ACL reconstruction technique improves outcomes in pediatric patients

---

• ACL reconstruction technique improves outcomes in pediatric patients
• Bihar to provide sanitary napkins at nominal price
• $4.7 million study looks at why diabetes makes heart disease worse
• 1 in 5 women with breast cancer has a reoperation after breast conserving surgery
• Many more elderly people could benefit from drugs to prevent heart disease
• Raigad woman delivers baby boy, despite huge tumours
• Oral contraceptive use in girls and alcohol consumption in boys are associated with increased BP....
• University of Nottingham computer program helps Asian students understand regional accents
• Down on the cacao farm: Sloths thrive at chocolate's source
• Got milk? Climate change means stressed cows in southern US may have less

ACL reconstruction technique improves outcomes in pediatric patients Posted: 13 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A new study demonstrates the superiority of a specific technique to perform anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction in children. In recent years, the number of ACL surgeries in pediatric athletes has skyrocketed. The study, conducted by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City, shows that a technique called the All-Inside, All-Epiphyseal ACL Reconstruction (AE) provides great knee stability and effectively controls joint stress. The AE technique is not available except in a few select centers around the country including HSS, said Frank Cordasco, M.D., surgical director of the Ambulatory Surgery Center and member of the Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service at HSS. We believe the AE should be the preferred procedure for ACL reconstruction in the skeletally immature. The study will be presented on July 13 at the annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), held in Baltimore. Twenty years ago, very few children or adolescents presented at doctors' offices with ACL injuries. Today, these injuries are common because children and young adolescents are participating in sports earlier in life and at a higher level of competition. Young athletes are also increasingly specializing in one sport, putting them at risk for overuse injuries once only seen in professional athletes. In addition, since the Title IX ban on sex discrimination in school sports, the number of female athletes has increased and females are more prone to ACL injury. Performing ACL reconstruction in patients who are still growing is difficult. The ACL can be thought of as a rope that connects the thighbone to the shinbone. The rounded ends of the thighbone and shinbone are called epiphyses and the ACL dangles between them. Open growth plates are located directly behind the epiphyses in children and adolescents, but not in adults. In an adult ACL reconstruction, the torn ligament is removed from the... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Bihar to provide sanitary napkins at nominal price Posted: 12 Jul 2012 08:55 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Patna, July 12 - Bihar will provide sanitary napkins at a nominal cost in rural areas of its 10 districts to raise awareness about menstrual health and hygiene among the women, an official said. A bundle of five packs of sanitary napkins at Rs.6 each will be given to women in rural areas of 10 districts under the Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health - scheme, which is a part of the National Rural Health Mission, Sanjay Kumar, executive director of the State Health Society, said here Thursday. Kumar said the scheme would soon be launched in Vaishali, Aurangabad, Rohtas, Kaimur, Bhojpur, Buxar, Saran, Darbhanga, Munger and Gaya districts. He added that in Vaishali, the napkins would be manufactured by a self-help group, while in other districts these would be produced by Hindustan Latex Limited, the country's largest producer of condoms. Majority of adolescent girls in rural areas are unaware about the means to deal with menstruation, which is linked with several misconceptions and practices that result in adverse social and health outcomes, experts add. Studies show that only two percent of women in rural India use sanitary napkins. Majority of them use cloth which is washed and often stored in humid conditions -, resulting in repeated infections, experts said. Poor availability of sanitary napkins in rural areas is also a big issue, as companies making them do not supply them in good amount due to lack of demand. http://www.rxpgnews.com

