A new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers shows that adults who regularly take ibuprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), have about one-third less risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than non-users.

“There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, so the possibility that ibuprofen, an existing and relatively non-toxic drug, could help protect against the disease is captivating,” said senior author Alberto Ascherio, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at HSPH.

The study will be published online March 2, 2011, in Neurology and is scheduled to appear in the March 8, 2011, print issue.

Parkinson’s disease, a progressive nervous disease occurring generally after age 50, affects at least half a million Americans, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. About 50,000 new cases are reported each year, with the number expected to increase as the U.S. population ages. It is hypothesized that ibuprofen may reduce inflammation in the brain that may contribute to the disease.

Prior studies showed a reduced Parkinson’s disease risk among NSAIDS users, but most did not differentiate between ibuprofen and other non-aspirin NSAIDs.

In the new study, Ascherio, lead author Xiang Gao, research scientist at HSPH and associate epidemiologist in the Channing Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and colleagues analyzed data from nearly 99,000 women enrolled in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital-based Nurses’ Health Study and over 37,000 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. The researchers identified 291 cases (156 men and 135 women) of Parkinson’s disease during their six-year follow-up study (1998-2004 in women; 2000-2006 in men). Based on questionnaires, the researchers analyzed the patients’ use of ibuprofen (e.g. Advil, Motrin, Nuprin), aspirin or aspirin-containing products, other anti-inflammatory pain relievers (e.g., Aleve, Naprosyn), and acetaminophen (e.g., Tylenol). (Although not an NSAID, acetaminophen was included because it’s similarly used to treat pain.) Age, smoking, diet, caffeine, and other variables also were considered.

“We observed that men and women who used ibuprofen two or more times per week were about 38% less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than those who regularly used aspirin, acetaminophen, or other NSAIDs,” Gao said. “Our findings suggest that ibuprofen could be a potential neuroprotective agent against Parkinson’s disease, however, the exact mechanism is unknown.”

These findings raise hope that a readily available, inexpensive drug could help to treat Parkinson’s disease. “Because the loss of brain cells that leads to Parkinson’s disease occurs over a decade or more, a possible explanation of our findings is that use of ibuprofen protects these cells. If so, use of ibuprofen could help slow the disease’s progression,” Gao said.

The findings do not mean that people who already have Parkinson’s disease should begin taking ibuprofen, Ascherio added. “Although generally perceived as safe, ibuprofen can have side effects, such as increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. Whether this risk is compensated by a slowing of the disease progression should be investigated under rigorous supervision in a randomized clinical trial,” he said.

Notes:

Support for the study was provided by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Intramural Research Program of NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

“Use of Ibuprofen and Risk of Parkinson’s Disease,” Xiang Gao, Honglei Chen, Michael A. Schwarzschild, and Alberto Ascherio. Neurology, March 8, 2011. Online March 2, 2011.

Source:
Todd Datz

Harvard School of Public Health Continue reading →

The arrival of daylight saving time this weekend means extra time for evening yard work or barbecues, but for some it also means sleepy days at work and even a bit of crankiness.

This year, clocks will be move forward one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 9. That hour of lost sleep shouldn’t cause any long-term health hazard, but it may require some adjustment time, said Beth Malow, M.D., associate professor of Neurology and medical director of the Vanderbilt Sleep Disorders Center.

“Even if we try to go to bed earlier to compensate,” Malow explains, “our schedules will be off, so some of us will feel a little crankier the next day. It’s kind of like traveling and having jet lag.”

Your body will make up the lost time in a few days, so be patient until you adjust, Malow says.

And be sure to get plenty of sleep from now until Sunday, because if you’re well-rested you’ll be better prepared to deal with the switch, she adds. That’s seven to eight hours a night for most adults, and more for children.

Feel free to take a nap on Sunday afternoon, if you feel that you need it, but don’t grab a few winks too close to your typical bedtime, Malow says.

“The important thing to remember is that after a few days, this will smooth itself out, so don’t worry too much about it,” she said.

As many parents know, getting kids to sleep on time is hard even when the time isn’t bouncing around. It’s important to maintain your child’s regular nap and bed times as daylight-saving time arrives, said Jaime Bonilla, manager of Vanderbilt’s Sleep Disorders Center.

“It should make a difference for a few days, as children adjust to the new routine of their ‘sleep hygiene,’” Bonilla said.

It may help to adjust their bedtime by 15 minutes or so each day starting now, instead of changing it a full hour on Sunday night before a school day.

