Patients in hospital who are on antibiotics may benefit from taking probiotics, according to researchers at St. Michael
When a beating heart slips into an irregular, life-threatening rhythm, the treatment is well known: deliver a burst of electric current from a pacemaker or defibrillator. But because the electricity itself can cause pain, tissue damage and other serious side-effects, a Johns Hopkins-led research team wants to replace these jolts with a kinder, gentler remedy: light.
Five biomedical engineers from Johns Hopkins and Stony Brook universities described their plan to use biological lab data and an intricate computer model to devise a better way to heal ailing hearts. Other scientists are already using light-sensitive cells to control certain activities in the brain. The Johns Hopkins-Stony Brook researchers say they plan to give this technique a cardiac twist so that doctors in the near future will be able to use low-energy light to solve serious heart problems such as arrhythmia.
‘Applying electricity to the heart has its drawbacks,’ said the project
Older adults diagnosed with brain disorders such as Parkinson
A new ‘telerehabilitation’ approach lets physical therapists assess patients with low back pain (LBP) over the Internet, with good accuracy compared with face-to-face examinations, reports a study.
Taking advantage of Skype and other widely-used services may make telerehabilitation a more feasible alternative to in-person clinic visits, according to the new research by Prof. Manuel Arroyo-Morales and colleagues of University of Granada, Spain. They believe their results ‘give preliminary support to the implementation of web-based LBP assessment systems using video recordings that can be evaluated by different therapists.’
The researchers designed and evaluated a web-based telerehabilitation system for performing routine clinical assessments of patients with LBP. The telerehabilitation setup operated across a low-bandwidth Internet connection between two personal computers equipped with webcams.
The system included the popular Skype videoconferencing service, allowing the patient and physical therapist could see and talk to each other in real time. The therapist guided the patient in performing specific movements, and captured video clips for analysis using video motion analysis software (Kinovea). The therapist and patient were also able to complete standard back pain questionnaires using the web-based system.
Fifteen patients with chronic LBP underwent two assessments in random order: once face-to-face and once using the telerehabilitation setup. Accuracy was assessed by comparing the results of telerehabilitation assessment with those of in-person assessment.
The results showed good agreement between the two evaluations, supporting the use of telerehabilitation for clinical assessment of LBP. There was good correlation for measures made on video motion analysis, such as spine mobility and back muscle endurance; as well as questionnaire-based assessments such as disability, pain, and health-related quality of life.
The telerehabilitation setup showed consistent results for the same therapist at different times (intra-rater reliability) as well as for assessment by independent therapists (inter-rater reliability).
There is growing interest in Internet-based systems for assessment of patients with musculoskeletal disorders. Telerehabilitation approaches could be especially valuable for patient in rural or remote areas, who don’t have easy access to healthcare providers.
In the past, the use of telerehabilitation was limited by high equipment costs. The new study shows the successful use of telerehabilitation using widely available and familiar technology, including the use of free software such as Skype.
The telerehabilitation system evaluated in the new study may be useful in assessing patients with the very common problem of LBP, showing good agreement with the results of face-to-face assessment. However, there are still some factors limiting more widespread use
It is possible to see how advanced a bowel cancer is by looking at its metabolic ‘fingerprint’, according to new research.
Bowel cancer is the third most common type of cancer globally, with over one million new cases diagnosed every year. Accurately determining the stage that a tumour has reached is crucial for deciding which treatments to offer.
Metabolic fingerprinting looks at the levels of many different metabolites, which are the products of chemical reactions in the body
For less than $100, University of Washington researchers have designed a computer-interfaced drawing pad that helps scientists see inside the brains of children with learning disabilities while they read and write.
‘Scientists needed a tool that allows them to see in real time what a person is writing while the scanning is going on in the brain,’ said Thomas Lewis, director of the centre
Allergy shots are commonly used to treat children with severe environmental allergies and asthma, but under-the-tongue drops may offer yet another beneficial – and stick-free – option for pediatric allergy sufferers, according to a Johns Hopkins Children’s Center review of existing scientific evidence.
