ACP HospitalistWeekly
Welcome to the October 8 issue of ACP Hospitalist™ Weekly, a hospital medicine update published every Wednesday by the American College of Physicians.
Click here to view longer summaries of the stories listed below, or click on the links at the end of each story.
In the News for the Week of 10-8-08
Highlights
- Pre-surgery beta-blockers reduce mortality in COPD patients
- Sepsis study reveals gap between perception and practice
Infection control
- AHRQ funds program to reduce ICU infections
Annals of Internal Medicine
- Guidelines for sexually transmitted infections, colorectal cancer screening
- Newest stool DNA test shows promise for detecting colon polyps and cancer
- High levels of growth hormone linked to increased prostate cancer risk
- Call for papers
FDA news
- New genetic test can identify flu strains in four hours
- New test can detect MRSA, SA within one hour
- Preliminary study suggests epoetin alfa heightens stroke risk
- No apparent risk of ALS with statins
From ACP Internist
- On the blog: Study dovetails with passage of mental health parity bill
Cartoon caption contest
- Put words in our mouth
Highlights
.Pre-surgery beta-blockers reduce mortality in COPD patients
Contrary to common practice, giving beta blockers before surgery may significantly reduce mortality in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to a prospective study. More…
.Sepsis study reveals gap between perception and practice
There is a significant gap between actual practice and perceived practice with respect to sepsis treatment in intensive care units, according to a one-day, country-wide sample study in Germany. More…
Infection control
.AHRQ funds program to reduce ICU infections
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has committed $3 million to a three-year patient safety endeavor aimed at reducing central line-associated bloodstream infections in hospital intensive care unit patients. More…
Annals of Internal Medicine
.Guidelines for sexually transmitted infections, colorectal cancer screening
In the current issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that all individuals at increased risk for sexually transmitted infections get high-intensity behavioral counseling and issues updated recommendations on colorectal cancer screening. More…
.Newest stool DNA test shows promise for detecting colon polyps and cancer
The newest stool DNA test is twice as effective at detecting colon cancer and polyps than either the fecal occult blood test or an older version of the DNA test. More…
.High levels of growth hormone linked to increased prostate cancer risk
Researchers reanalyzed data from 12 studies to determine the link between IGF-I and its associated binding proteins (IGFBPs) with risk of prostate cancer. More…
.Call for papers
The Annals of Internal Medicine invites submissions of papers reporting on studies that will be presented at the March 2009 American College of Cardiology meeting. More…
FDA news
.New genetic test can identify flu strains in four hours
The FDA last week approved a genetic test that can diagnose influenza strains within four hours, instead of the four days that previous tests took, the CDC said in a release. More…
.New test can detect MRSA, SA within one hour
The FDA last week approved a test that can detect methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and staphylococcus aureus (SA) within one hour. More…
.Preliminary study suggests epoetin alfa heightens stroke risk
Epoetin alfa (Aranesp, Epogen and Procrit) may increase the risk of death for acute ischemic stroke patients, according to preliminary results from a German study. More…
.No apparent risk of ALS with statins
Statins don't appear to increase the incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a new FDA analysis found. More…
From ACP Internist
.From the blog: study dovetails with passage of mental health parity bill
Long-term therapy is best for those with complex mental illness—and the treatment may actually be covered by insurance now that Congress has passed a parity bill. More on this, plus a new installment of Medical news of the Obvious on ACP Internist's blog. More…
Cartoon caption contest
.Put words in our mouth
ACP HospitalistWeekly wants readers to create captions for our new cartoon and help choose the winner. More…
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