“If you can make smaller changes before the time change, that’s preferable,” Malow said.

But if you find that you or your children are still sleepy during the day, ask your doctor about a referral to a sleep specialist. Many sleep disorders are treatable.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center
D-3237A Medical Center North
Nashville, TN 37232-2390
United States
mc.vanderbilt.edu Continue reading →

The Royal College of General Practitioners is pleased to have contributed its perspective to this important report which helps set out the potential strategy for the exchange of health care expertise and experiences between the UK and Africa and South Asia, particularly with former Commonwealth Countries.

Lord Crisp’s report identifies some of the important issues and the wide variety of successful – and less successful – governmental and non-governmental strategies.

The ethos of the international work of the RCGP over nearly 20 years has been to support the development of locally relevant programmes of general practice. The report acknowledges this in the accreditation of the South Asia MRCGP[INT] examination, which provides a standard for family medicine for a quarter of the world’s people and is now intended to be translated to the context of Africa.

The important issues for the scaling up of the Primary Healthcare workforce in these continents through academic support, exchanges and accreditation over the long term are crucial to the success and self sustainability of any UK support. The practical arrangements for the identification and co-ordination of appropriate GPs in response to humanitarian crises can now be addressed learning from other international models.

While the report is to be very much welcomed, it does not address some very practical barriers of implementation. This will require the implementation of some of the strategies recommended, to which the RCGP and the other Medical and Nursing Royal Colleges can contribute, but also the purposeful support and collaboration of Government and the Regulatory Bodies of the Medical Profession.

Such barriers include:

– Breaks in the NHS Pension scheme for NHS personnel

– Incentives and resources to backfill leave from Primary Care and General Practices

– Integrating accredited overseas training experience in the Modernising Medical Careers pathways

– Overcoming the restrictions to the managed training and education experiences for overseas doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers to the UK

– Ensuring congruence with the revalidation of doctors

– Harnessing the untapped potential of recently retired clinicians, members of Medical and Nursing Royal Colleges working in other overseas countries, and providing focus for the ‘elective periods’ of final year UK medical students

– Supporting collaborative organisations such as the Medical and Nursing Royal Colleges who can actually deliver this agenda in the short, medium and long term.

Lord Crisp proposes a Global Health Partnership Centre to act as a ‘one-stop shop’ source of information for individuals and health organisations. This has already been anticipated by the development of the Royal Colleges International Forum, whose members and affiliates include many of the key organisations required for implementation of this report and who will also provide support through the Academy of the Medical Royal Colleges.

New RCGP Annual Primary Care Conference
4-6 October 2007, Edinburgh International Conference Centre
rcgpannualconference

The RCGP has recently relaunched its website with improved style, navigation and content. You can see it at rcgp Continue reading →

The following summarizes recent developments on abortion-related legislation in four states.

~ Idaho: The state House this week is expected to debate a bill (S 1353) that would create new protections for nurses, pharmacists and other medical workers who refuse to provide services related to abortion, emergency contraception, end-of-life care and stem cell therapy because of moral objections, the AP/Idaho Statesman reports. Current Idaho law grants physicians so-called “conscience” protections in abortion-related cases. On Tuesday, House lawmakers rejected a Democratic amendment that would have eliminated the bill’s provision on end-of-life care. The state Senate already has approved the bill (AP/Idaho Statesman, 3/16).

~ Kansas: Antiabortion-rights state lawmakers have renewed a push to pass additional restrictions on abortion later in pregnancy, with a focus on increasing reporting requirements for the procedure beyond 21 weeks’ gestation, the AP/Kansas City Star reports. Lawmakers said they want physicians to disclose a patient’s medical diagnosis to justify an abortion after 21 weeks. Current Kansas law permits abortion after the 21st week of pregnancy if the woman’s life is in danger or to prevent permanent damages to her health. A bill (SB 218) that cleared the state Legislature last year included reporting requirements and would have allowed patients and families to sue physicians over allegedly illegal abortions; then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed the measure in April 2009. Three state senators and three state House members plan to meet Thursday to discuss the new proposal. Sen. Pat Apple (R) said the measure’s supporters hope to secure enough support to override a possible veto by Gov. Mark Parkinson (D) (Hanna, AP/Kansas City Star, 3/16).

