News by Subject Medicine & Health

A UC Davis study of nine emergency departments and urgent care centers in California and Colorado found educating physicians and patients about safe antibiotic use can cut overuse by one-third.

A new study has shown that patients are significantly more likely to correctly identify male physicians and female nurses, demonstrating continuing gender bias in the health care environment. These lingering perceptions may slowly be changing, though, as younger patients were more likely to correctly identify female physicians and male nurses, according to the study published in Journal of Women's Health.

Poor oral health is associated with a 75% increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer, new research published in UEG Journal has found.

Decisions to withdraw life support treatments in critically ill patients with severe brain injury are complicated, are based on many factors, and are usually made by critical care physicians and families in the intensive care unit. A study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) provides new understanding on the decision-making processes for this patient population, which accounts for most hospital deaths from trauma.

People who receive opioids for the first time while hospitalized have double the risk of continuing to receive opioids for months after discharge compared with their hospitalized peers who are not given opioids. The finding sare among the first to shed light on the little-studied causes and consequences of inpatient opioid prescribing.

Chemicals produced by healthy bacteria could be used to assess the health of the gut microbiome and help identify critically-ill children at greatest risk of organ failure, a study published in Critical Care Medicine has found.

The study showed that a low-carb Mediterranean diet had a greater effect on reducing fat around the liver, heart and the pancreas, compared to low-fat diets with similar calorie counts, although the weight loss was similar. The team also found that moderate physical exercise reduced the amount of visceral fat stored around the stomach.

A Cleveland, Ohio nursing scientist is leading a study he believes will support what he says is a much-needed change in how medical helicopters are used -- especially for transfers between hospitals. Andrew Reimer and his team hope to turn that information into a computer-generated checklist to determine which patients will benefit from an air transfer -- and which won't.

Alternatives to opioids for treating pain are sorely needed. A study in rats suggests that tetrodotoxin, properly packaged, offers a safe pain block.