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Rita Ora wears the same silver suit as Laura Whitmore - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’tsContinue reading...
Friday, May 24, 2013
Rita Ora V Laura Whitmore
Rita Ora wears the same silver suit as Laura Whitmore - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’tsContinue reading...
Fewer Patients Awake During Operations
March 14, 2013 -- Being aware of what's going on during an operation under general anesthesia sounds scary. The good news is a new study suggests it happens less often than had been thought.
Previous research has found that about 1 in 500 patients is aware or awake under general anaesthesia. The new report, from the U.K.'s Royal College of Anaesthetists, finds it is far less common, about 1 case in 15,000.Researchers also found that even where brain monitoring equipment is available, fewer than 2% of anesthesiologists routinely use it to check the effectiveness of the anesthetic.
The findings come from the biggest study of its kind. It surveyed 7,125 anesthesiologists and coordinators at 329 hospitals across the U.K.
There were 153 cases of "accidental awareness" reported in 2011:
30% happened during surgery.23% happened after surgery but before the full recovery time.47% happened after anesthesia has begun but before surgery had started.Awareness during surgery was more likely to lead to pain or distress.
"Waking up during surgery is a fear," says researcher Jaideep Pandit, DPhil, a consultant anaesthetist at Oxford University Hospitals in the U.K. "It's a legitimate fear."
He hopes the study will calm some concerns: "Anything to use data to be reassuring is always a good thing."
He admits some under-reporting is possible in the study. Anesthesiologists may have forgotten how many awareness cases they'd seen. Since anesthesiologists don't routinely see patients after operations, they may not always learn about the awareness report. Sometimes patients may forget the incident or think it is too trivial to mention.
How do patients describe the experience of being aware during an operation? These vary greatly, from "the very, very severe adverse experiences of a combination of pain, paralysis, terror," Pandit says, to anecdotal reports of patients almost being fascinated by what's happening around them: "Completely unconcerned and untroubled and almost interested in the proceedings."
He and colleagues are planning more research to focus on patient experiences. "Even for someone who reports they are not particularly bothered by it, at the very least it must be surprising for them."
Brain monitoring systems have been in use the U.K. for about 10 years. The monitors help check that a patient really is under the anesthetic. Pandit says these are available in about two-thirds of hospitals, but even where they are supplied, most anesthesiologists don’t use them. "One would have hoped that if the profession is doing what it wants to do, which is keep people asleep, and there is a monitor that they believe in, that they would of course use it."
There's a debate over how useful the monitors are, and some research suggests they don't appear to help lessen the numbers of people being awake during surgery.
Pandit says it isn’t clear why some people wake up during a procedure while others don't, although it is possible the drugs used for anesthesia have a different effect on different people. "We know that's true of other drugs. Be it antidepressants or cardiovascular drugs or cancer drugs. They don’t all have the same effect in people," he says. "Some people get side effects and some people don't."
Public Funding Spurs Couples to Seek Fertility Treatment
After Quebec mandated IVF coverage, study found change in patient demographics
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay ReporterWEDNESDAY, May 15 (HealthDay News) -- Public funding of assisted reproductive technology, including in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments, broadens the range of couples who seek treatment for infertility by attracting a more diverse population, according to new research from Canada.
When the province of Quebec began to fund up to three cycles of IVF in August 2010, researchers compared patients who sought that treatment before and after the mandate.
Afterward, "we found larger numbers of lower income, less well-educated, unemployed people seeking fertility treatment," said Phyllis Zelkowitz, director of research in the department of psychiatry and senior investigator at the Lady Davis Institute of the Jewish General Hospital, in Montreal.
The study is published in the May 16 New England Journal of Medicine.
For the study, Zelkowitz and her colleagues compared data on nearly 3,600 couples. Of those, 436 sought treatment before the policy change, 821 immediately after and 2,316 eight months after the policy change.
The investigators found the proportion of treated couples with college degrees declined from 68 percent to 63 percent eight months later. Unemployed couples seeking treatment rose from 3.6 percent to 11.6 percent. And the proportion of patients with household incomes of $65,000 a year or less increased from about 37 percent to more than 47 percent.
For white couples, the proportion dropped from about 67 percent to 63 percent in the eight-month period, after rising immediately after the policy change.
Zelkowitz also found the rate of couples seeking treatment for secondary infertility doubled from 14 percent to 29 percent. Secondary infertility means being unable to get pregnant or carry a pregnancy to term after having one or more biological children.