The new research comes on the heels of another recent Hopkins study, which showed that oral drops provide a safe and effective alternative for adult allergy sufferers.
The new review, is an analysis of 34 previously published clinical trials and suggests that both drops and injections work well in alleviating the bothersome symptoms of allergic rhinitis and asthma, the research team says. In addition to being better tolerated by needle-averse children, the oral treatment can be given at home, sparing the family a visit to the doctor’s office.
‘Our findings suggest the needle-free approach is a reasonable way to provide much needed relief to millions of children who suffer from asthma or seasonal allergies,’ says lead author Julia Kim, M.D., M.P.H., a pediatric research fellow at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
Allergy shots, which contain tiny amounts of proteins found in environmental allergens such as dust mites and pollen, are a standard treatment for severe seasonal allergies in children who do not get relief from medication. However, under-the-tongue drops are not approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and are only offered off label by some physicians. The needle-free approach, however, is widely available in Europe, where patients are commonly treated with sublingual pills and drops, the researchers say.
The findings, Kim notes, are encouraging enough to prompt a second look at oral drops as a treatment option.
The Hopkins researchers first looked at 13 studies that involved 920 children and compared the efficacy of allergy injections to either placebo or standard allergy medication. Overall, the researchers found that injections provide better symptom relief than placebo and standard medication for children with asthma or allergic rhinitis. The team next analyzed 18 trials involving 1,580 children treated with oral-drop therapy, placebo or standard medication for asthma and rhinitis or either condition alone. In this group, the researchers also found that oral drops provided superior relief of asthma symptoms, compared with patients who got the placebo and/or standard drugs. Oral drops also provided better symptom relief than placebo or standard medication in children with allergic rhinitis or rhino-conjunctivitis, a condition marked by runny nose and itchy, red and swollen eyes.
Only three of the 34 studies in the review directly compared shots and drops and, the investigators say, more head-to-head comparisons may shed better light on the comparative effectiveness of the two treatments. However, the researchers add, the results of the 31 remaining studies they looked at indicate both oral drops and allergy shots can successfully rid children of coughing, sneezing, runny noses, itchy eyes and wheezing.
The three studies that directly compared injections versus oral drops for symptom relief of dust mite-induced asthma and rhinitis showed no strong evidence that children given shots fared better than children who got oral drops, Kim said.
Both treatments, overall, caused relatively mild side effects, such as itching of the mouth, skin rashes or wheezing. A single severe reaction was reported following an injection.
Johns Hopkins Children
Cancer patients who receive chest radiation should be screened for heart disease every 5-10 years, according to the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE).
Professor Patrizio Lancellotti, chair of the expert task force and president of the EACVI, said:
Strokes occur when a brain clot blocks blood flow in parts of the brain, essentially starving groups of neurons of oxygen, which is necessary for normal function. Nearly 130,000 of the 795,000 strokes Americans suffer annually result in death, accounting for roughly 5% of deaths in the U.S. The remaining 665,000 stroke patients suffer a wide variety of side effects ranging from complete loss of motor function to loss of speech to a catatonic state. Because of the horrific nature of these cerebrovascular events and their consequences, many clinical researchers focus on prevention, rehabilitation and restoration of function for stroke victims.
A technique developed through these efforts utilises transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to improve language function in stroke patients with chronic aphasia. Patients who have undergone this procedure have previously reached a plateau in their ability to produce fluent language, despite signs of understanding and frustration at their inability to communicate.
‘The heart of our work is to use non-invasive brain stimulation
A group of oncologists have revealed in a new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers that communicating about death and dying with their patients is one of the most difficult and stressful parts of their work.
In the United States, 577,190 deaths from cancer occurred in 2012, according to the American Cancer Society.
The paper reported that despite this important element of their work, oncologists receive little training in this area, and many do not communicate well with patients. The research included interviews with doctors about what they found difficult and what they believed they did well.
‘To our knowledge, this is the first qualitative exploration of communication about the end of life from an oncologist
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