Medical News

Lower Cognitive Scores – Low B12?

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Medical News: Brain Takes Multiple Hits from Low B12 Levels – in Neurology, General Neurology from MedPage Today

Markers of B12 insufficiency all predicted lower global cognitive scores over nearly five years of follow-up, Christine C. Tangney, PhD, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and colleagues found.

Older Women Have 2X Mortality Risk First Year Post Hip Fx

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Medical News: Mortality High in Year After Hip Fracture – in Orthopedics, Orthopedics from MedPage Today

Older women who experience a hip fracture have a twofold increase in mortality risk in the first year after the fracture, researchers found.

During the 12 months following the fracture, 16.9% of the women died, compared with 8.4% of controls, for an odds ratio of 2.3 (95% CI 1.9 to 2.8), according to Erin S. LeBlanc, MD, of Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Portland, Ore., and colleagues. They researchers adjusted for potential confounders such as age, bone mineral density (BMD), and coexisting conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and stroke.

And the increased mortality risk during the first year remained after further adjustment for specific hip fracture risk factors such as total hip BMD (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.9 to 3.1), the researchers reported online in Archives of Internal Medicine.

Richard Lehman’s Journal Review – August 2011

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BMJ Group blogs: BMJ » Blog Archive » Richard Lehman’s journal review – 8 August 2011

BMJ Group blogs: BMJ » Blog Archive » Richard Lehman’s journal review – 15 August 2011

BMJ Group blogs: BMJ » Blog Archive » Richard Lehman’s journal review – 23 August 2011

BMJ Group blogs: BMJ » Blog Archive » Richard Lehman’s journal review – 30 August 2011

I recently shocked an audience of young doctors by stating that my chance at 61 of having localised prostate cancer stood at about 25%. Since then I have looked at various sources (including Overdiagnosed) and found that according to one study of prostates examined histologically after traumatic death, the true figure may be 60%. So if a urologist decided to do some transrectal biopsies on me and hit the right/wrong spot, I might well have a cancer diagnosis. So what would then be the best nonsurgical management strategy – leave alone, local radiotherapy (brachytherapy), or external beam radiotherapy? The conclusion of this systematic review of different modes of radiotherapy for localised prostate cancer is that nobody actually knows. A most reassuring fact to share with your patients.