~ South Carolina: State lawmakers on Tuesday voted 57-54 to exempt cases of rape, incest or threats to a woman’s life from a proposal to prohibit the state employee insurance plan from covering abortion procedures, the Columbia State reports. The state House Ways and Means Committee last month approved the abortion-coverage ban as part of a $5 billion budget bill. According to the State, Tuesday’s vote came after an “emotional floor debate” over whether incest and rape victims should receive abortion coverage. The State reports that Rep. Lester Branham (D), a former minister, “seemed to sway” lawmakers with his comments that an “act of impregnating a girl against her will is not a gift of God. It’s a crime” (O’Connor, Columbia State, 3/17).

~ Tennessee: The state House Health and Human Resources Committee on Tuesday postponed for one week a vote on legislation (HB 3301) that would require abortion providers to post signs stating that women cannot be coerced into abortions against their will, the AP/Chattanooga Times & Free Press. The vote was delayed after some lawmakers said they needed more time to review the bill. Although Tennessee law already prohibits coercion to have an abortion, bill author Rep. Susan Lynn (R) claims that many women are unaware of the statute and that the sign would help “spell out what’s in the law” (Johnson, AP/Chattanooga Times & Free Press, 3/16). Under the bill, abortion providers would have to post a sign stating, “It is against the law for anyone, regardless of the person’s relationship to you, to coerce you to have an abortion. By law, we cannot perform an abortion on you unless we have your freely given and voluntary consent. It is against the law to perform an abortion on you against your will. You have the right to contact any local or state law enforcement agency to receive protection from any actual or threatened criminal offense to coerce an abortion” (Bill text, 3/17). The Senate Judiciary Committee currently is reviewing a companion bill (AP/Chattanooga Times & Free Press, 3/16).

Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2010 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

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Only half of obese Mexican-American adults receive diet and exercise advice from their physicians, a new study finds, although obesity is on the rise for this group.

“Among this obese population, not seeing 100 percent of people receiving advice is discouraging. There is a much higher risk of having negative health consequences,” said Ha Nguyen, Ph.D., an assistant professor of family and community medicine at the Wake Forest School of Medicine.

In the study, which appears in the July/August issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion, lead author Nguyen and colleagues examined data from a survey conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. A group of 1,787 obese Mexican-American adults noted whether a doctor or health care professional ever advised them to exercise more or eat fewer high-fat and high-cholesterol foods.

Overall, 45 percent of participants reported their doctor never provided recommendations to increase exercise, and 52 percent said a health care professional never advised them to make dietary improvements.

“The rate of about 50 percent receiving advice is generally the same as previous reports in the general population,” Nguyen said. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to look at a specific Hispanic subgroup,” she said.

The researchers also discovered that patients who had medical conditions in addition to obesity, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, proved much more likely to receive counseling on exercise and nutrition. For example, 79 percent of patients with obesity and diabetes said they received advice to exercise more, compared to 43 percent of patients whose only diagnosis was obesity.

“When someone’s obese and has diabetes, physicians are much more clued in to the fact that they need to counsel people about lifestyle,” said Matthew O’Brien, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine and public health at Temple University School of Medicine.

Why don’t physicians provide counseling to obese patients? O’Brien cited several reasons, including lack of financial incentives, lack of adequate physician training in weight management and counseling and language barriers between English-speaking physicians and Spanish-speaking patients.

“Providers play an important role. Doctors are in a unique position to promote health behaviors … their patients are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors,” even if they receive simple, brief advice, Nguyen said.

The study authors received support from the Network for Multicultural Research on Health and Healthcare at UCLA.

Source: Health Behavior News Service Continue reading →

Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced the start of SPIRIT Small Vessel, a clinical trial evaluating a 2.25 mm size of the XIENCE V(TM) Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System. The 2.25 mm stent system would offer physicians an option for treating coronary artery disease in narrower vessels that is based on the proven efficacy, safety and deliverability of XIENCE V.

In July 2008, XIENCE V was launched in the United States, where it quickly became the market- leading drug eluting stent. The addition of a 2.25 mm size would complement the broad range of XIENCE V lengths and diameters. Upon U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the 2.25 mm stent system, the device will be called XIENCE NANO(TM) in the United States. The XIENCE V 2.25 mm stent system received CE Mark (Conformite Europeene) approval and was launched in various countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America in March 2008.

“Treatment of lesions in small coronary vessels is often complex and associated with higher rates of complications. Being able to deliver a stent accurately to the diseased area of the vessel is crucial for successful treatment,” said Marco Costa, M.D., Ph.D., director of Invasive Services, and director of the Center for Research and Innovation, Harrington-McLaughlin Heart and Vascular Institute, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University, and principal investigator of the SPIRIT Small Vessel trial. “Given the strong clinical performance and ease of use of XIENCE V, a smaller stent system would significantly enhance the treatment options for patients with coronary artery disease in small vessels.”

