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Clinical Times: September 2007

Preservative toxicity is a common problem in ophthalmology

28 September 2007 | Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat

Almost all ocular medications on the market contain preservatives and most of these preservatives have a detergent effect on the ocular tissues. Many negative effects result, including decreased tear film goblet cell density and reduced access of trophic factors to... Read more

Pill could reduce risk of cancers

BMJ | 28 September 2007 | Cancer, Women's Health

Taking the contraceptive pill does not increase a woman’s chances of developing cancer and may reduce the risk, according to a study. However, there was an increased risk for women who used it for more than eight years. Researchers from... Read more

Advances in ophthalmic surgery

Prof Michael O'Keeffe | 28 September 2007 | Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat

In the last 50 years all medical specialties have experienced advances in knowledge and improvement in treatment. In some specialties the advancements have been dramatic and I believe ophthalmology is a good example of this. In the past 30 years... Read more

Experts propose cholesterol tests for children as young as 15 mths

BMJ | 28 September 2007 | Cardiovascular

Children could have their cholesterol levels tested at about 15 months of age to prevent heart disease later in life, according to leading UK doctors. Researchers at Barts and the London Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry analysed published... Read more

'Can do better' on salt levels in food

28 September 2007 | Nutrition

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has stressed that recent labelling laws governing claims on salt content in foods will be beneficial for consumers, as manufacturers will have to abide to minimum salt levels to be able to state... Read more

Vagina used to access gall-bladder

Archives of Surgery 2007;142:823-827 | 28 September 2007 | Women's Health

French surgeons have managed to successfully remove a woman’s gall-bladder through her vagina, according to a new report. During this three-hour long operation, the first of its kind, surgeons at the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, performed a cholecystectomy through... Read more

Tadalafil for treatment of erectile dysfunction after spinal cord injury

Archives of Neurology | 21 September 2007 | Men's Health, Mental Health & CNS

The drug Tadalafil appears to improve erectile function in men with spinal cord injuries, according to a new study. Doctors led by French colleagues conducted a randomised, double-blind study of tadalafil in 197 men with spinal cord injuries.... Read more

Vitamin D supplements are linked to lower risk of death

Archives of Internal Medicine | 21 September 2007 | Nutrition

Individuals who take vitamin D supplements appear to have a lower risk of death from any disease over an average follow-up time of six-years, according to a meta-analysis of 18 previously published studies. Studies previously suggested that deficiencies in vitamin... Read more

Being moderately overweight is an independent risk for heart disease

Archives of Internal Medicine | 21 September 2007 | Cardiovascular

Being moderately overweight or obese appears to increase the risk for developing coronary heart disease events independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies. Doctors led by Dutch colleagues combined data from 21 previous... Read more

The debate continues over ESAs

21 September 2007 | Genito-urinary

Anaemia is one of the most frequent complications of haemodialysis, and its correction is an important factor in restoring a tolerable quality of life to dialysis-dependent patients. Treatment with drugs called erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs), which stimulate the bone marrow to... Read more

Surprising statistics from health survey

The Lancet | 21 September 2007 |

A World Health Organization (WHO) survey has found that 4.1 per cent of people have arthritis. WHO’s World Health Survey, of 245,404 people found that 4.5 per cent of people had angina, 3.3 per cent had asthma, and 2.0 per... Read more

Preventive health care in elderly people needs rethinking

14 September 2007 |

Rather than prolonging life, preventive treatments in elderly people may simply change the cause of death, according to leading doctors in New Zealand and the UK. The doctors called for a more sophisticated way of assessing the benefits and harms... Read more

Resistant hypertension and the role of spironolactone in its treatment

Prof John Feely & Dr Azra Mahmud | 14 September 2007 | Cardiovascular

Resistant hypertension is diagnosed in individuals who are actually taking their medicines but despite three antihypertensives (in the US they recommend one should be a diuretic) BP remains stubbornly above goal >140/90 mmHg. For many years we had intermittently used... Read more

Intensive training of young tennis players may lead to arthritis

British Journal of Sports Medicine | 14 September 2007 | Musculoskeletal

The intensive training given to young elite tennis players damages their spines and may lead to arthritis, according to new research from the UK. Magnetic resonance imaging scans of young elite tennis players with no symptoms of pain showed a... Read more

