For The Media – JAMA Network

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Marzia Lazzerini, Ph.D., email lazzerini@burlo.trieste.it. Chicago – Among children and adolescents with Crohn disease not responding to treatment, use of the drug thalidomide resulted in improved clinical remission after 8 weeks of treatment compared with placebo, according to a study appearing…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Marianna K. Baum, Ph.D., call Maydel Santana-Bravo at 305-348-1555 or email santanam@fiu.edu. Chicago – Long-term (24-month) supplementation with multivitamins plus selenium for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients in Botswana in the early stages of disease who had not received antiretroviral therapy…

Embargoed for Early Release: 10:45 a.m CT Monday, November 18, 2013 Chicago – Horng H. Chen, M.B.B.Ch., of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and colleagues conducted a randomized trial to determine whether, as compared with placebo, the addition of low-doses of the drugs dopamine or nesiritide to diuretic therapy would enhance urine output and preserve…

Embargoed for Early Release: 3 p.m CT Monday, November 18, 2013 Chicago – Stephen J. Nicholls, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, and colleagues determined the effects of varespladib, a drug that inhibits the enzyme secretory phospholipase A2 on cardiovascular risk in patients with…

Embargoed for Early Release: 9:00 a.m CT Monday, November 18, 2013 Chicago – Alan W. Heldman, M.D., of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and colleagues conducted a study to examine the safety of transendocardial stem cell injection (TESI) with autologous mesenchymal stem cells and bone marrow mononuclear cells in patients with ischemic…

Embargoed for Early Release: 9:00 a.m CT Monday, November 18, 2013 Chicago – Joseph Poole, M.D., Ph.D., of the Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, and colleagues studied whether therapy with granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), an agent that functions as a white blood cell growth factor, would improve walking performance in patients with symptomatic…

Embargoed for Early Release: 9:00 a.m CT Monday, November 18, 2013 Chicago – Michael H. Criqui, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues determined the independent associations of coronary artery calcium (CAC) volume and CAC density with cardiovascular disease events. An increasing body of evidence suggests that greater calcium density in…

Embargoed for Early Release: 3:00 p.m CT Sunday, November 17, 2013 Chicago – Jiang He, M.D., Ph.D., of the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, and colleagues examined whether moderate lowering of blood pressure within the first 48 hours after the onset of an acute ischemic stroke would reduce death…

Embargoed for Early Release: 3:00 p.m CT Sunday, November 17, 2013 Chicago – Francis Kim, M.D., of Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, and colleagues evaluated whether early prehospital cooling (lowering body temperature) improved survival to hospital discharge and neurological outcome in cardiac arrest patients with or without ventricular fibrillation (VF). Cardiac arrest can cause brain injury…

Embargoed for Early Release: 1:00 p.m CT Sunday, November 17, 2013 Chicago – Sten Rubertsson, M.D., Ph.D., of Uppsala University, Sweden and colleagues assessed whether cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in which chest compressions are delivered with a mechanical device would result in superior 4-hour survival in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest compared to CPR with manual…

Embargoed for Early Release: 11:00 a.m CT Sunday, November 17, 2013 Chicago – Jose Augusto Barreto-Filho, M.D., Ph.D., of the Federal University of Sergipe and the Clinica e Hospital Sao Lucas, Sergipe, Brazil, and colleagues assessed procedure rates and outcomes of surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR) among 82,755,924 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries between 1999 and 2011….

Embargoed for Early Release: 11:00 a.m CT Sunday, November 17, 2013 Chicago – Michael J. Mack, M.D., of the Baylor Health Care System, Plano, Texas, and colleagues describe the experience in the U.S. with transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), including patient selection, procedural details, and in-hospital and 30-day outcomes following TAVR, a less invasive procedure…

Embargoed for Early Release: 11:00 a.m CT Sunday, November 17, 2013 Chicago – Seth S. Martin, M.D., of the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, Baltimore, and colleagues developed a method for estimating low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels that is more accurate than the standard measure. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol is the…