The SPIRIT Small Vessel trial is designed to study 250 patients at approximately 50 centers in the United States. The primary endpoint is a composite measure of cardiac death, heart attack (target vessel myocardial infarction) and target lesion revascularization (repeat procedures on the treated vessel) at one year.

XIENCE V in Small Vessels

Observational data supporting the safety and efficacy of XIENCE V in the treatment of coronary artery disease in small vessels was presented at the 2008 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium in October. James B. Hermiller, M.D., director, Cardiac Catheterization Labs, The Care Group at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, and an investigator of the SPIRIT III trial, presented subgroup data from the SPIRIT III trial comparing XIENCE V to the TAXUS(R) Express2(TM) Paclitaxel-Eluting Coronary Stent System (TAXUS) in patients with small vessels. In this subgroup analysis, patients were treated with a 2.5 mm stent system and had an average reference vessel diameter of 2.36 mm.

“In the SPIRIT III subgroup analysis, XIENCE V performed extremely well in small vessels. Compared to TAXUS, XIENCE V reduced in-stent late loss, or vessel re-narrowing, by 80 percent eight months after the procedure, and reduced major adverse cardiac events by 74 percent at nine months,” said Dr. Hermiller. “When you consider these trends, the availability of a smaller XIENCE V stent system specifically designed to treat lesions in small vessels has the potential to significantly improve patient care.”

The SPIRIT III small vessel subgroup analysis demonstrated the following key results for XIENCE V:

– An observed 80 percent reduction in in-stent late loss compared to TAXUS at eight months (0.11 mm for XIENCE V vs. 0.54 mm for TAXUS, p-value=0.011).

– An observed 74 percent reduction in major adverse cardiac events (MACE) compared to TAXUS at nine months (3.2 percent for XIENCE V vs. 12.5 percent for TAXUS, p-value=0.017). MACE is an important composite clinical measure of safety and efficacy outcomes for patients, defined as cardiac death, heart attack (myocardial infarction or MI), or ischemia-driven target lesion revascularization (TLR driven by lack of blood supply).

– An observed 68 percent reduction in the risk of target vessel failure (TVF, cardiac events related to the treated vessel) compared to TAXUS at nine months (5.2 percent for XIENCE V vs. 16.1 percent for TAXUS, p-value=0.019) TVF is a composite clinical measure of safety and efficacy outcomes defined as cardiac death, heart attack (myocardial infarction or MI) or target vessel revascularization (TVR).

– An observed 90 percent reduction in target lesion revascularization (TLR) compared to TAXUS at nine months (1.3 percent for XIENCE V vs. 12.5 percent for TAXUS, p-value=0.002).

About XIENCE V

The XIENCE V drug coated stent is used to treat coronary artery disease by propping open a narrowed or blocked artery and releasing the drug, everolimus, in a controlled manner to prevent the artery from becoming blocked again following a stent procedure. XIENCE V is built upon Abbott’s market-leading bare metal stent, the MULTI-LINK VISION(R) Coronary Stent System. The VISION platform is designed to facilitate ease of delivery, making it easier for physicians to maneuver the stent and treat the diseased portion of the artery.

Long-term results with XIENCE V in the SPIRIT III pivotal U.S. clinical trial demonstrated a 45 percent reduction in the risk of MACE compared to TAXUS at two years. XIENCE V demonstrated a 32 percent reduction in TVF compared to TAXUS at two years. XIENCE V also demonstrated a low rate of stent thrombosis between one and two years, defined as very late stent thrombosis, per Academic Research Consortium (ARC) definition of definite/probable stent thrombosis (0.3 percent for XIENCE V and 1.0 percent for TAXUS). XIENCE V met its primary endpoint in the SPIRIT III clinical trial with a statistically significant 50 percent reduction in in-segment late loss (vessel renarrowing) at eight months compared to TAXUS.

The XIENCE V stent is available on both over-the-wire (OTW) and rapid exchange (RX) delivery systems. Rapid exchange is the most widely used type of delivery system because it provides physicians additional flexibility to work as single operators during stent procedures.

XIENCE V was approved by the FDA in July 2008 and launched in Europe and other international markets in October 2006. XIENCE V is an investigational device in Japan and is currently under review by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency.

