Archive for February, 2012
Joe Elia • February 29th, 2012
In the largest study of its kind, UK researchers find that helping pregnant women to quit smoking until at least delivery isn’t helped much by nicotine replacement therapy. The primary outcome, self-reported cessation lasting between the start of therapy and delivery, differed little between the active treatment group and those randomized to placebo (9% [...]
Joe Elia • February 24th, 2012
Everyone “knows” that colonoscopy reduces risks of death from colorectal cancer, but it’s good to have your knowledge actually verified, and a new bit of research seems to do that in this case. Long-term follow-up of a group of patients who underwent colonoscopy and polypectomy in the 1980s shows that removal of adenomatous polyps [...]
Joe Elia • February 17th, 2012
Current guidelines find no compelling therapeutic benefit to screening for cognitive impairment and dementia in primary care. The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has published some research that, if not compelling, certainly suggests that clinical approaches should change. In actively screening some 8000 veterans over age 70 during routine primary care visits for [...]
Joe Elia • February 13th, 2012
Haplogroups — who knew? Ancient variations in the Y chromosome form what’s known as haplogroups, and haplogroup I is common in Europe, particularly so in northern Europe. Researchers find that “I” is an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease in men, carried as it is on the male-only Y chromosome. Listen in as [...]
Joe Elia • February 3rd, 2012
PPIs are back on our radar, and this time it’s their regular use among postmenopausal women. A BMJ article examines data from the Nurses’ Health Study to show a significantly increased risk for hip fracture among postmenopausal women with any smoking history. Never-smokers showed no statistically significant increase. Now that proton pump inhibitors have [...]
(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
