Some Articles on HealthCare News Today
Antibiotic-resistant germs widespread in the US
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Recent healthcare news today has stated that health departments have recently found more than 220 germs that have ‘unusual’ antibiotic resistance in the United States. These germs are those that cannot be killed by all or most of the antibiotics.
Moreover these germs have specific genes that allow them to spread the resistance to other germs. The Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) which is situated in Atlanta, Georgia has started rapidly identifying the new or rare threats which is their first critical step in containment strategy to stop the spread of antibiotic resistance (AR).
When such germs are found in a patient, they are quickly isolated and aggressive infection control and screening actions are started on the patients. This helps to discover, reduce and stop the transmission of the germs to other patients.
Besides this strategy CDC is trying to improve the use of antibiotics to prevent new infection and trying to build on the existing detection and response infrastructure. The strategy can prevent thousands of untreatable infections like Candida auris and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE).
The healthcare news today also stated that there were other findings in the study.
- In one of four germ samples that were sent to the AR Lab Network for testing purposes, a special gene has been found which can spread the resistance to other germs.
- Further investigation has revealed that about one in ten screening tests, a hard to treat germ has been in patients without symptoms. This meant that if the patients were not contained, then the germs would have spread undetected.
- For carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) alone, studies show that the containment strategy would prevent the spread of germs and the formation of 1600 new infections in three years in a single state which is a 76 percent reduction rate.
Legalization of medical cannabis has lowered the use of opium
Another recent healthcare news today have stated that in a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Internal Medicine, researchers have examined the number of opioid prescriptions that were filled between 2010 and 2015.
They have found that in the states where medical cannabis has been legalized, there is a reduction of 14.4 percent in the use of prescription opioids and nearly 7 percent reduction in opiate prescriptions.
California was the first to approve the medical cannabis law in 1996. Since then 29 states and the District of Colombia have approved some of the forms of medical cannabis. Since heroin is not a legal drug, researchers were done on all common prescriptions which had a suggestion of opium, including hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, methadone and fentanyl.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 42,000 deaths have occurred in the year of 2016 which is more than any year on record. Among that 40 percent of opioid overdose deaths involved a prescription opioid. This massive increase in deaths is due to the opioid prescription rates from 148 million in 2005 to 206 million by 2011.
- David Bradford, study co-author and Busbee Chair in Public Policy in the UGA School of Public and International Affairs has stated that, “There is a growing body of literature that suggests cannabis may be used to manage pain in some patients, and this could be a major component of the reductions we see in the use of opiates.”
The researchers are still going on to determine if medical cannabis is to become an effective treatment to reduce pain. Scientists are beginning to understand the effects of the compounds present in the cannabis, and what would be the effective dose that should be given to a patient.
COPD patients can get relief by practicing Tai Chi
COPD or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is a combination of bronchitis and emphysema and is a chronic, debilitating and largely incurable form of progressive lung disease.
Recent healthcare news today has suggested that Tai Chi can be very useful for the patients suffering from COPD. Tai Chi is an ancient martial art which involves many significant levels of physical exertion. Tai Chi, which has originated in China, is the combination of stretching, breathing and coordinated muscle movements and moreover it does not require any special equipment.
A recent study was done on 120 patients who were suffering from COPD and has never used a bronchodilator. After the initial treatment with indacaterol, some subjects were assigned to groups who were receiving traditional PR while others were assigned to groups to perform Tai Chi.
Both the groups were showing similar improvements in Saint Georges Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) scores, but after twelve weeks there was a difference in the scores of the two groups and the group performing Tai Chi were emerging as favorites.
For many patients, reducing the symptoms of COPD greatly improved their life. The cost of medicines can prove a barrier for some patients. For them the low-cost Tai Chi can prove extremely beneficial.
Blood test for signs of Vitamin D may speed up bipolar diagnosis
Recent healthcare news today suggests that the researchers of The Ohio State University have found that the children who are suffering bipolar disorder have a higher concentration of a protein associated with Vitamin D in their blood, when compared to normal children.
It is very difficult to find out which child has bipolar disorder as it could take around 10 years average time between the onset of the disease to its diagnosis period. The study has shown 36 percent higher chances of presence of higher levels of Vitamin D in a bipolar child.
The significance of the blood marker would still be put to further tests and the future research will take time. If it turns out successful it would offer huge benefits to the children as well as their parents.
The researchers thought it to be sensible to look at Vitamin D binding protein because it potentially plays a role in brain inflammation. They also looked at other inflammatory markers in the blood, but found no significant correlations.
Childhood bipolar disorder is very hard to distinguish from other disorders, especially in youth when there are other types of depression. But a specific biomarker would give clinicians more confidence in choosing the correct treatment and would decrease the time lag in proper treatment. This would reduce the suffering of the child and family and would lessen the risk of suicide.
Development of human-like tumours in the pancreas of a mouse
According to recent healthcare news today a technology has been invented which could revolutionize the study of pancreatic cancer and could lead to the creation and development of a new drug.
Pancreatic cancer kills 95 percent of the patients within five years of diagnosis. The chemotherapies can only extend the survival of the patient by a few months. Apart from that there has not been a single advance in therapy in this field.
Scientists study pancreatic cancer by either transplanting the tumours into the rodents for testing purposes or by genetically developing the disease in the body of the mice. But both of these scenarios are artificial.
Dr. Bruno Doiron, an assistant professor in the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine, along with his lab team injected a modified virus into the pancreas of an adult mouse. The virus was a mixture of two cancer molecules (KrasG12D mutation and shRNA p53) that are present in the tumours of a human pancreas.
After 28 to 30 weeks, the cocktail virus created tumours in the pancreas of the mouse which resembled the human pancreatic cancer. The mice were not of any special breeding. They were from many different parents. This ensured that the development of the tumors was totally random in nature just like it happens in humans.
Obesity and diabetes are the major risk factors for pancreatic cancer. The risk is 1.5 times more in obese patients while it is two to three times more in diabetic patients. This new invention would allow the doctors to predict more correctly which treatments can be effective for this deadly disease.
What is the best way to treat infected hip replacements?
The hip replacement has always been a two-stage procedure. In the first operation, the existing artificial joint is being removed and the patient is been treated with antibiotics for several months. In the second stage operation, a new joint is inserted HealthCare News Today .
But recent healthcare news today has suggested that a research team from the University of Bristol has made a study on 44 cases and has compared the effectiveness between one stage and two stage operation.
The study has suggested that the one stage operation, which includes removal of the artificial joint along with the infected tissue and insertion of a new joint in the same operation, might be better than the two-stage operation. Moreover, this operation can now be done on patients who had certain types of infections and problems and were not deemed appropriate for the operation.
Moreover, the two-stage operation has some disadvantages like two major surgical procedures, significant pain, long hospital stays and high healthcare costs. The one stage operation takes less time and is less expensive HealthCare News Today .
The research team at the University of Bristol have already begun clinical trials and it is hoped that the trial will determine the better way to treat infected hip replacements also you can find best anti wrinkle cream in India