Embargoed for Early Release: 11:00 a.m CT Sunday, November 17, 2013 Chicago – Hany S. Abed, B.Pharm., M.B.B.S., of the University of Adelaide and Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, Australia and colleagues evaluated the effect of a structured weight reduction program on atrial fibrillation symptoms. “Atrial fibrillation has been described as the epidemic of the new…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 9 A.M. (CT) SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author Amit X. Garg, M.D., Ph.D., call Julia Capaldi at 519-685-8500, ext. 75616, or email julia.capaldi@lawsonresearch.com. Chicago – Among older adults taking a calcium-channel blocker, simultaneous use of the antibiotic clarithromycin, compared with azithromycin, was associated with a small…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 9:30 A.M. (ET) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D., call Katie Delach at 215-349-5964 or email Katie.Delach@uphs.upenn.edu. Washington, D.C. – The U.S. health care system needs a new, audacious goal: limit health care expenditure growth to the growth of national economy. “That is, by…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 9:30 A.M. (ET) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Joanne Lynn, M.D., M.A., M.S., call Ken Schwartz at 571-733-5709 or email Ken.schwartz@altarum.org. Washington, D.C. – “The United States needs arrangements that allow elderly people to live with confidence, comfort, and meaningfulness at a cost that families can afford and…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 9:30 A.M. (ET) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Hamilton Moses III, M.D., call Stephanie Desmon at 410-955-8665 or email sdesmon1@jhmi.edu. Washington, D.C. – An examination of health care in the U.S. finds that despite the extraordinary economic success of many of its participants, the health care system has…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 10 A.M. (CT) MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Nicholas J. Christian, Ph.D., email Allison Hydzik (HydzikAM@upmc.edu) or Cyndy McGrath (McGrathC3@upmc.edu) or call 412-647-9975. In an analysis that included nearly 1,000 patients, self-reported weights following bariatric surgery were close to measured weights, suggesting that self-reported weights used in studies…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 10:00 A.M. (CT) MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Anita P. Courcoulas, M.D., M.P.H., call Andréa Stanford at 412-647-6190 or email Stanfordac@upmc.edu. In 3-year follow-up after bariatric surgery, substantial weight loss was observed among individuals who were severely obese, with most of the change occurring during the first year;…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author Gunnel Henriksson, M.D., Ph.D., email Gunnel.Henriksson@med.lu.se. Autoantibodies are present many years before symptom onset in patients with primary Sjögren syndrome, an autoimmune disease, according to a Research Letter published in the November 6 issue of JAMA. Primary Sjögren syndrome…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Richard L. Kravitz, M.D., M.S.P.H., call Charles Casey at 916-734-9048 or email  charles.casey@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu. Chicago — Among depressed patients evaluated in a primary care setting, use of an interactive multimedia computer program immediately prior to a primary care visit resulted in the…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Christopher Vinden, M.D., call Julia Capaldi at 519-685-8500, ext. 75616 or email Julia.Capaldi@LawsonResearch.Com. To contact editorial co-author Michael J. Zinner, M.D., call Tom Langford at 617-525-6375 or email tlangford@partners.org. Chicago — Surgeons who had operated the night before an elective daytime…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author P. Michael Ho, M.D., Ph.D., call Mark Couch at 303-724-5377 or email mark.couch@ucdenver.edu. To contact editorial author Anne R. Cappola, M.D., Sc.M., call Kim Menard at 215-662-6183 or email kim.menard@uphs.upenn.edu. Chicago — Among a group of men who underwent…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 11:30 A.M. (CT) THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Fausto Feres, M.D., Ph.D., email fferes@lee.dante.br.   Short-term (3 months) vs. long-term (12 months) dual anti­platelet therapy did not result in poorer outcomes on certain measures (death, heart attack, stroke, and bleeding) for patients with coronary artery disease or low-risk…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author Ulrike Bingel, M.D., Ph.D., email ulrike.bingel@uk-essen.de.   The hormone oxytocin may mediate processes such as empathy, trust, and social learning. These are key elements of the patient-physician relationship, which is an important mediator of placebo responses, according to background…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Lisa R. Metsch, Ph.D., call Stephanie Berger at 212-305-4372 or email sb2247@columbia.edu. To contact editorial co-author Jason S. Haukoos, M.D., M.Sc., call Jenny Bertrand at 303-520-9591 or email Jennifer.Bertrand@dhha.org.   Brief risk-reduction counseling at the time of a rapid human immunodeficiency…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Jacob A. Udell, M.D., M.P.H., F.R.C.P.C., call Nicole Bodnar at 416-978-5811 or email Nicole.Bodnar@utoronto.ca. To contact editorial author Kathleen M. Neuzil, M.D., M.P.H., call Monica Graham at 206-302-6072 or email mgraham@path.org.   