Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) have developed a new tool to help surgeons use X-rays to track devices used in ‘minimally invasive’ surgical procedures while also limiting the patient
Two novel radiolabelled small molecules targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) have excellent potential for further development as diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals, according to research. The imaging agents
On the list of undesirable medical conditions, a parasitic worm infection surely ranks fairly high. Although modern pharmaceuticals have made them less of a threat in some areas, these organisms are still a major cause of disease and disability throughout much of the developing world.
But parasites are not all bad, according to new research by a team of scientists now at the University of Georgia, the Harvard School of Public Health, the Universit
Researchers at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and the Forsyth Institute published a study today that found that a significant proportion of dental bib clips harboured bacteria from the patient, dental clinician and the environment even after the clips had undergone standard disinfection procedures in a hygiene clinic. Although the majority of the thousands of bacteria found on the bib clips immediately after treatment were adequately eliminated through the disinfection procedure, the researchers found that 40% of the bib clips tested post-disinfection retained one or more aerobic bacteria, which can survive and grow in oxygenated environments. They found that 70% of bib clips tested post-disinfection retained one or more anaerobic bacteria, which do not
‘The study of bib clips from the hygiene clinic demonstrates that with the current disinfection protocol, specific aerobic and anaerobic bacteria can remain viable on the surfaces of bib clips immediately after disinfection,’ said Addy Alt-Holland, M.Sc., Ph.D., Assistant Professor at the Department of Endodontics at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and the lead researcher on the study. ‘Although actual transmission to patients was not demonstrated, some of the ubiquitous bacteria found may potentially become opportunistic pathogens in appropriate physical conditions, such as in susceptible patients or clinicians.’
The study analysed the clips on 20 dental bib holders after they had been used on patients treated in a dental hygiene clinic. The bib clips were sampled for aerobic and anaerobic bacterial contaminants immediately after treatment (post-treatment clips) and again after the clips were cleaned using disinfecting, alcohol-containing wipes (post-disinfection clips) according to the manufacturer instructions and the clinic
Advances in electronic medical record systems and health information exchange are shifting efforts in public health toward greater use of information systems to automate disease surveillance, but a study from the Regenstrief Institute has found that these technologies’ capabilities are under-utilised by those on the front lines of preventing and reporting infections.
The new study measured the awareness, adoption and use of electronic medical record systems and health information exchange by hospital-based infection preventionists (formerly known as infection control professionals) to report and share information critical to public health. Infection preventionists are often responsible for reporting information on patients diagnosed with health-care-acquired infections like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, as well as sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia.
Prior research at Regenstrief and other academic institutions has shown that health information exchange can increase the completeness and timeliness of infection reporting to local and state health agencies. In this study, the researchers found that half of the infection preventionists surveyed were unaware of whether their hospital or health system participated in a health information exchange. Only 10 percent of infection preventionists indicated that their organisations were formally engaged in health information exchange activities.
While 70 percent of infection preventionists surveyed reported access to an electronic medical record system, less than 20 percent were involved in the design, selection or implementation of the system. Without such involvement, those surveyed indicated the information systems often did not include modules or components that supported infection control activities.
‘There is a push from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to reduce hospital-acquired infections and increase the use of electronic health record systems,’ said lead author Brian Dixon, MPA, Ph.D., Regenstrief Institute investigator and assistant professor in the School of Informatics and Computing at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. ‘The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are encouraging local and state health departments to use health information technologies to improve infectious disease reporting and prevention activities. We found that while hospital-based infection preventionists — the people on the front line — may have access to health information technology, they lack specially designed computer tools needed to sift through the massive amounts of data in electronic medical records.
Indiana UniversityA painstaking effort to create a biocompatible patch to heal infant hearts is paying off at Rice University and Texas Children
In a world first, a donated human liver has been ‘kept alive’ outside a human being and then successfully transplanted into a patient in need of a new liver.
So far the procedure has been performed on two patients on the liver transplant waiting list and both are making excellent recoveries.
Currently transplantation depends on preserving donor organs by putting them ‘on ice’
New NICE medical technologies guidance supports the use of a device that can detect atrial fibrillation whilst blood pressure is being measured.
Using WatchBP Home A in the NHS for opportunistically detecting asymptomatic atrial fibrillation during the measurement of blood pressure by primary care professionals, is backed by the NICE guidance. The recommendations note that using WatchBP Home A could increase the detection rate of atrial fibrillation, which would allow preventative treatment to be given to reduce the incidence of atrial fibrillation-related stroke.
The guidance also recommends that WatchBP Home A should be considered for use in people with suspected hypertension (high blood pressure) or those being screened for hypertension in primary care. People with suspected atrial fibrillation should have an electrocardiogram (ECG) in line with NICE clinical guideline 36, Atrial fibrillation.
Hypertension is defined by a consistent blood pressure reading on different occasions of 140/90mmHg or higher. If left untreated, high blood pressure increases the risk of a heart attack or stroke. Atrial fibrillation is a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate, and is the most common heart rhythm disturbance. It can lead to dizziness, shortness of breath and palpitations, but some people have no symptoms and so are not aware that their heart rate is irregular.
The WatchBP Home A device is a blood pressure monitor which automatically detects pulse irregularity that may be caused by symptomatic or asymptomatic atrial fibrillation, whilst it records blood pressure. Blood pressure is taken using a cuff which fits around the upper arm, and which is connected to a small unit which records the reading. The monitor can be used for diagnosing hypertension in a clinical setting with the measurement taken under the supervision of a clinician.
Professor Carole Longson, Director of the NICE Centre for Health Technology Evaluation, said: ‘We are delighted to publish this new guidance supporting the use of Watch BP Home A for picking up atrial fibrillation whilst blood pressure is being measured in some people. The evidence considered by the independent Medical Technologies Advisory Committee (MTAC) indicates that the device can offer advantages in detecting atrial fibrillation opportunistically whilst measuring blood pressure, and that using the device in primary care could increase the detection rate of atrial fibrillation compared with taking the pulse by hand. This would allow preventative treatment to be considered to reduce the incidence of atrial fibrillation-related stroke. The guidance is not about screening for atrial fibrillation, but about the benefits that the device offers in helping to pick up atrial fibrillation by chance in people with suspected high blood pressure or those being screened for high blood pressure, in primary care.
‘Using WatchBP Home A is associated with estimated overall cost savings per person screened of between
The diagnostic system used by many mental health practitioners in the United States
Patients whose severe depression goes into remission for six months following electroconvulsive therapy report a quality of life similar to that of healthy individuals, researchers say.
‘If we can get you into remission, you get this big, big improvement in quality of life at six months such that our patients
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