Abbott supplies a private-labeled XIENCE V to Boston Scientific called the PROMUS(TM) Everolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent System. PROMUS is manufactured by Abbott and supplied to Boston Scientific as part of a distribution agreement between the two companies.

Everolimus, developed by Novartis Pharma AG, is a proliferation signal inhibitor, or mTOR inhibitor, licensed to Abbott by Novartis for use on its drug eluting stents. Everolimus has been shown to inhibit in-stent neointimal growth in the coronary vessels following stent implantation, due to its antiproliferative properties.

Additional information about XIENCE V, including important safety and effectiveness information, is available online at xiencev.

About Abbott Vascular

Abbott Vascular, a division of Abbott, is one of the world’s leading vascular care businesses. Abbott Vascular is uniquely focused on advancing the treatment of vascular disease and improving patient care by combining the latest medical device innovations with world-class pharmaceuticals, investing in research and development, and advancing medicine through training and education. Headquartered in Northern California, Abbott Vascular offers a comprehensive portfolio of vessel closure, endovascular and coronary products.

About Abbott

Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company employs more than 68,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries.

Abbott’s news releases and other information are available on the company’s Web site at abbott.

P-values are for descriptive purposes only.

Abbott
abbott Continue reading →

Research experts in the epigenetic field from Epigentek have developed a new, breakthrough approach for the identification of the “sixth DNA base,” 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC). This technology is based on a high throughput, strip-well format and is also incorporated into the first commercially available product, the MethylFlash(TM) Hydroxymethylated DNA Quantification Kit , for rapidly quantifying hydroxymethylated DNA.

5-hmC is a modified form of 5-cytosine, recently discovered in animal tissues. The function of 5-hmC in epigenetics may be different from its forerunner 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) and currently remains a mystery. It is believed, though, that 5-hmC plays an important role in switching genes on and off. The presence of 5-hmC makes it necessary to not only re-evaluate existing DNA methylation data, but also necessary to determine relative distribution and changes of 5-hmC in human tissues of healthy and diseased statuses. Prior to Epigentek’s MethylFlash(TM) technology, there were no methods that could be used for practically or routinely identifying 5-hmC and discriminating this base from 5-mC.

Epigentek’s new method can be used for rapidly and accurately identifying hydroxymethylated DNA or 5-hmC in a high throughput format, suitable from any species including mammals, plants, fungi, bacteria, and viruses in a variety of forms including cultured cells, fresh and frozen tissues, paraffin-embedded tissues, plasma/serum samples, and body fluid samples. In the assay, DNA is bound to strip wells that are specifically treated to have a high DNA affinity. The hydroxymethylated fraction in the DNA is then immunospecifically detected.

Utilizing this method, scientists at Epigentek for the first time in the world identified that 5-hmC is abundant in normal human brains and colon tissues but significantly decreased in colon cancer tissue/cells. It was also found that 5-hmC is more than 30% and 15% as abundant as 5-mC in human brains and colon tissues, respectively. This discovery demonstrates that this new method would be powerful tool in further unraveling the mystery of epigenetics.

About Epigentek Group Inc.

Epigentek is a leading biotechnology company that focuses on developing and providing innovative technologies and products as a complete and systematic solution for epigenetic related research and drug discovery.

Source: Epigentek Group Inc Continue reading →

Screening children for risk factors
associated with cardiovascular disease can help identify parents at risk
for the condition, providing an opportunity for medical intervention in
both children and their parents, according to research at Children’s
Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

Researchers studied a community-based sample of 94 families —
including 108 parents and 141 children — and found child/parent
association was strong for cardiovascular risk factors including body mass
index, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, triglycerides and
total cholesterol. The study was led by Evelyn Cohen Reis, MD, a
pediatrician and researcher in the Division of General Academic Pediatrics
at Children’s.

Results of the study are published online in the December issue of
Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Among its findings:

– Parents of children with hypertension are nearly 15 times more likely
to have hypertension than parents of children without the condition.

– Parents of obese children are six times more likely to be obese than
parents of non-obese children.

– Parents of children with elevated triglycerides are five times more
likely to have hypertriglyceridemia than parents of children with
normal triglyceride levels.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United
States, killing more than 910,000 people annually, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.

The likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease increases with risk
factors such as hypertension, obesity and metabolic abnormalities. The
nation’s burgeoning childhood obesity epidemic is associated with the
increasing prevalence of these risk factors, according to Dr. Reis.

