Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles

Management Of Pandemic H1N1 In Swine Herds
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), in collaboration with stakeholders, trading partners, and the public and animal health communities, has refined its approach to managing cases of the pandemic H1N1 2009 virus in swine.
generic viagra online
Vietnamese HIV/AIDS Department Announces Funding For Prevention Efforts
Vietnamese officials announced recently that about 678 billion dong, or about $38.7 million, will be allocated for HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in the country in 2009, the VNA/VietnamPlus.com reports. The announcement was made during a press briefing earlier this week held by the Department for HIV/AIDS Prevention and the Vietnam Journalists Association to review Vietnam"s HIV/AIDS efforts in 2008. Health officials at the briefing said that more than 27,000 people living with HIV/AIDS received treatment through one of the 207 district-level clinics put in place last year and that about 6,000 peer educators and health workers distributed information about the disease to 53.8% of the country"s districts.The new funding will help provide antiretroviral treatment to an estimated 32,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. It also will be used to provide post-exposure prophylaxis to health workers. In addition, the funding will allow up to 90% of HIV-positive pregnant women to receive antiretroviral treatment and information about preventing mother-to-child transmission. Last year, 20,260 new HIV cases were reported in Vietnam, of which 7,452 had progressed to AIDS, according to the HIV/AIDS department. The city of Ho Chi Minh reported the largest number of HIV cases with more than 34,000, accounting for more than 25% of the total number of cases in Vietnam (VNA/VietnamPlus.com, 5/12).
News of the day
Amarillo Biosciences And CytoPharm Announce Start Of Enrollment For Hepatitis C Study In Taiwan
Amarillo Biosciences, Inc. (ABI) (OTCBB: AMAR) and CytoPharm, Inc. today jointly announced the start of enrollment for a study of ABI"s oral interferon-alpha lozenges for chronic hepatitis C virus infection. The aim of the trial is to reduce the virologic relapse rate for those patients who have completed the standard combination therapy, which consists of high dose injectable interferon-alpha and Ribavirin. Although most patients respond to the standard therapy, up to 50% of those with certain "high-risk" viral genotypes relapse after treatment.
Medical Devices

Post-Surgery Distress In Children Eased By Hormone Treatment

A scary unknown for many children, the prospect of surgery can cause intense preoperative anxiety. While some amount of stress is normal, what many parents do not know is that extreme anxiety before surgery can contribute to the occurrence of emergence delirium, a distressing incidence of acute behavioral changes experienced when "waking up" from anesthesia. Now in the July issue of Anesthesiology, physicians focused on reducing anxiety in children and their families report that oral treatment with melatonin before surgery can significantly reduce the occurrence of emergence delirium in children. Affecting up to 20 percent of children who undergo surgery, emergence delirium in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) consists of acute behavior changes including crying, thrashing and need for restraint. According to researchers, this can also lead to the development of behavioral changes outside the recovery suite with the onset of nightmares, bed wetting and separation anxiety. "Studies conducted in adults have revealed that oral administration of melatonin before surgery beneficially reduced anxiety levels, but relevant similar treatment data for children undergoing anesthesia and surgery are limited," said study lead author Zeev N. Kain, M.D., MBA, Chair of UC Irvine Anesthesiology and Associate Dean for Clinical Research at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. Seeking confirmation of additional options for anxiety management, researchers first set out to determine if melatonin could decrease anxiety levels when compared to midazolam, a sedative widely used to ease preoperative anxiety. Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland, regulates sleep, moods and reproductive cycles. Secretions of melatonin increase during exposure to light. In a study group that consisted of 148 subjects between the ages of 2 and 8 undergoing outpatient surgery under general anesthesia, children were randomly assigned to receive midazolam or melatonin orally before surgery. Children were followed throughout their surgical experience as researchers measured anxiety and secondary study outcomes of anesthesia administration compliance and emergence behavior. Behaviors were measured using the Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (mYPass), the Induction Compliance Checklist and the Keegan scale. "Results indicated that preoperative melatonin administration did not effectively reduce anxiety levels," said Dr. Kain. "However, it was found that melatonin significantly reduced the incidence of emergence delirium in these children. As 3 million children undergo surgery in the U.S. each year, these findings reveal noteworthy health care and treatment implications." Melatonin showed a direct dose dependent effect on emergence delirium. Children in the melatonin premedication group received any of three doses of melatonin: 0.05 mg/kg, .2 mg/kg and 0.4 mg/kg, while the incidence of delirium at each dose was 25 percent, 8.3 percent and 5.4 percent. Midazolam remains the recommended premedication for anxiety reduction in children scheduled for surgery. Tom Vasich University of California - Irvine


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009