Fat can transform vitamin C from 'good cop' to 'bad cop'

Gut | 14 September 2007 |

Fat in the stomach may cause vitamin C to promote, rather than prevent, the formation of certain cancer-causing chemicals, new research from Scotland has revealed. Researchers analysed the impact of lipid and vitamin C on nitrite chemistry in the proximal... Read more

Knee arthritis link to lung cancer

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases | 14 September 2007 | Cancer, Musculoskeletal

Arthritis of the knee may be the first sign of non-small cell lung cancer in heavy smokers, novel research from Italy has found. The researchers reviewed the case notes of all patients with rheumatic disorders, diagnosed at one tertiary referral... Read more

Family-based treatment better than psychotherapy for bulimia

Archives of General Psychiatry | 14 September 2007 | Mental Health & CNS

Bulimia patients aged 12 to 19 years who received family-based treatment were less likely to continue to binge and purge than those who received supportive psychotherapy that explored the underlying issues of the disorder, according to a new report. In... Read more

Food supplements to treat diabetes and atherosclerosis

14 September 2007 | Cardiovascular, Diabetes, Nutrition

The health benefits of cutting down on dietary saturated fatty acids and including higher levels of unsaturated fatty acids are well documented in medical literature. Nutritional research is focusing on the effects of incorporating these healthier fatty acids, such as... Read more

Doctors with poor communication are at risk of patient complaints

JAMA | 14 September 2007 |

Physicians who score poorly on the patient-physician communication portion of the national licensing examination receive more complaints to regulatory authorities on issues such as communication and quality-of-care problems, according to a new Canadian study. In the study, researchers investigated the... Read more

Heart attack patients at higher risk of developing diabetes

The Lancet | 07 September 2007 | Cardiovascular, Diabetes

People who have had heart attacks are at higher risk of developing both new-onset diabetes and impaired fasting glucose (IFG), a new study has found. In the study, doctors investigated 8,291 Italian patients who had had a heart attack within... Read more

European Hypertension Guidelines: Comprehensive and worthwhile

Prof John Feely & Dr Jayant Sharma | 07 September 2007 | Cardiovascular

The 2007 guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension from the European Societies of Hypertension and Cardiology have just been published in the Journal of Hypertension (2007;25:1105-87). These update the 2003 guidelines and were eagerly awaited particularly because of the... Read more

Novel approaches for the treatment of chronic gout

Dr Trevor Duffy | 07 September 2007 | Genito-urinary

Gout needs no introduction. It is characterised by the abnormal deposition of urate crystals as a result of hyperuricaemia. The diagnosis rests on the identification of crystals in tissue or synovial fluid. Gout presents initially with intermittent attacks of acute... Read more

Coming to terms with Tourette's, part three

Dr Muhammad Arshad | 07 September 2007 | Mental Health & CNS

It has been found that 12 per cent of Tourettes’s syndrome patients have no co-morbidity, which means 88 per cent show association with ADHD, OCD, anxiety, and affective disorders. Corbett et al (1969) reported that 31 per cent (57/184) TS... Read more

Not all probiotic products effective against diarrhoea

BMJ | 07 September 2007 | Gastro-intestinal, Nutrition

Several probiotic products are marketed as effective treatments for acute diarrhoea in children, but a new study has found that not all of these preparations are effective. In the study, researchers at the University of Naples tested five different preparations... Read more

PCOS a 'major economic health burden'

The Lancet | 07 September 2007 | Women's Health

The diverse and complex female endocrine disorder polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which affects one in 15 women worldwide, is a major economic health burden that is likely to expand together with obesity. This information was presented at a seminar led... Read more

Calcium can help reduce fractures

The Lancet | 07 September 2007 | Musculoskeletal, Nutrition

Calcium supplementation alone, or in combination with vitamin D supplementation, reduces the risk of fractures in people aged over 50 years by 12 per cent, according to a new meta-analysis of previous studies. Researchers pooled findings from 17 studies featuring... Read more