The mandated policy change came with stipulations, Zelkowitz said. It approved coverage for up to three treatment cycles of IVF. It mandated the transfer of only one embryo per treatment cycle, with a goal of reducing preterm births, she noted.
Preterm births are more common with multiple pregnancies and are riskier to the babies, experts agree.
"One of the goals of the funding was to reduce preterm births, and they have already done that," Zelkowitz said.
The study findings are in conflict with earlier U.S. studies, which have shown that even when patients have access to public funding for assisted reproductive technology, barriers continue to exist, including social, economic and ethnic obstacles. As a result, these earlier studies suggested, the typical patients remain older, wealthier, more-educated white couples.
In the United States, infertility affects about one of eight women of reproductive age and their partners, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
Currently, 15 states have passed laws that mandate insurers to cover or offer coverage for infertility diagnosis and treatment, but some states exclude coverage for IVF.
A Little Formula Might Help Breast-Feeding for Some Babies
Early study looked at newborns who were losing weight
By Robert Preidt
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, May 13 (HealthDay News) -- Giving small amounts of infant formula to newborns who experience significant weight loss can increase the length of time that they are breast-fed, according to a new study.
New mothers do not immediately produce high volumes of milk and their babies can lose weight during this period, said the researchers from the University of California, San Francisco.
"Many mothers develop concerns about their milk supply, which is the most common reason they stop breast-feeding in the first three months," study author Dr. Valerie Flaherman, an assistant professor of pediatrics and epidemiology and biostatistics, said in a university news release.
"But this study suggests that giving those babies a little early formula may ease those concerns and enable them to feel confident continuing to breast-feed," added Flaherman, who also is a pediatrician at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital.
Flaherman and her colleagues looked at 40 full-term newborns between 24 and 48 hours old who had lost more than 5 percent of their birth weight. Some babies received early limited formula consisting of one-third of an ounce of infant formula by syringe after each breast-feeding session. The babies stopped receiving the formula when their mothers began producing adequate volumes of milk, about two to five days after birth.
The babies in the early-limited-formula group were compared to a control group of infants whose mothers tried to breast-feed only.
After one week, all the babies in both groups were still breast-feeding, but only 10 percent of those in the early-limited-formula group had received formula in the past 24 hours, compared with 47 percent of those in the control group.
After three months, 79 percent of the babies in the early-limited-formula group were still breast-feeding, compared with 42 percent of those in the control group, according to the study, published online May 13 and in an upcoming print issue of the journal Pediatrics.
The researchers said their findings need to be confirmed in larger studies, a point also made by an expert who wasn't involved in the study.
"The results of this study are provocative and challenge conventional wisdom," Dr. James Taylor, medical director for the University of Washington Medical Center's Newborn Nursery, said in the news release.
Kate Moss reads Fifty Shades of Grey for Comic Relief
Kate Moss read a chapter from erotic novel Fifty Shades Of Grey, after Radio 1 listeners pledged £200K in for Comic Relief.Continue reading...
Dianna Agron at the Hollywood Reporter luncheon
Dianna Agron wears a printed Oday Shaker dress and Jimmy Choo peep-toe heels at the Hollywood Reporter luncheonContinue reading...
New Drug May Help Immune System Fight Cancer
Early study found tumor reduction in several forms of the disease
By Brenda Goodman
HealthDay ReporterTHURSDAY, May 16 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental drug that taps the power of the body's immune system to fight cancer is shrinking tumors in patients for whom other treatments have failed, an early study shows.
The drug binds to a protein called PD-L1 that sits on the surface of cancer cells and makes them invisible to the immune system, almost like a cloaking device.
"That [the protein] allows the tumor cell to grow unchecked and cause harm to the patient," said study author Dr. Roy Herbst, chief of medical oncology at Yale University.
But with the protein blocked, the immune system can see and destroy cancer cells.
Of 140 patients in the pilot safety study, 29 (or 21 percent) initially saw significant tumor shrinkage after at least three months on the medication. Researchers say 26 patients have continued to respond over time, including some who have been on the drug for more than a year. One patient saw tumors disappear completely.
The drug also seems to work on a wide range of cancers, including some of the toughest to treat, including non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma skin cancer, colorectal cancer, kidney cancer and stomach cancer.
"This has all the characteristics of a really amazing drug," said Herbst, who has been testing new cancer medications for two decades. "I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen response rates like this."
