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The Institute of Medicine released its "To Err is Human" report in 2000. Now that we're nearing the end of 2009, safety experts are examining the extent to which the IOM's recommendations have been implemented.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) raises the risk of subsequent epilepsy (post-traumatic epilepsy: PTE). The risk also correlates with TBI severity, and is higher in the presence of a preexisting seizure disorder. These are fairly well accepted principles. However, much about the relationship between TBI and epilepsy remains unclear.

We rank 19th among industrialized countries in preventable deaths in such conditions as diabetes, epilepsy, stroke, influenza, ulcers, pneumonia, infant mortality, and appendicitis.

Committing to the promise it holds, Rush University Medical Center psychiatrists are now putting into action transcranial magnetic stimulation, the first FDA-approved, non-invasive antidepressant device-based treatment that is clinically proven for depression treatment, making them among the first to test the technique after having helped develop it.

This week’s research news regarding how children are faring in our current economic state underlines the urgent need for our government to take remedial action.

When a patient is diagnosed with heart disease, cardiologists typically focus on treating him or her for obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). However, an article published in the October 20 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology explains that “up to half of women may not have” CAD.

Maybe I’m naïve or maybe I just like to see the good side of people, but since I’ve been a nurse I have always heard the terrible saying that nurses “eat their young.” My experience has been anything but that.

On Monday, the ACC and AHA released the 2009 ACCF/AHA Focused Update on Perioperative Beta Blockade, an addendum to the ACC/AHA 2007 Guidelines on Perioperative Cardiovascular Evaluation and Care for Noncardiac Surgery.

The Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study finds that moderate health improvements such as modest weight loss or the use of anti-diabetic drugs can prevent or lower the incidence of type 2 diabetes in high risk populations.

Researchers traced a molecular cascade that ends up increasing the expression of a novel target, the protein SHP-1, which de-activates PDGF activity and thus triggers cell death.

Shock-wave therapy appears to prompt a metabolic reaction similar to what occurs during the natural bone-healing process, resulting in complete healing of nonunions for approximately 70% of patients in an Italian study within six months.

The new health Internet being designed by federal officials will hopefully be up and running by next year, a move that will allow physicians and patients to more easily exchange health information.

A new study by researchers in Canada shows that a majority of high school freshmen have at least one major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. These factors include obesity and elevated cholesterol levels, two problems that are also common in America. Results of the study may serve as a guide for US physicians to monitor and work to change heart disease and stroke risk in teenagers.

Pain scores were significantly reduced in the blinded phase of a Henry Ford Health System study, with many patients experiencing complete resolution of pain on the drug.

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline PLC today announced that BENLYSTA™ (belimumab) met the primary endpoint in BLISS-76, the second of two pivotal phase 3 trials in seropositive patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

If you're running your practice or business with smartphones using software from Microsoft, I'd seriously recommend upgrading to the latest version: Windows Mobile 6.5. Your fingers will be glad you did.

A study examining the efficacy of Kaiser Permanente Southern California's Healthy Bones Program found that an aggressive, multi-disciplinary approach that more closely involves orthopedic surgeons prevented 970 hip fractures in 2007.

Many patients with advanced cancer require opioids to treat pain. In some patients, this leads to opioid-induced constipation. In a plenary session at the recent American College of Gastroenterology in San Diego, researchers presented data from a phase II study of the novel oral drug NKTR-118 (PEG-naloxol) that showed it increased the frequency of spontaneous bowel movements (SBMs) without negatively affecting the opioids’ analgesic effects.

The answer may surprise you.

For Verizon Wireless customers, the new Motorola Droid just became the best smartphone option for you

Strong opinions appear on blogs and discussion boards.

Clearly, women live to older ages and are more likely to use medical services than their male counterparts. So, given the premise that it's OK to charge more for heavier users of care, it's not irrational to assume that women can be charged more.

In the latest issue of JAMA is an article questioning the value of breast cancer screening. In it, Professor Laura Esserman analyzes the incidence of early versus advanced breast cancers in an era prior to screening and then sixteen years later, when screening became established.

In contrast to earlier research, new findings from the American Academy of Neurology show that diabetes may slow the progression of memory loss in Alzheimer's patients, not increase it.

The weight gain that is often seen in children taking antipsychotic medications can also have a negative impact on metabolic factors in those children.

Cardiologists will find that these online resources will be beneficial for themselves and their patients.

A researcher at McMaster University, in collaboration with a team of international scientists, has proposed that a “paradigm shift” needs to occur in disease control that focuses more on the impact that human travel can have on the moving of drug-resistant infectious diseases around the world.

In addition to seeking increase in the number of embryonic stem cell lines available for NIH-funded research, the organization hopes to utilize federal funding to enhance research efforts using cells generated through somatic cell nuclear transfer.

Researchers with the German Hodgkin Study Group (GHSG) recently published an update to the GHSG HD9 study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The trial was initiated in 1993, when standard treatment for advanced Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (HL) consisted of cycles of cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (COPP) alternated with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD). The COPP/ABVD regimen was compared with a new regimen that added bleomycin, etoposide, and doxorubicin to COPP.

I finally broke down and made an appointment to have my daughter vaccinated against H1N1 at our pediatrician’s office. I’d straddled the fence for a while – not because of safety concerns, but because I wasn’t convinced it was necessary. You see, I’ve never had a flu vaccination and my spouse gets one every year. We both typically get the flu during the winter months and, for better or for worse, this only functions to make me more secure in my choice.