$4.7 million study looks at why diabetes makes heart disease worse Posted: 12 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received a $4.7 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to investigate heart disease in patients with diabetes. Diabetes is an incredibly common problem, says Jean E. Schaffer, MD, the Virginia Minnich Distinguished Professor of Medicine. It affects a huge swath of the population. Importantly, people with diabetes don't just have a metabolic disorder. They develop complications in many organs. And one of the most deadly complications is heart disease. We're particularly interested in why people with diabetes suffer from unusually severe forms of heart disease. For reasons not fully understood, people with diabetes are more likely to develop blockages in arteries. After a heart attack, the course of the subsequent heart disease is more aggressive than in people without diabetes. And even independent of blocked arteries, there is evidence that their hearts do not function like those of individuals without diabetes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 26 million Americans are living with type 2 diabetes and another 79 million with undiagnosed diabetes or pre-diabetes, a condition that increases their risk of developing the full-blown variety. With such statistics, it is becoming increasingly important to explore the reasons behind the aggressive progress of cardiovascular disease in patients whose bodies do not properly regulate blood sugar. Schaffer and her colleagues suspect a likely culprit is abnormal lipid metabolism. Lipids are a class of molecules that include fats, such as fatty acids and triglycerides. Past studies have shown that patients with diabetes store higher levels of these lipids in their heart muscle, likely impairing cardiac function. These lipids appear to lead to inflammation and can also damage important parts of heart cells, such as proteins and DNA, leading to heart muscle... http://www.rxpgnews.com

