A recent study showed that practitioners' exercise advice and the walking-programme efficiently enhanced the health-related quality of life in a high risk population, overweight or moderately depressed elderly women. The walking programme consisted of supervised walks with a group in a public park or forest tracks three times a week during 50 minutes over a 6-month period. The walking, as well as strengthening and stretching exercises were used to enhance the feasibility of the programme in different environments. Eligible women were aged 60 years and older, suffered from either moderate depression or were overweight, and were capable of walking for more than 25 minutes. Recruitment .....read more »

In this excellent post on Highlight HEALTH some of the secrets about genes and gliobastoma, the most common and aggressive type of brain cancer, are disclosed. A large-scale, multi-dimensional analysis of the genomic characteristics of glioblastoma, the most common primary brain tumor in adults, provides new insights into the roles of several genes and defines core biological pathways altered in tumor development In this search for the relation between genes and glioblastoma the Cancer Genome Atlas was used. An important collaboration. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) is an integrated network of clinical sites, core resources and specialized genome characterization and genome sequencing .....read more »

According to recently released survey results, around 39% of doctors think that using an iPhone while diagnosing their patients will make them seem more competent in their patients’ eyes. Around 39% of the Epocrates medical program for iPhone users said that they’ve received “admiration for using the “latest cool technology”” From iPhone World Do you have an iPhone and does it make you look more professional or is this just advertising for epocrates available in the AppStore? Let me know in the comments. ..read more »

Only 35% of women regularly check their breasts for signs of cancer - and 23% seldom or never do, a survey suggests. On BBC NEWS Health the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer surveyed 2,005 women aged between 18 and 64. With the above reported results. But is this low percentage of women checking their breasts a problem? Not according a recent update of a Cochrane Review discussed in excellent post by Laika's MedLibLog about The (un)usefulness of regular breast exam. The trouble is that the Cochrane Review itself is of high quality, but two of the randomized studies included, one from Russia (1999: ~122,500 .....read more »

Recently a French commission visited The Netherlands. It was a government commission. They were asked to look into the euthanasia legislation in France. They heard about the practice of palliative sedation and they probably think this is a solution for not having to adapt their euthanasia legislation. In France euthanasia is forbidden. That's why they came to The Netherlands to be informed about palliative sedation. A few months ago the French high court wouldn't grand a woman with a facial tumor to have euthanasia. The tumor was deforming and very painful and would kill her in a couple of months. Palliative .....read more »

In the latest Annals of Internal Medicine, and in-depth analysis of a seeding trial involving Vioxx (ADVANTAGE) revealed some very disturbing information. This document, obtained by the study's authors, is one of many that shows how this study was not done in the name of testing the medication (later withdrawn for safety concerns), but as a giant marketing ploy. An excellent post on denialism blog, about an article in Annals of Internal Medicine. This article is also discussed on Respectful Insolence. The authors of the article specifically mention three problems with seeding trials that makes them "harmful to science and society": .....read more »

In the United States adolescents presenting to an inner-city emergency department (ED) are more likely to die from violence than from any other condition for which they seek ED care. They also lack a primary care physician and irregularly attend their school. They use Internet more often than adults. This makes their visits to the ED department a great opportunity to refer them to relevant and accurate health websites especially violent prevention websites. From adolescents visiting the ED 115 participated in a survey and they were referred to a violence prevention website. The website offered tips for avoiding and resolving conflict.22% .....read more »

A person 90 years old or between 90 and 100 years old has a high risk of losing independence, but the prevalence of independence still declines only very modestly from age 92 to 100 years.This has the advantage of little societal care cost. So with the expansion of the life span at high age, above 90 years old, fear for high societal costs seems unfounded. The reason for this being that most disabled have a high mortality rate. We live longer mainly due to a reduction in mortality rates among the oldest-old. There is considerable concern, that an extension of life into .....read more »

Running at middle and older ages is associated with reduced disability in later life and a notable survival advantage. According to a recent published study in the Archives of Internal Medicine. They published the results of a longitudinal study comparing disability and mortality outcomes between cohorts of runners and control subjects initially aged 50 to 72 years after 21 years. This is important because with the rise in life expectancy, it becomes necessary to focus on improving the quality of life and functional abilities as people reach older ages. In addition to confirming an overall survival advantage and reduction in cardiovascular-related deaths .....read more »

Soon we will start with the dutch version of the grand rounds. You can submit your articles online. Deadline is 24th of August and the grand rounds will be published at the 26th of August. We will keep you posted. ..read more »