Medscape Today News

• New Mom With Necrotizing Fasciitis Had Seven Operations A 36-year-old new mother of twins who is suffering from necrotizing fasciitis has undergone a series of operations to remove dead or damaged tissue in a South Carolina hospital.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2012
• Resting QRS Duration Predicts Sudden Death in Men The link between QRS duration and the risk of sudden cardiac death is not yet documented in a large population study, so researchers in Finland studied how QRS measured on a resting electrocardiogram may be able to predict risk of sudden cardiac death in men.
  Heartwire, May 2012
• ASH Obesity Paradox Observed With Hydrochlorothiazide, Not Amlodipine A prespecified analysis of the ACCOMPLISH study confirms the obesity paradox in patients treated with hydrochlorothiazde but not those treated with amlodipine. For normal-weight patients, amlodipine reduced the risk of cardiovascular death 38%, total stroke by 40%, and MI by more than 50%.
  Heartwire, May 2012
• Alert Nationwide Recall of Bagged Salads Expands Various bagged salads, some sold nationwide, are being recalled because of possible contamination with listeria bacteria.
  News Alerts, May 2012
• APS Experimental Drug Reduces Opioid Constipation An experimental drug, CB-5945, reduced opioid-related constipation in a phase 2 trial.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2012
• Medication 'Take-Back' Programs Ill Conceived, Study Says Medication 'Take-Back' Programs Ill Conceived, Study Says
  WebMD Health News, May 2012
• DDW Cases of C. Diff Increased 12-Fold Among Children The potentially deadly diarrhea bug Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, is spreading among children in the community, a new study shows.
  WebMD Health News, May 2012
• U.S. States With Most, Least Deaths From Injuries New Mexico had the most injury-related deaths, and New Jersey had the fewest.
  WebMD Health News, May 2012
• Hypothyroidism Commonly Follows Hemithyroidectomy More than one in five patients develop hypothyroidism after hemithyroidectomy, according to a new report.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2012
• AUA Testosterone Okay After Radical Prostatectomy AUA 2012: Testosterone replacement therapy seems to be safe in men with a history of prostate cancer with high-risk characteristics after a radical prostatectomy.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2012
• Kudzu Extract Curbs Alcohol Intake Puerarin, an isoflavone extracted from kudzu, the invasive Chinese vine, slowed the rate of alcohol consumption in a small pilot study and may be useful to deter binge drinking.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2012
• New York Judge With Cancer Makes Case for Marijuana A cancer-stricken judge in New York has become an unlikely voice in support of legalizing the use of medical marijuana with the admission that he smokes pot to ease the side-effects of his treatments.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2012
• Feeding Tubes Increase Risk of Pressure Sores in Dementia Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) feeding tubes do more harm than good in nursing home residents with advanced cognitive impairment.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2012
• Sex, Age May Affect Athletes' Concussion Recovery Female and high school athletes may need more time to recover from a concussion than their male or college counterparts, researchers say.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2012
• Fish Oil Shows Little Effect on Tourette's Tics Some parents swear by fish oil as a treatment for the "tics" caused by Tourette's disorder, but so far the research evidence is slim.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2012
• Statin Use Linked to Better Post-Stroke Discharge Status A new study finds that patients taking a statin before hospitalization, who stay on the drug while in hospital, are more likely to survive and be discharged home.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2012
• DDW High Altitudes Might Precipitate IBD Flares DDW 2012: Airplane flights and ski vacations are linked to disease flares in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
  Medscape Medical News, May 2012
• DDW Body-Building Supplements Top List of Hepatotoxic Agents In a large database, almost 1 in 5 cases of drug-induced liver injury was traced to body-building and weight-loss supplement use.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2012
• ECO Liraglutide Resulted in 36% Loss in Excess Body Weight Obese individuals receiving 3 mg liraglutide daily lost a mean 35.6% of excess body weight during a 1-year period.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2012
• ESTRO Genetic Markers Linked to Prostate Radiation Toxicity Identifying susceptibility markers could guide therapy in the future.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2012