear, and as such, a team of scientists’ primary...
Corticosteroids and bone risk; guidelines change needed — large UK analysis
A large UK analysis of health records found that exposure to inhaled and oral corticosteroids is an independent risk factors for bone health in...
Virtual follow-up more convenient and equally beneficial to surgical patients
Surgical patients who participate in virtual follow-up visits after their operations spend a similar amount of time with surgical team members as those who...
Canada's 'pioneering' guidelines on adult obesity
Pioneering guidelines on obesity management in Canada are challenging doctors to consider the health problem as a complex chronic illness rather than something a...
Health professionals wary of medicinal cannabis misuse and adverse effects
A Queensland University of Technology (QUT) analysis of studies gauging attitudes to medicinal cannabis has found that while health professionals are broadly supportive, they...
Two-thirds of SA patients prescribed unnecessary antibiotics by their GP
In South Africa, 78% of 'mystery' patients sent to a public clinic and 67% of patients sent to a private general practitioner (GP) received...
GPs exceed antibiotic duration guidelines for most infections
For most common infections treated in primary care, a substantial proportion of antibiotic prescriptions have durations exceeding those recommended in guidelines. Substantial reductions in...
Novel test speeds diagnosis of multi-resistant hospital pathogens
A team of researchers at the University of Cologne's faculty of medicine and the German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF) has achieved a scientific...
Daily aspirin has 'no effect' on healthy life span in older people
Daily low-dose aspirin in healthy older adults without previous cardiovascular events did not prolong healthy, independent living (life free of dementia or persistent physical...
Traditional methods for testing BP no longer adequate — study
Traditional methods of testing for high-blood pressure are no longer adequate and risk missing vital health signs, which can lead to premature death, a...
Statistics SA: The swings and roundabouts of how we die
In 2016 women in South Africa were 36% more likely to die from diabetes than from the combination of car accidents, violent crime, suicide,...
BP in the elderly starts decreasing about 14 years before death
Blood pressure in the elderly gradually begins to decrease about 14 or so years before death, according to a large UK analysis.
Researchers from University...
Concerns raised over accuracy of melanoma diagnoses
A study of US pathologists shows that diagnoses can vary among pathologists, particularly for cases in the middle of the disease spectrum, suggesting the potential...
Why are so many people popping Vitamin D?
There is mostly no reason for the patients to receive vitamin D tests. Yet US patients are demanding them and many physicians are initiating...
Cardiologist warns against dissolvable stents
An expert commentary in a New England Journal of Medicine editorial encourages cardiologists to continue using conventional drug-eluting stents, instead of the newer bioresorbable...
The heavier, the less chance of experiencing a 'good death'
The heavier someone is, the less likely they are to have what many people might call a 'good death', with hospice care and a...
Clinicians must understand information needs
Clinicians need to understand the differing needs of cancer survivors in order to better address concerns about cancer recurrence, late effects, and family members' risks.
Accurate one-minute frailty assessment
Emory University surgeons have developed that an approximately one-minute frailty assessment that can accurately determine how likely a patient is to have complications after an operation.
'Ethical imperative' for mammography information
Women exposed to evidence-based information on the risk of over-detection and over-diagnosis associated with mammography screening have lower intentions to have a breast screening test, according to an Australian study.
Dematitis increasing with improved hand hygiene
A University of Manchester study shows that the incidence of dermatitis has increased 4.5 times in British health care workers following a drive for increased hand hygiene to reduce infections such as MRSA.
Combination drug to fight fungal infections
Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered that Candida albicans — a leading cause of potentially fatal hospital-acquired infections – rarely develops resistance to combination drug therapy and, when it becomes resistant, it also becomes less dangerous.
Eight signs of impending cancer death
US and Brazilian researchers have identified eight highly specific physical and cognitive signs associated with imminent death in cancer patients. The findings could guide both the medical team and caregivers on complex decision making, such as discontinuation of tests and therapy, plans for hospital discharge and hospice referral.