Receiving an influenza vaccination was associated with a lower…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 6:00 A.M. (CT) THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Jennifer F. Kawwass, M.D., call Janet Christenbury at 404-727-8599 or email Jmchris@emory.edu. To contact editorial author Evan R. Myers, M.D., M.P.H., call Rachel Harrison at 919-419-5069 or email rachel.harrison@duke.edu. Between 2000 and 2010 in the United States the number of…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Bjorn Pasternak, M.D., email bjp@ssi.dk. In an analysis that included more than 40,000 women exposed to the nausea medication metoclopramide in pregnancy, use of this drug was not associated with significantly increased risk of major congenital malformations overall, spontaneous abortion, and…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author James S. Goodwin, M.D., call Raul Reyes at 409-747-0794 or email rareyes@utmb.edu. “No organization recommends prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening in men older than 75 years. Nevertheless, testing rates remain high,” write Elizabeth Jaramillo, M.D., of the University of Texas…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author David J. Cohen, M.D., M.Sc., call Kerry O’Connor at 816-932-8646 or email koconnor@saint-lukes.org. For patients with diabetes and coronary artery disease in more than one artery, treatment with coronary artery bypass graft surgery provided slightly better health status and…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 7 A.M. (CT) WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013 Andrea Morelli, M.D., of the University of Rome, Italy, and colleagues conducted a study to investigate the effect of the short-acting beta-blocker esmolol on the heart rate of patients with severe septic shock and high risk of death. Septic shock is associated with adverse…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 7 A.M. (CT) WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013 Djillali Annane, M.D., Ph.D., of Raymond Poincare Hospital, Garches, France, and colleagues conducted a study to compare the effects of 2 types of intravenous fluids on survival for critically ill patients in an intensive care unit. Thousands of patients in intensive care units (ICUs)…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 7 A.M. (CT) WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013 Laurent Papazian, M.D., Ph.D., of Hôpital Nord, Marseille, France, and colleagues conducted a study to determine whether statin therapy decreased day-28 mortality among intensive care unit patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia. Observational studies have reported that statins improve outcomes of various infections. Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP)…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 7 A.M. (CT) WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013 Zudin A. Puthucheary, M.R.C.P., of University College London, England, and colleagues conducted a study to characterize and evaluate the time course and pathophysiology of acute muscle loss in critical illness. “Survivors of critical illness experience significant skeletal muscle weakness and physical disability, which can…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 10:15 A.M. (CT) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013 Bruno Mourvillier, M.D., of the Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, and colleagues conducted a study to examine whether treatment with hypothermia would improve the functional outcome of comatose patients with bacterial meningitis compared with standard care. Among adults with bacterial meningitis, the…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Justin E. Bekelman, M.D., call Holly Auer at 215-349-5659 or email holly.auer@uphs.upenn.edu.   Justin E. Bekelman, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, and colleagues conducted a study to examine whether single-fraction radiation treatment, shown to be…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Helmut Oettle, M.D., Ph.D., email Helmut.Oettle@charite.de.   Among patients with pancreatic cancer who had surgery for removal of the cancer, treatment with the drug gemcitabine for 6 months resulted in increased overall survival as well as disease-free survival, compared with observation…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 10 A.M. (CT) MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Mary T. Hawn, M.D., M.P.H., call Tyler Greer at 205-934-2041 or email tgreer@uab.edu. To contact editorial co-author Emmanouil S. Brilakis, M.D., Ph.D., call Lisa Warshaw at 214-648-3404 or email Lisa.Warshaw@utsouthwestern.edu.   Emergency surgery and advanced cardiac disease are risk factors for…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 10 A.M. (CT) MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author Kelly K. Hunt, M.D., call Laura Sussman at 713-745-2457 or email lsussman@mdanderson.org. To contact editorial co-author Monica Morrow, M.D., call Courtney A. DeNicola at 646-227-3633 or email Denicolc@mskcc.org.   Judy C. Boughey, M.D., Kelly K. Hunt, M.D., and…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 10 A.M. (CT) MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Karl Y. Bilimoria, M.D., M.S., call Megan McCann at 312-926-5900 or email memccann@nmh.org. To contact editorial author Edward H. Livingston, M.D., call Jim Michalski at 312-464-5785 or email jim.michalski@jamanetwork.org.   A new study published by JAMA questions using the rate…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 6:15 P.M. (CT) FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Anthony D. Harris, M.D., M.P.H., call Karen Lancaster at 410-328-8919 or email klancaster@umm.edu. To contact editorial author Preeti N. Malani, M.D., M.S.J., call Shantell Kirkendoll at 734-764-2220 or email smkirk@med.umich.edu.   