Clinical Research

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) had been used to treat menopausal estrogen deficiency  for decades but the 2002 publication of a major study, the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), indicated increased risk for certain outcomes in older women, without increasing longevity.

This sparked debate regarding potential benefits and harm of HRT.

A new article published in The American Journal of Medicine conducted a meta-analysis of the available data using Bayesian methods and concluded that HRT almost certainly decreases mortality in younger postmenopausal women. 

Exercise makes cigarettes less attractive, says a new study from the University of Exeter.

Exercise can lessen the power of cigarettes and smoking-related images to grab the attention of smokers, the authors write in the journal Addiction.   They did a study involving 20 moderately heavy smokers who had abstained from cigarettes for 15 hours before the trial. During two visits to the laboratory participants began by being shown smoking-related and neutral images, and then spent either 15 minutes sitting or exercising on a stationary bike at a moderate intensity. Afterwards, they were again shown the images. 

The Skeptic Zone is an Australian skeptical podcast. It is generally entertaining and usually concludes with a segment of drinking and conversation in the pub. They are the only podcast I know that specifically accepts donations to pay for rounds of drinks.

There are myriad reasons why pharmaceutical treatments are ineffective in certain people, but the first suspect is typically not the patient him- or herself.

An article published in the November 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine suggests that difficult-to-treat asthma often may have more to do with patients who do not take their medication as instructed than ineffective medication.

"[A] significant proportion of patients with difficult asthma are poorly adherent to inhaled and oral corticosteroid therapy," said PI Dr. Liam Heaney.

Last week, the ingenious NCBI ROFL posted the following abstract from 2000:

'Blue balls' is a widely used colloquialism describing scrotal pain after high, sustained sexual arousal unrelieved because of lack of orgasm and ejaculation.

Everyone's heard of open heart surgery but closed heart surgery could one day be just as ubiquitous, according to research from the Universities of Michigan and Minnesota in the FASEB Journal.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart failure is a condition where the heart cannot pump enough blood and oxygen to meet the needs of other body organs. Approximately 5 million people in the United States have heart failure, about 550,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, and more than 287,000 people in the United States die each year of heart failure. The most common causes of heart failure are coronary artery disease, hypertension or high blood pressure, and diabetes.

Can air pollution trigger appendicitis?  Yes, says a study conducted by researchers at the University of Calgary, University of Toronto and Health Canada who looked at 5191 adults admitted to hospitals in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Fifty-two per cent of admissions occurred between April and September, the warmest months of the year in Canada during which people are more likely to be outside.

Therefore, air pollution must be the culprit if your correlation-causation arrow is more like a Scud missile.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley say they have identified critical biochemical pathways linked to the aging of human muscle and, by manipulating these pathways, they were able to 'turn back the clock' on old human muscle, restoring its ability to repair and rebuild itself.

In scoliosis treatment for babies, doctors often try bracing first and if that fails, they escalate to surgery; placing metal rods in their backs with spinal fusion.

These children face the risk of complications from the surgery and their backs and chests may be stiff for life.    New research from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) may lead doctors to choose to optimize an old technology – casting – instead of using high-tech implantable devices. Casting has fewer, and less serious potential complications and it requires no surgery. In fact, with the right training and equipment, the specialized series of casts can be done as outpatient procedures.

Dr P.K. Tewari  made observation that AN  un noticed dehydration in Rajasthan especially in Jaipur even when one sits under roof at home with fan running . The sign of dehydration is dry skin , face, and arms and legs, drying of tounge are some of the common symptoms of dehydration. Skin and tounge are the most sensitive index of dehydration Please take upto 5 to 7 litres of water if you are in Rajsthan or travelling in semi arid or arid regions to survive. The air in Haridwar has natural moisture while in Rajsthan the dry air due to excessive deforestation and lcak of plants ( Total forest area under 9 percent) the moisture in air is less. The lack vegetation results in dry air which when touches the body it takes moisture from the skin and makes it further dry.