At least one third of cases of delirium could be prevented if better systems of care were in place according to a doctor in today's BMJ.
Delirium - a temporary state of acute confusion - is becoming a major burden on health care services in countries with ageing populations says Professor John Young.
Characterised by fluctuating awareness, confusion and impaired memory, delirium contributes substantially to rates of sickness and death in the population. The condition causes considerable distress to patients and families and it is expensive - Professor Young estimates the cost of treatment can run to an additional £1275 per patient.
It is the most frequent complication of hospital admission for older people and develops in up to half of older patients post-operatively, especially after a hip fracture or vascular surgery. People with delirium are also more likely to develop dementia and vice versa.
Health & Wellness
The immune system is designed to attack anything that is not the body's own tissues, such as pathogens and genetically nonidentical organ transplants, so why does the maternal immune system not attack a developing fetus? Several answers to this question are provided by a new study of mice from researchers at New York University School of Medicine.
In the study, which appears online on in advance of publication in the May print issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Adrian Erlebacher and colleagues show that when maternal immune cells known as T cells interact with fetal cells they can't "see" proteins that only their fetus expresses. By contrast, the same maternal T cells were able to "see" the fetal proteins when other maternal immune cells began picking up the fetal proteins around mid-gestation.
In the study, which appears online on in advance of publication in the May print issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Adrian Erlebacher and colleagues show that when maternal immune cells known as T cells interact with fetal cells they can't "see" proteins that only their fetus expresses. By contrast, the same maternal T cells were able to "see" the fetal proteins when other maternal immune cells began picking up the fetal proteins around mid-gestation.
Contrary to popular opinion, juries in malpractice suits side more often with doctors than with patients, according to a new study.
Even when cases are so strong that independent legal experts expect patient plaintiffs to win, juries still side with the defendants half the time.
Even when cases are so strong that independent legal experts expect patient plaintiffs to win, juries still side with the defendants half the time.
Rare, bizarre and potentially dangerous side-effects of some prescription sleeping pills have prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to warn patients and doctors about the medications, including one that is available in Canada.
OKLAHOMA CITY - A 16-year-old Russian boy found a hospital halfway around the world willing to remove his brain tumor for free.
A molecule thought crucial to ferrying the deadly rabies virus into the brain, where it eventually kills, apparently isn't. The surprising finding, say researchers at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, may change the way scientists think about how central nervous system-attacking viruses such as herpes viruses invade the brain and cause disease.
According to Matthias Schnell, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and immunology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, viruses such as rabies must be actively transported to the brain and central nervous system. The LC8 protein was thought to tether viruses to the cellular transport machinery in order to get there.
But Dr. Schnell and his co-workers found that this protein complex is instead a "transcription factor" that plays a role in virus reproduction. "We think that this finding has implications not only for rabies but many viruses that previously were thought to use this complex for transport, such as herpes viruses," he says. They report their results online this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
To understand the role of LC8 in rabies disease in the brain, the team compared a rabies virus strain with the LC8 "binding domain" (where the rabies virus and LC8 protein interact) to a virus lacking it. They showed that in mice that were infected with rabies without the LC8 binding domain, the virus was still able to infect the brain, but did not cause disease. The virus' ability to reproduce was greatly diminished.
According to Matthias Schnell, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and immunology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, viruses such as rabies must be actively transported to the brain and central nervous system. The LC8 protein was thought to tether viruses to the cellular transport machinery in order to get there.
But Dr. Schnell and his co-workers found that this protein complex is instead a "transcription factor" that plays a role in virus reproduction. "We think that this finding has implications not only for rabies but many viruses that previously were thought to use this complex for transport, such as herpes viruses," he says. They report their results online this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
To understand the role of LC8 in rabies disease in the brain, the team compared a rabies virus strain with the LC8 "binding domain" (where the rabies virus and LC8 protein interact) to a virus lacking it. They showed that in mice that were infected with rabies without the LC8 binding domain, the virus was still able to infect the brain, but did not cause disease. The virus' ability to reproduce was greatly diminished.
A record 132 million doses will be ready for the 2007-2008 flu season to meet the federal guidelines of vaccinating 218 million Americans.
In 1985 Monsanto purchased G.D. Searle, the chemical company that held the patent to aspartame, the active ingredient in NutraSweet. Monsanto was apparently untroubled by aspartame's clouded past, including a 1980 FDA Board of Inquiry, comprised of three independent scientists, which confirmed that it "might induce brain tumors."
Comment: To read the timeline go to this link.
When Pathocrats, such as Rumsfeld, come into positions of authority and power and people don't have the psychological understanding of psychopaths, we all suffer.
The approval of the poison Aspartame and the involvement of Rumsfeld shows a clear cut example of how psychopaths are destroying humanity. Read Political Ponerology Now! for a full understanding.
A second study conducted by the European Ramazzini Foundation (ERF) confirms the carcinogenicity of aspartame. The results of this study will be presented April 23, 2007 at the Mount Sinai Medical School of New York, where ERF Scientific Director Morando Soffritti will receive the third Irving J. Selikoff Award. [vedi testo completo per l'italiano]
WASHINGTON - An industrial chemical that led to the nationwide recall of more than 100 brands of cat and dog food has turned up in a second pet food ingredient imported from China.
Comment: To understand this pnenomenon better read The Cult of the Plausible Lie