“Because children access primary care more frequently than adults,
screening them for cardiovascular disease risk factors can also help
identify parents who are at risk,” said Dr. Reis, an Associate Professor of
Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “Given the
long lead time between the detection of risk factors and the onset of
disease, universal screening of children would provide ample opportunity
for intervention in children and their parents. The interventions could
range from diet and exercise to medical treatment.”

Community partners for this study are the Urban League of Pittsburgh
and the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

For more information about Dr. Reis or the Division of General Academic
Pediatrics at Children’s, please visit chp.edu.

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC
chp.edu Continue reading →

Use of a glowing gel that shows kids how well they wash their hands by illustrating bacteria they missed while washing, may significantly improve hand hygiene, according to a study published in the July issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. What makes this particular intervention unique is where it was performed: a children’s hospital emergency department waiting room.

“Waiting for the doctor is usually a tiresome and unproductive experience, but we were able to turn the waiting room into an interactive education center to help kids improve their hand hygiene,” said Dr. Anna Fishbein, a physician and researcher at Northwestern University’s Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and the study’s lead author.

The researchers recruited 60 pediatric patients waiting to be seen by a doctor to participate in the study, which involved the application of Glo Germ Gel to the kids’ hands. Under a black light, the gel creates a yellow glow in areas where dirt and germs are present. After seeing the dirty spots, the participants were asked to wash their hands with soap and water as they normally would. After washing, the researchers put the black light over the kids’ hands again, revealing the spots they had missed when washing. The hands were rated both before and after washing on a four-point cleanliness scale from “very dirty” to “very clean.”

Following the test, about half the children were given a brief lesson in handwashing technique, while the others received no additional education. All the kids were then asked to return two to four weeks later to repeat the test.

During the follow up appointment, 77 percent of the original participants returned to have their hand washing re-evaluted. Researchers found that every child who returned scored significantly better on the cleanliness scale, regardless of whether they received handwashing education.

Proper handwashing technique includes the duration of washing lasting at least 20 seconds, cleaning each hand completely, including between fingers and washing finger nails.

“We found that using the gel alone to illustrate the areas of hands that may not be getting clean, even without verbal education, improves children’s hand hygiene,” said Dr. Mary Groll, also of Children’s Memorial and the study’s principal investigator. “Considering the importance of hand hygiene in disease prevention, the implications of this study will have lasting impact in this community’s effort to decrease the spread of illness.”

“This intervention is effective for improving children’s handwashing ability, even without specific hand hygiene education,” Dr. Groll added.

The study was supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics CATCH Grant and the Children’s Memorial Advocacy Fund. Follow up studies are now underway at three Chicago area community clinics, and the researchers are hopeful for similar results in the clinic setting.

Notes:

Anna B. Fishbein, Itza Tellez, Henry Lin, Christine Sullivan, and Mary E. Groll, “Glow Gel Handwashing in the Waiting Room: A Novel Approach to Improving Hand Hygiene Education.” Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 32:7 (July 2011).

Source:
Tamara Moore

Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Continue reading →

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the government is investing $2.6 million in a Wait Time Guarantee pilot project for children in need of surgery. This announcement marks another step forward by Canada’s New Government as it continues to work towards ensuring that all Canadians receive essential medical treatment within clinically acceptable waiting times.

“Ultimately, today’s initiative will lead to a Patient Wait Time Guarantee for all children,” said Prime Minister Harper.

The 15-month pilot project, which begins January 2007, will include the development of the first pan-Canadian wait times information system to measure the burden of waiting times for children who need surgery. It will also include the development of a pan-Canadian clinical recourse plan for children whose surgical wait times fall beyond the clinical access guidelines that were proposed by the National Child and Youth Health Coalition and endorsed by the Paediatric Surgical Chiefs of Canada.

The initial focus of the project will be on six key surgical areas: cardiac, cancer, neurology, sight, spinal deformity, and dental treatment requiring anaesthesia. Within one year, one of these areas will be chosen to test a guarantee that will include recourse for patients who are waiting too long.

“As a parent, I know there’s nothing more heart-wrenching than seeing a child suffer,” said the Prime Minister. “Because they’re Canada’s future, our children deserve the best medical care possible delivered as promptly as possible.”

The project, which is the fourth such wait time guarantee initiative announced to date by Canada’s New Government, will be conducted in partnership with Canada’s 16 paediatric academic health science centres under the leadership of the Paediatric Surgical Chiefs of Canada and The Hospital for Sick Children.

Government of Canada – Gouvernement du Canada Continue reading →