The wearing of gloves and gowns by health care…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2013 Investing in Evidence-Based Care for the Severely Mentally Ill In a Viewpoint, Mark Olfson, M.D., M.P.H., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, and colleagues discuss the potential implications of giving 4 million previously uninsured people with severe mental disorders health insurance when…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Mads Wissenberg, M.D., email mads.wissenberg.joergensen@regionh.dk. In Denmark between 2001 and 2010 there was an increase in bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) that was associated with an increase in survival following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, according to a study in the October 2 issue…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Marsha A. Raebel, Pharm.D., call Amy Whited at 303-344-7518 or email Amy.L.Whited@kp.org. To contact editorial author Daniel P. Alford, M.D., M.P.H., call Gina DiGravio at 617-638-8480 or email gina.digravio@bmc.org. In a group of patients who took chronic opioids for noncancer pain…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact JoAnn E. Manson, M.D., Dr.P.H., call Tom Langford at 617-534-1605 or email tlangford@partners.org. To contact Elizabeth G. Nabel, M.D., call Lori J. Schroth at 617-534-1604 or email ljschroth@partners.org. Extended follow-up of the two Women’s Health Initiative hormone therapy trials does not…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 Prevalence of Poorer Kidney Function Increases Among Adults 80 Years of Age and Older Recent studies have shown that older adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD; defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate [GFR; a measure of kidney function] of less than 60 mL/min/1.73 m2)…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Jeffrey J. Perry, M.D., M.Sc., call Jennifer Ganton at 613-798-5555, ext. 73325, or email jganton@ohri.ca. To contact editorial co-author David E. Newman-Toker, M.D., Ph.D., call Stephanie Desmon at 410-955-8665 or email sdesmon1@jhmi.edu. Researchers have developed a simple clinical decision rule that…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author Timothy W. Jones, M.B.B.S., F.R.A.C.P., M.D., email Tim.Jones@health.wa.gov.au. To contact editorial author Pratik Choudhary, M.B.B.S., M.R.C.P., M.D., email pratik.choudhary@kcl.ac.uk.   Use of an insulin pump with a sensor that suspends insulin delivery when blood glucose falls below a set…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Sarah D. Berry, M.D., M.P.H., call Jennifer Davis at 617-363-8282 or email jdavis@hsl.harvard.edu. A second bone mineral density (BMD) screening four years after a baseline measurement provided little additional value when assessing risk for hip or other major osteoporotic fracture among…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Stephen P. Messier, Ph.D., call Will Ferguson at 336-758-5390 or email ferguswg@wfu.edu. Among overweight and obese adults with knee osteoarthritis, combining intensive diet and exercise led to less knee pain and better function after 18 months than diet-alone and exercise-alone, according…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Renee Y. Hsia, M.D., call Elizabeth Fernandez at 415-514-1592 or email Elizabeth.Fernandez@UCSF.edu. ================================ “Emergency department (ED) use has been affected by insurance patterns over time and will likely be further affected by expansions of coverage from health care reform.” Uninsured patients…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Richard Saitz, M.D., M.P.H., call Gina DiGravio at 617-638-8480 or email gina.digravio@bmc.org. To contact editorial author Patrick G. O’Connor, M.D., M.P.H., call Helen Dodson at 203-436-3984 or email helen.dodson@yale.edu. ============================= Persons with alcohol and other drug dependence who received chronic care…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author Leo Dunkel, M.D., Ph.D., email l.dunkel@qmul.ac.uk.   “Monitoring of linear growth is a well-established part of pediatric health care in the developed world. Although monitoring aims to support early diagnosis and timely treatment of disorders affecting growth, such disorders…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Philippe Mathurin, M.D., email Philippe.Mathurin@chru-lille.fr. To contact editorial co-author Jonathan M. Fenkel, M.D., call Katharine Krauss at 215-955-5507 or email katharine.krauss@jefferson.edu.   Four weeks of treatment with a combination of the drug pentoxifylline and the corticosteroid prednisolone did not improve 6-month…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Mary Reed, Dr.P.H., call Janet Byron at 510-891-3115 or email Janet.L.Byron@kp.org.   Among patients with diabetes, use of an outpatient electronic health record (EHR) in an integrated healthcare delivery system was associated with modest reductions in emergency department visits and hospitalizations,…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Naomi S. Bardach, M.D., M.A.S., call Leland Kim at 415-502-NEWS or email Leland.Kim@ucsf.edu. To contact editorial co-author Rowena J. Dolor, M.D., M.H.S., call Sarah Avery at 919-660-1306 or email sarah.avery@duke.edu. A pay-for-performance program in electronic-health-records-(EHR)-enabled small practices led to modest improvements…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Laura A. Petersen, M.D., M.P.H., call Graciela Gutierrez at 713-798-4710 or email ggutierr@bcm.edu. In an examination of the effect of financial incentives on hypertension care at 12 outpatient clinics, physician-level (individual) financial incentives, but not practice-level or combined incentives, resulted in…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 4:45 A.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Stephen J. Nicholls, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., email stephen.nicholls@sahmri.com. To contact editorial co-author Jean-Claude Tardif, M.D., call Marie-Josee Nantel at 514-376-3330, ext. 2641; or email Marie-Josee.Nantel@icm-mhi.org. CHICAGO – Among patients with prehypertension and coronary artery disease, use of the renin (an enzyme…