1 in 5 women with breast cancer has a reoperation after breast conserving surgery Posted: 12 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Research: Reoperation rates after breast conserving surgery for breast cancer among women in England: retrospective study of hospital episode statistics One in five women with breast cancer who opt for breast conserving surgery rather than a mastectomy have a reoperation, according to a national study published on bmj.com today. This information on the risk of reoperation should help women in making the decision about whether to undergo breast conserving surgery or mastectomy. 45,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in England and in 2008, 58% chose to have part of the breast removed (breast conserving surgery) rather than the whole breast (mastectomy). When combined with radiotherapy, breast conserving surgery produces similar survival rates to those achieved with mastectomy alone. But because some tumours are difficult to detect, breast conserving surgery may result in their inadequate removal and lead to another operation. This reoperation may involve another breast conserving operation or a mastectomy. Few studies have examined breast conserving surgery reoperation rates and there is uncertainty about how likely women are to require one. So researchers from around the UK looked at data collected from the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database on 55,297 women with breast cancer who underwent breast conserving surgery in the NHS between 2005 and 2008. All women were aged 16 or over. Rates of reoperation were looked at after three months following the first breast conserving surgery. Rates were adjusted for tumour type, age, co-morbidity and socio-economic deprivation. Out of the 55,297 women who underwent breast conserving surgery, 45,793 (82%) were suffering from isolated invasive cancer, 6622 (12%) had isolated carcinoma in-situ (pre-cancerous disease), and 2882 (6%) had both invasive and in-situ disease. Reoperation was more likely among women with carcinoma in-situ disease (29.5%) compared to... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Many more elderly people could benefit from drugs to prevent heart disease Posted: 12 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Research: Impact of age and sex on primary preventative treatment for cardiovascular disease in the West Midlands, UK: cross sectional study. More patients aged 75 and over should be prescribed drugs to help lower their risk of cardiovascular disease, a study published today on bmj.com suggests. The researchers argue that older people are being largely ignored by current guidance, yet as the population ages, greater use of these drugs could reduce disability and prolong healthy life expectancy. Cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, heart attack and heart failure are the principal cause of death in the UK and around the world. Drugs that help to lower blood pressure (antihypertensives) and cholesterol levels (statins) are safe and effective, yet current guidelines for preventing cardiovascular disease focus only on people aged 40-74 years. Previous studies focusing on patients with existing cardiovascular disease have also found that patients are less likely to receive preventative treatment the older they get, despite the fact that the risk of developing cardiovascular disease increases with age. So a team of researchers from the University of Birmingham and the University of Oxford studied 36,679 patients aged 40 and over from 19 general practices in the West Midlands, to establish whether age and sex impact on prescriptions for antihypertensives and statins. None of the patients had a history of cardiovascular disease at the start of the study. Results show that the likelihood of using antihypertensive medication increased with every five years but started to decline after the age of 85. Patients aged 75 and over had the highest use overall (56%) and women were 10% more likely to be taking antihypertensives than men. The likelihood of using statin medication also increased with every five years but decreased with every five years after the age of 75, although 23% of all patients aged 75 and over were taking statins. Those... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Raigad woman delivers baby boy, despite huge tumours Posted: 11 Jul 2012 11:23 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Mumbai, July 11 - A team of medicos from the civic-run Sion Hospital saved the life and first pregnancy of a 22-year-old woman who suffered from massive fibroids since the first two months after conceiving, an official said here Wednesday. The patient - Meera - - hailed from Uran, Raigad district and medicos discovered multiple, large uterine fibroids in her first pregnancy's eighth week, the largest measuring 13x11x8 cms. It is usually difficult for a woman to conceive when there are cervical fibroids obstructing the uterine canal. Yet, this woman had conceived spontaneously within the first few months of her marriage, said Y.S. Nandawar, who headed the medical team handling the patient. He admitted that continuing such a pregnancy was fraught with other problems like increased risk of abortion, severe bleeding, pre-term labour, increase in the size of fibroids, difficult labour, risk of hysterectomy and ante-partum and post-partum haemorrhage. Nandanwar said that these complications can be often life threatening and the patient as well the doctors faced the dilemma of possible complications during termination of the pregnancy, loss of uterus and probably infertility, and complications of continuing the pregnancy. However, we finally decided to continue the pregnancy in consultation with her family, and she was admitted to hospital till the 14th week of her pregnancy. After carefully monitoring her condition, she was re-admitted from the eighth month to prepare for the delivery, Nandanwar said. She underwent elective classical Ceasarean section, first removing the fibroid tumours and then the rest of the surgical procedures. Much to the joy of the mother, her family and the medical team, a healthy baby boy, weighing 3 kgs, was delivered July 4, Nandanwar said. Caesarean Myomectomy - is an exception as this surgery is complicated by severe torrential life-threatening bleeding and increase in patient morbidity, he... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Oral contraceptive use in girls and alcohol consumption in boys are associated with increased BP.... Posted: 11 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Lifestyle behaviour in adolescents may adversely affect blood pressure and cardiovascular risk in adulthood, according to results from a large pregnancy follow-up study in Australia.(1) In particular, alcohol consumption among boys, use of the Pill among girls, and high salt intake and increasing body mass index (BMI) in both sexes were important factors linked to blood pressure levels in late adolescence. The substantial differences in blood pressure found in the study between those with a healthier or less favourable lifestyle are likely to significantly affect their risk of both ischemic heart disease and stroke in adulthood, the investigators warn. They add that adolescence is a time of life when behaviours tend to become entrenched, and that significant public health benefits may be achieved from implementation of a range of gender-appropriate lifestyle modifications within this age group of adolescents. Behind the warnings lie results from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study, in which the 2868 live births of 2900 pregnant women enrolled in 1989 in Perth were followed up at 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 14 and 17 years of age; by then, 1771 adolescents were available for the study. At that time study subjects were asked about alcohol consumption, smoking, physical activity, prescription medications (including the use of oral contraceptives), and dietary patterns, and the association between each of these factors and systolic and diastolic blood pressure was calculated.(2) Boys had an overall systolic blood pressure 9 mmHg higher than girls not taking the Pill. Among the boys, systolic blood pressure was significantly associated with BMI, urinary sodium (as a marker of salt intake) and alcohol consumption. And even when adjusted for BMI, the link with alcohol and salt remained. The study also found that habitual physical activity was associated with lower diastolic blood pressure. Using adult blood pressure... http://www.rxpgnews.com

