The most thorough analysis of oseltamivir (marketed as Tamiflu) data to date, including all available published and unpublished randomised treatment trials of adults, suggests that the antiviral drug shortens the duration of flu symptoms by about a day, compared to placebo, in adults with laboratory-confirmed…

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in the journal Pediatric Blood & Cancer shows that pediatric cancer patients who receive antibiotics within 60 minutes of reporting fever and showing neutropenia (low neutrophil count), go on to have decreased intensive care consultation rate and…

Sleep researchers at the University of Adelaide are warning doctors and parents not to provide the drug melatonin to children to help control their sleep problems.Melatonin is a hormone produced in the body with the onset of darkness. It plays an important role in fine…

Test Provides Quick, Inexpensive Alternative for Assessing Common Complication, Reports Anesthesia & Analgesia In patients who don’t resume normal urination after surgery, a simple ultrasound test can accurately diagnose the common problem of postoperative urinary retention (POUR), reports a study in Anesthesia & Analgesia.Using ultrasound…

Obese patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery have significantly better long-term survival rates than obese patients who do not receive the surgery, according to a University of Virginia Health System study.Published online in The American Journal of Surgery, the study compared 401 patients who received…

Columbia Engineers Create Smartphone Accessory for Rapid Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases—HIV + Syphilis—at Point of Care A team of researchers, led by Samuel K. Sia, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, has developed a low-cost smartphone accessory that can perform a point-of-care test…

Cocaine addicted individuals may continue their habit despite unfavorable consequences like imprisonment or loss of relationships because their brain circuits responsible for predicting emotional loss are impaired, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published today in…

Smokers’ Attitudes Examined as FDA Prepares to Issue Final Ruling on Extending Regulatory Authority to Devices As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is preparing to issue a final ruling on whether it will extend its tobacco regulatory authority to electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), researchers…

Stress may partly explain why young and middle-aged women have a worse recovery after heart attack, according to new research published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.Although 35,000 women under age 65 experience heart attack each year in the United States, there’s limited data…

Don’t go chomping on a handful of chili peppers just yet, but there may be help for hopeful dieters in those fiery little Native American fruits.A large percentage of the world’s population – fully one third, by the World Health Organization’s estimates – is currently…

Women with type 1 diabetes face a 40% increased excess risk of death from all causes, and have more than twice the risk of dying from heart disease, compared to men with type 1 diabetes, a large meta-analysis involving more than 200 000 people with…

The depth of chest compressions and the rate at which they were applied make a significant impact on survival and recovery of patients, a review of research by UT Southwestern Medical Center Emergency Medicine physicians shows.Contrary to popular belief, the reviews showed that cardiopulmonary resuscitation…