EMBARGOED FOR EARLY RELEASE: 4:30 A.M. (CT) SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Philippe Gabriel Steg, M.D., email gabriel.steg@bch.aphp.fr.   CHICAGO – Use of the novel anticoagulant otamixaban did not reduce ischemic events compared with unfractionated heparin plus eptifibatide but increased bleeding among patients with non–ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes undergoing a percutaneous…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 Hepatitis B Immunization Program in Taiwan Associated With Reduction in Chronic Liver Disease Deaths “Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection causes infant fulminant hepatitis (IFH), and chronic HBV infection may progress to chronic liver disease (CLD) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Taiwan launched a nationwide HBV immunization…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Stanley Zlotkin, M.D., Ph.D., call Caitlin McNamee-Lamb at 416-813-7654, ext. 201436 or email caitlin.mcnamee-lamb@sickkids.ca. To contact editorial author co-author Andrew M. Prentice, Ph.D., email andrew.prentice@lshtm.ac.uk. CHICAGO – Children in a malaria-endemic community in Ghana who received a micronutrient powder with iron…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Judith Spijkerman, M.D., email j.spijkerman@umcutrecht.nl. To contact editorial author Katherine L. O’Brien, M.D., M.P.H., call Tim Parsons at 410-955-7619 or email tmparson@jhsph.edu. CHICAGO – The use of 4 different 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine immunization schedules in healthy term infants resulted in…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact corresponding authors Guang Ning, M.D., Ph.D., email gning@sibs.ac.cn; Wenhua Zhao, Ph.D., email whzhao@ilsichina.org; or Weiqing Wang M.D., Ph.D., email wqingw@hotmail.com. To contact editorial author Juliana C. N. Chan, M.D., F.R.C.P., email jchan@cuhk.edu.hk. CHICAGO – A study based on a nationally representative…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Clara K. Chow, Ph.D., email cchow@georgeinstitute.org.au or call Veronica McGuire at 905-525-9140, ext. 22169; or email vmcguir@mcmaster.ca. CHICAGO – In a study that included more than 140,000 participants from17 countries of varying income levels, researchers found a large gap between both…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact Simon Thom, M.B., B.S., M.D., email s.thom@imperial.ac.uk. To contact editorial author J. Michael Gaziano, M.D., M.P.H., call Tom Langford at 617-534-1605 or email tlangford@partners.org. CHICAGO – In a randomized trial that included about 2,000 patients with or at high risk of…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013 Reduction Seen in Rates of Gastroenteritis Hospitalizations in Older Children and Adults Since Implementation of Infant Rotavirus Vaccination “Implementation of infant rotavirus vaccination in 2006 has substantially reduced the burden of severe gastroenteritis among U.S. children younger than 5 years,” write Paul A. Gastanaduy, M.D.,…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author Taylor S. Riall, M.D., Ph.D., call Raul Reyes at 409-747-0794 or email rareyes@utmb.edu. To contact editorial co-author Karl Y. Bilimoria, M.D., M.S., call Marla Paul at 312-503-8928 or email marla-paul@northwestern.edu. CHICAGO – In an analysis of a procedure used…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author Lu Qi, M.D., Ph.D., call Todd Datz at 617-432-8413 or email tdatz@hsph.harvard.edu; to contact corresponding author Alessandro Doria, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., call Jeff Bright at 617-309-1957 or email Jeffrey.bright@joslin.harvard.edu. CHICAGO – Researchers have identified a previously unknown genetic locus…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact J. Michael McWilliams, M.D., Ph.D., call David Cameron at 617-432-0441 or email david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu. CHICAGO – Payment incentives implemented with a commercial accountable care organization (ACO) initiative in Massachusetts –Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Alternative Quality Contract (AQC) – were associated with lower…

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 P.M. (CT) TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013 Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author Shyamasundaran Kottilil, M.D., Ph.D., call Anne Oplinger at 301-402-1663 or email AOplinger@niaid.nih.gov. CHICAGO – Treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection with the interferon-free regimen of sofosbuvir and ribavirin resulted in a high sustained virologic response…