University of Nottingham computer program helps Asian students understand regional accents Posted: 11 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Researchers at The University of Nottingham have developed a unique computer program that helps Asian students to improve their understanding of accented English speech in noisy environments. The team of researchers from the Schools of Psychology, Education, and English, recognised that some Asian students find it difficult to understand the range of different English accents spoken. They identified that some Asian students have particular difficulties with differentiating sounds at the end (e.g. rope versus robe) and start (e.g. tin versus thin) of spoken English words. This can make continuous speech difficult to follow, as misunderstanding just one word can potentially change the whole interpretation of a sentence. The difficulties are also magnified in non-optimal listening situations such as on a telephone or in places such as shopping centres, where there can be a lot of ambient noise. To solve the problem, they developed a computerised Spoken English Discrimination (SED) training program which trains Chinese speakers how to detect differences in speech sounds in adverse conditions, such as accented speech or in situations where there are a number of sounds in the background. Recognising the commercial potential for SED, the research team secured development money for the project, firstly through the European (ERDF) funded Innovation Fellowship and more recently via the University's own Hermes Fellowship scheme. The funding awards have enabled the team to develop the product, assess the market demand and identify business collaboration opportunities. The research team was led by Nicola Pitchford and Walter van Heuven from the School of Psychology. Commenting on the outcomes of the project, Nicola said: Our findings have shown that SED training really does have a significant impact in enabling Asian students to differentiate between sounds. There has already been interest in the program from government organisations,... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Down on the cacao farm: Sloths thrive at chocolate's source Posted: 11 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) MADISON -- Like many Neotropical fauna, sloths are running out of room to maneuver. As forests in South and Central America are cleared for agriculture and other human uses, populations of these arboreal leaf eaters, which depend on large trees for both food and refuge, can become isolated and at risk. But one type of sustainable agriculture, shade grown cacao plantations, a source of chocolate, could become critical refuges and bridges between intact forests for the iconic animals. In an ongoing study in Costa Rica, wildlife biologists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison are using a complex of intact tropical forest, pasture, banana and pineapple plantations -- all connected by a large shade-grown cacao farm -- as a field laboratory to explore the ecology of two species of sloths in a rapidly changing environment. We know a lot about sloth physiology, says Jonathan Pauli, a UW-Madison assistant professor of wildlife ecology who, with colleague Zach Peery, has established a sloth study on a private cacao farm in rural Costa Rica. But when it comes to sloth ecology and behavior, we know almost nothing. It's a giant black box. But some of that mystery is now being peeled away as studies by the Wisconsin team of both the brown-throated three-toed sloth and Hoffmann's two-toed sloth, two fairly common species, are yielding new insights into their mating habits and how the animals transit the landscape. The fact that sloths require forested habitat and are sedentary makes them vulnerable to the deforestation common to many parts of Central and South America, notes Peery, also a UW-Madison assistant professor of wildlife ecology. Once a tract of tropical forest has been cleared, sloths have relatively little capacity to seek out new habitats. The setting Pauli and Peery are using to study sloths is increasingly representative of the Central American landscape. It is a mix of tropical forest, pasture, banana and pineapple... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Got milk? Climate change means stressed cows in southern US may have less Posted: 11 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Cows are happy in parts of Northern California and not in Florida is a good way to sum up the findings of new research from the University of Washington, said Yoram Bauman, best known as the stand-up economist. Bauman and colleagues found that the decline in milk production due to climate change will vary across the U.S., since there are significant differences in humidity and how much the temperature swings between night and day across the country. For instance, the humidity and hot nights make the Southeast the most unfriendly place in the country for dairy cows. Their study combined high-resolution climate data and county-level dairy industry data with a method for figuring out how weather affects milk production. The result is a more detailed report than previous studies and includes a county-by-county assessment -- that will be available to farmers -- of the impact climate change will have on Holstein milk production in the U.S. through 2080. Bauman, who contributed to the research while teaching for the UW's Program on the Environment and is now a fellow at the Sightline Institute, will present the findings during this week's Conference on Climate Change, held on the UW campus. Scientists and the dairy industry have long known about and studied the impact of heat stress on cows' milk production. Using U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, if you look at milk production in the Southeast versus the Northwest, it's very different, said Guillaume Mauger, a postdoctoral researcher in the UW's Climate Impacts Group and co-author of the paper. It's reasonable to assume that some of that is due to the inhospitable environment for cows in the Southeast. Previous research into how climate affects cow milk production in the U.S. was either limited in geographic scope or was too simplistic, ignoring the impact of humidity, for instance. But by using detailed climate data covering night and day across the entire country,... http://www.rxpgnews.com

You are subscribed to email updates from RxPG News : Latest Medical, Healthcare and Research News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610