New research led by clinicians at King

A new analysis concludes that large numbers of patients in advanced stages of kidney disease are inappropriately being prescribed statins to lower their cholesterol

Inflammation has long been considered an integral part of the biological process that leads to deadly scarring in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. New research at National Jewish Health, however, suggests that a little inflammation may also be crucial to the healing and repair processes in the lungs. Elizabeth Redente, PhD, assistant professor of cell biology at National Jewish Health, and her colleagues report that the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α can speed recovery of injured lungs and accelerate the resolution of established fibrosis in a mouse model.

‘The role of inflammation in the development of scarring has been hotly debated in recent years,’ said D
‘Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a relentless, progressive scarring of the lungs for which there is no approved medical therapy. The disease has no known cause and patients generally die within three years of diagnosis. Approximately 40,000 Americans die of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis every year.
Inflammation was long believed to be a precursor and cause of scarring in the lungs. However, anti-inflammatory treatments have shown no positive effect on the progress of the disease. In recent years, some researchers have thought that inflammation may be part of the healing process as well as the scarring of the lungs.

r. Redente.

Several medications can help people with alcohol use disorders maintain abstinence or reduce drinking, according to research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The work provides additional options for clinicians to effectively address this global concern.
Although alcohol use disorders are associated with many health problems, including cancers, stroke and depression, fewer than one-third of people with the disorders receive any treatment and less than 10 percent receive medications to help reduce alcohol consumption.
‘There are many studies that have tried to show whether certain medications can help with alcohol use disorders, but it is a lot of information to digest and many providers do not know what works or doesn

With critical care costs in the U.S. totalling roughly $80-100 billion per year, new research highlights Intensive Care Unit (ICU) telemedicine as key to enabling hospitals and health systems to improve patient care at lower cost. The study, which examined the impact of Philips’ remote Intensive Care Unit (eICU) program on 118,990 critical care patients, across 56 ICUs, 32 hospitals and 19 health systems over a five-year period, demonstrated reductions in both mortality and length of stay. The results were statistically significant on both an unadjusted and severity-adjusted basis. The key findings were that, compared to patients receiving usual ICU care, patients who received their ICU care from a hospital that utilized the eICU program were:
    

• 26% more likely to survive the ICU;
• Discharged from the ICU 20% faster;
• 16% more likely to survive hospitalisation and be discharged;
• Discharged from the hospital 15% faster.

    
“This is the first large-scale study that ties ICU telemedicine to both the improvement of patient outcomes and cost reduction through shorter length of stays in the ICU and hospital, and identifies the processes that achieved greater efficiency,” said Dr. Lilly. “These results point to a significant opportunity to better manage and treat our critical patients in this time of increasing pressure from healthcare reform to deliver high quality and cost-effective care.”  Hospitals and health systems that saw the largest reduction in length of stay and mortality rates were those that excelled in certain components of the program – involving people, technology and processes. As a result, the study revealed the following program design elements common to the most successful ICU telemedicine programs:
    

• Having an intensivist physician perform a remote review of the patient and care plan within one hour of ICU admission;
• Frequent collaborative review and use of performance data provided by the ICU telemedicine program;
• Faster response times to technology-based alerts and alarms for physiological and laboratory value instability;
• Increased rates of adherence to ICU best practices for those that are supported by the ICU telemedicine team;
• Interdisciplinary rounds;
• Institutional ICU committee effectiveness.

Philips Healthcarehttp://tinyurl.com/nbpqnez