The study was funded by Genentech/Roche, the company that is developing the drug. The results were presented at a Wednesday news conference organized by the American Society of Clinical Oncology in advance of its annual meeting, which starts May 31 in Chicago.
Study results presented at medical meetings are considered preliminary because they have not been subjected to the rigorous scrutiny required for publication in a medical journal.
At least four other companies -- Merck, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, MedImmune and Amplimmune -- also are racing to develop drugs that target PD-L1 or the molecule that binds to it (PD-1).
"I don't think in the history of cancer therapy have you had five or more companies virtually simultaneously developing antibodies targeted at the same pathway," said Dr. Drew Pardoll, co-director of cancer immunology at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, in Baltimore.
Pardoll is testing a drug that targets PD-1 for Bristol-Myers Squibb. He was not involved in the current study.
The drugs are part of a wave of new treatments that work by spurring the immune system to take on tumors. These drugs are building on the successes of medications like Provenge, the first cancer immunotherapy, which was approved in 2010 to treat prostate tumors, and Yervoy, which was approved in 2011 to treat metastatic melanoma.
Kourtney Kardashian out in LA
Kourtney Kardashian wears a striped top, Bermuda shorts and a red waist belt out in LA - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’tsContinue reading...
Miranda Kerr involved in car crash
Procedure for Incontinence in Women May Lose Effectiveness With Time
In 7-year study, failure rate for pelvic organ prolapse surgery gradually increased
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay ReporterTUESDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) -- The success of a common surgery for pelvic organ prolapse -- a painful and distressing condition affecting many women -- lessens over time, according to a new study.
Abdominal sacrocolpopexy is a procedure used to relieve the problem. It involves stitching a piece of mesh on the top of the vagina and attaching it to a strong ligament from the back of the pelvic bone. This surgery helps to support the pelvic organs.
But the new study found that with each passing year, the rate of pelvic organ prolapse surgery failure increased. The rate of mesh erosion (the primary material used to provide support) reached 10.5 percent by seven years after surgery.
The study also found that the risk of urinary incontinence rose with each year after the surgery.
"This is the longest follow-up of a common operation for women with pelvic organ prolapse. We found that pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence rates increased gradually over follow-up," said study author Dr. Linda Brubaker, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and urology at Loyola University Medical Center.
Even though surgeons might define a procedure as a failure, many of the patients did not. Only about 17 percent of women had additional pelvic floor surgeries, according to the study.
Pelvic organ prolapse leads to surgery in 7 percent to 19 percent of women, according to study background information. Normally, muscles, ligaments and connective tissue keep all of the pelvic organs where they're supposed to be. But, weakness or tears in these supportive tissues can allow pelvic organs, such as the uterus and vagina, to protrude through the vaginal opening.
This can lead to problems with pelvic organs, according to the American Urogynecologic Society. For example, if the bowel is protruding, constipation or fecal incontinence can result. If the bladder is affected, urinary incontinence may occur.
As to why these surgeries might fail, Brubaker said, "surgeries don't stop time. Women continue to age and the underlying biology continues. Patients may gain weight, too," added Brubaker, who is also dean of the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
Results of the study are published in the May 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Each year, as many as 225,000 American women have surgery for pelvic organ prolapse, the study authors noted. However, very little long-term follow-up data is available on the success of these procedures, Brubaker said. Most studies only follow women for two years.
The current study included seven years of follow-up. Abdominal sacrocolpopexy isn't the only procedure available for pelvic organ prolapse, but it is commonly used. And, in more recent years, the surgery is being done laparoscopically, so it's less invasive.
The Foo Fighters at South By SouthWest Festival
Browse through Glamour's extensive daily celebrity photo gallery online today. Check out what your favourite celebrity has been up to!Continue reading...
I'm 87 pounds trying to get to at least 115
I'm 20 years old 5'2 and 87 pounds. Although my figure is petite I am underweight and am desperate to gain weight. Lately I've lost my appetite by just looking at myself in the mirror and seeing no improvement. I tried taking the CB1 weight gaining pill and it did not work. I've been seeing a nutritionist and we're constantly trying to work out a meal plan but nothing works. I'm healthy and all but just a very picky eater. Can someone give me some advice as to what I should do
Emma Roberts on the street in LA
Emma Roberts wears a red lace dress and red ballerina flats on the street in LA - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’tsContinue reading...
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