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Geriatrics

News, opinions and meeting coverage in geriatrics.

Engineers Turn Fat into Blood Vessels

Liposuction can provide the raw materials for growing new small-diameter blood vessels in the lab, researchers found.

Readers: Who Really Benefits from Spanking?

Although a majority of our readers don't think childhood spanking causes mental illness in adulthood, many of them noted that the topic is more complex than a simple "Yes" and "No" survey.

Melatonin Can Help Seniors Get More Sleep

BOSTON -- Over-the-counter melatonin appears to provide a measure of sleep for older individuals who have insomnia, a meta-analysis showed.

Repeat Surgery Less Likely After Prostate Resection

ATLANTA -- Transurethral resection of the prostate for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia reduced the reoperation rate by half compared with newer procedures, a case review showed.

Child's Epilepsy Keeps Household Up All Night

Children with epilepsy and their parents reported suffering from sleep problems, researchers found.

Prolia Linked to Serious Skin Side Effects

RALEIGH, N.C. -- More than 40 serious cutaneous adverse events linked to the osteoporosis formulation of denosumab (Prolia) were discovered in a review of FDA records, investigators reported here.

DSM-5: What's In, What's Out

PHILADELPHIA -- Reports here provided what may be the last public update on DSM-5, the next edition of American psychiatry's diagnostic guide, before it is formally released in May 2013.

DSM-5 Panel Tiptoes on Grief, Depression

PHILADELPHIA -- Psychiatrists writing new diagnostic criteria for major depression hope an explanatory note will mollify critics of a proposal to let patients grieving a dead loved one receive a formal diagnosis.

Most DSM-5 Revisions Pass Field Trials

PHILADELPHIA -- Field trials of proposed new diagnostic criteria for many mental disorders showed that, for the most part, they were at least adequately reliable.

Most ICD Patients Die of Heart Failure

Patients with implantable defibrillators or resynchronization devices with defibrillator were most likely to die of heart failure or non-cardiac causes, not sudden death, a single-center study found.

Antidepressants May Help Cut Seizures

NEW ORLEANS -- Patients with epilepsy who experience more than one seizure a month appear to achieve a reduction in seizure activity when treated with antidepressants, researchers reported here.

Latest Use for Botox: Teeth Grinding

茂禄驴NEW ORLEANS -- Patients who ground their teeth so hard during sleep that they required medical attention achieved significant relief from botulinum toxin shots, researchers said here.

Brain Bleed Size Affects Therapy in Afib Patients

NEW ORLEANS -- The size of a brain bleed appears to determine which medications, if any, are given to atrial fibrillation patients after an intracerebral hemorrhage, a retrospective study showed.

OIG: Avastin a Better Buy for Wet AMD

茂禄驴WASHINGTON -- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should establish a national payment policy for bevacizumab (Avastin) to treat wet age-related macular degeneration, a government report concluded.

Eye Tremors May Be Early Sign of Parkinson's

Eye tremors are pervasive in Parkinson's disease and could be an early warning sign of the neurodegenerative movement disorder, according to a case-control study.

Doctors Say 45 Common Tests 'Overused'

Nine specialty groups have listed tests and treatments that are frequently overused, such as antibiotics for sinus attacks and CT scans for low back pain, in the first phase of a long-term project.

Cheney's Heart Makes Him a Million Dollar Man

Keeping former Vice President Dick Cheney's heart beating probably will cost the healthcare system at least a million dollars, cardiac transplantation experts told 番茄社区.

Whitney Houston Autopsy Reveals Heart Disease

The death of Whitney Houston in some ways represents a medical "perfect storm" -- heart disease and a plethora of drugs that can accelerate or aggravate that condition, cardiovascular specialists told 番茄社区.

Shire Quits on Fabry Drug

Shire PLC has withdrawn its U.S. application to market an enzyme replacement therapy for Fabry disease, citing an expected FDA demand for controlled clinical trials.

FDA Adds More Warnings for Lipitor, Crestor, and Zocor

WASHINGTON -- Statins may cause drug-drug interactions for patients taking drugs to treat HIV/AIDS or hepatitis C, according to a new statin warning from the FDA.

