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Nearly 75 percent of melanomas are initially detected by patients or other laypeople, so promoting effective skin self-examination (SSE) is a top priority for dermatologists and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Problem is, studies show current SSE training materials -- whether in brochure or online form -- are often ineffective. "Dermatology is a highly visual field, so we need to look more closely at our visual training," said Brigham Young University communications professor Kevin John, who used eye-tracking technology to show that illustrations are actually more effective than photos in helping people spot problematic moles. For this study, recently published in the  Journal of Health Communication , John and colleagues at the University of Utah showed participants SSE brochures, some with illustrated visuals and some with photographic. As with his prior eye-tracking studies, which he has been doing for more than a decade, he focused on people's fixation ...

Principal results were published in the  New England Journal of Medicine  of a global Phase 3 clinical trial in patients with type 1 diabetes treated with sotagliflozin. Sotagliflozin is an investigational new oral drug for patients with type 1 diabetes that has shown promise in improving glucose control without any increase in severe hypoglycemia or diabetic ketoacidosis compared to insulin alone. Among 1,402 trial participants given the drug, sotagliflozin showed clinically meaningful and statistically significant effects on glucose control. Concentrations of hemoglobin A1C, a measure of plasma glucose, were improved. Patients experienced a lower rate of confirmed severe hypoglycemia than observed in patients on placebo and also had weight loss. According to lead investigator Satish Garg, MD, professor of medicine and pediatrics at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, no oral medication has ever been approved for...

"Ecstasy or 'Molly' users in the U.S. are at very high risk for using drugs containing adulterants such as 'bath salts' and methamphetamine," said Dr. Joseph Palamar, PhD, MPH, of the New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (NYU CDUHR). "More information is critically needed on the extent of unknown or unintentional use of these potentially harmful substances." Dr. Palamar's study, "Hair Testing to Assess Both Known and Unknown Use of Drugs Amongst Ecstasy Users in the Electronic Music Dance Scene," published in the  International Journal of Drug Policy , surveyed self-reported past-year ecstasy/MDMA/Molly users attending EDM parties in New York City (NYC), using hair testing to determine the types of drugs participants had consumed. "Hair testing for new psychoactive substances is an important new addition to biological testing. While blood, urine, and saliva are often adequate...

But research in mice and a related pilot study in humans are showing how regular activity and stress reduction could lead to better health in the long run. In the mouse model of lupus, researchers from The Ohio State University found that moderate exercise (45 minutes of treadmill walking per day) significantly decreased inflammatory damage to the kidneys. While 88 percent of non-exercised mice had severe damage, only 45 percent of the treadmill-exercised animals did. And the researchers think they know why: Several biomarkers known to drive inflammation plummeted in the exercise group. To take the research a step further, the team wanted to see what happened to those same biomarkers in lupus mice exposed to a well-established animal model of repeated social disruption known to induce psychological stress -- in particular, daily encounters with a stronger "bully" mouse. The results were almost exactly the opposite -- the inflammatory markers shot up, which caused s...

The study, which is one of the largest on glioblastoma treatment and outcomes, also shows that patients treated at high-volume centers live approximately three and one-half months longer than patients treated at low-volume centers. Dr. Matthew Koshy, corresponding author on the paper, says this difference in outcomes is on par with results seen in phase III clinical trials -- the last of which for glioblastoma was two years ago. "It has been very difficult to find new treatments for glioblastoma, and there has been little progress toward improving outcomes for patients suffering from this type of cancer," said Koshy, radiation oncologist at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System. "To see a significant difference in outcomes, based solely on type of facility, offers strong and, more importantly, actionable evidence that physicians and patients can use today as they consider treatment options." While the researchers say it is not surp...

The study was published last month in an online edition of  Psychiatry Research . Individuals who have had mild or transient psychotic symptoms (such as unusual thoughts, suspiciousness, perceptual disturbances) without using substances such as marijuana or alcohol and have a family history of psychosis or other risk factors are considered at clinical high risk for psychotic disorder. Previous studies have found an association between marijuana use and psychosis in the general population, but none have rigorously examined marijuana's effects in those at greatest risk for psychosis. "Many adolescents and young adults who are at high risk for psychosis smoke marijuana regularly or have a cannabis use disorder," said Margaret Haney, PhD, professor of neurobiology (in Psychiatry) at CUMC and senior author of the paper. "Yet researchers haven't studied the effects of marijuana in this population in a rigorous, controlled manner." In this double-blinded, p...

Experts believe that falls are related to driving in four ways: They can cause physical injury that limits mobility (our ability to move) and interferes with driving performance. Falling can increase the fear of falling, which leads to a reduction in physical activity . Reduced physical activity can weaken our physical strength, which also could reduce fitness for driving. Falls can affect an older adult's mental well-being, making them more fearful and leading to changes in driving behaviors. Falls and difficulty driving may be caused by common factors, such as vision problems. A research team created a study to see whether falls were related to driving risks and behaviors among older adults. Their study was published in the  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society . To test their theory that falls are related to car crashes, crash-related injuries, and changes in driving performance, the researchers reviewed 15 studies of driving behavior among older adults involv...

he novel  ACMSD  mutation was identified during a genetic screening study of 62 PD patients on the Mediterranean island of Menorca, which were matched with 192 ethnicity-matched neurologically normal individuals with no family history of PD. The study was initiated by investigators Eduardo Tolosa and Dolores Vilas, who are enormously grateful to Dr. Casquero and the "Associació de Malalts of Parkinson of Menorca" for her work on diagnoses and patients' recruitment. Genetic variants found in these individuals were checked against various databases to identify normal variations observed in other populations. While researchers found mutations already associated with PD, they discovered one novel mutation in the ACMSD gene in a single patient with no family history of PD and none of the known PD-related mutations found in other populations. "Our findings suggest that a new mutation in the ACMSD gene could be a risk factor for PD. It could lead to the identification o...

Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), which are typically nonprofit technology companies that make it possible for hospitals and health providers to share medical data, are beginning to show their promised value to the health care system, according to "Reducing Medicare spending through electronic health information exchange: The role of incentives and exchange maturity," forthcoming in  Information Systems Research  by Idris Adjerid and Corey Angst, IT professors in Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, and Julia Adler-Milstein of the University of California San Francisco. Many HIEs were created because hospitals needed better ways to exchange medical data. Photocopying, mailing and faxing records were inefficient. The research shows that when HIEs appear in regional markets, there are massive cost savings. For that very reason, there is long-standing interest in implementing HIEs nationally. "We are the first to use nationally representative samples and r...

"Clomiphene citrate ushered in the era of assisted reproduction," wrote Adashi, a professor of medicine at Brown University, in a new paper in  Fertility and Sterility  to mark the drug's 50th anniversary year. "To patients whose only family-building recourse was adoption, clomiphene citrate proved nothing short of life-changing." Still in wide use today, the drug works by modulating estrogen levels in women who are producing too much of the hormone to properly trigger a monthly ovulation cycle. There are many other causes of infertility that require other means to address, Adashi said, but by some estimates there are also millions of people, age 50 and younger, whom Clomid helped to make possible. The World Health Organization lists the drug among the globe's "essential medicines." In the new article, Adashi, who has studied the drug in the lab and the clinic and prescribed it thousands of times over the decades, traces the drug's develo...