FDA Adds Diabetes Warning to Statin Label

WASHINGTON -- The FDA is changing the labeling on statins to include a warning about increased risks of hyperglycemia and transient memory problems, but the agency is no longer recommending routine liver function testing.

Hormones Out of Whack With Long Opioid Therapy

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Intractable pain patients on long-term, high doses of opioids should be screened for hormonal abnormalities, researchers said here.

Ablation Possible for Back Pain When Steroid Injections Fail

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Patients with low back pain who don't respond robustly to intraarticular steroid injections may still be candidates for treatment with radiofrequency ablation (RFA), researchers said here.

Short-Acting Opioids May Have Less Impact on Testosterone

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Men who take long-acting opioids for chronic pain may have a higher risk of hypogonadism than those on short-acting formulations of the drugs, researchers said here.

Follow the Money: Pain, Policy, and Profit

When the Federation of State Medical Boards decided it needed to put a model guideline for opioid use into a book, it reached out and touched the makers of opioid drugs to make it happen.

Early VTE Therapy OK After Brain Bleed

HOUSTON --The risk of re-bleeding after intracranial hemorrhage did not increase when patients received early prophylaxis for venous thromboembolism (VTE), a retrospective review showed.

Muscle Massage Rubs Out Inflammation

Heavily stressed muscles responded to massage therapy with a variety of biologic changes associated with reduced inflammation, analysis of tissue specimens showed.

Big BP Variation Between Arms Raises Red Flag

A substantial difference in blood pressure from one arm to the other could be a warning sign for overall cardiovascular and mortality risk, a meta-analysis determined.

50-Year-Olds Get New Knees in Record Numbers

During the past three decades there has been a dramatic increase in knee replacement surgeries, particularly among individuals in their 50s, a Finnish study found.

Higher LDL Level Linked to Lower Incidence of Afib

Although physicians usually aim to lower patients' total and, in particular, LDL cholesterol, lower LDL levels are associated with developing atrial fibrillation, a study has found.

Researcher Charged With Fabricating Red-Wine Data

A veteran researcher, known for his work on the heart benefits of the red-grape component resveratrol, allegedly fabricated data in 23 papers published over five years, an investigation showed.

Parkinson's Called Hidden Killer

Life expectancy for patients with Parkinson's disease is poorer than some previous studies have suggested, with barely one-third of patients surviving six years with the condition, researchers said.

ADHD Drug Helpful in Adult Depression

Phase II trial results suggested that a stimulant drug approved to treat attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder may improve cognitive function in adults with major depression, its manufacturer said.

Fructose No Substitute for Glucose in Diabetes

NEW YORK -- Although it negates the dumping of glucose directly into the bloodstream, fructose may not be the choice sweetener for diabetics, researchers said here.

Low-Dose Zolpidem Gets FDA Okay for Wee-Hours Awakening

A new formulation of the insomnia drug zolpidem tartrate (Ambien) has been approved to treat middle-of-the-night awakenings followed by difficulty returning to sleep, the FDA said.

Breast Reduction Riskier After 50

Outcomes of breast reduction surgery worsen with age, with more infections and a tendency toward wound-healing problems in women older than 50, researchers found.

Acetaminophen OD More Deadly if Taken in Stages

Acetaminophen overdoses were more likely to be fatal if patients consumed a series of high doses spread over the course of a day rather than downing, say, a bottle of pills at one time, outcomes among patients admitted to a specialized liver center showed.

Use of Psych Drugs Up, Women Biggest Users

One American in five takes psychiatric medication for conditions such as depression and anxiety, and use of the drugs is more common among women, researchers found.

ACR: Savella Brings Relief Long-Term in Fibromyalgia

CHICAGO -- Milnacipran (Savella), a selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, brought long-term relief to fibromyalgia patients who remained on therapy, researchers said here.

Systolic BP That's Too Low After Stroke Not Good Either

Systolic blood pressure that is too low -- as well as too high -- may put patients who have had a noncardioembolic ischemic stroke at risk for another one, researchers found.

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