The 24 subjects, half of whom were experienced singers, were monitored using electrocardiograms while they listened to five random tracks of classical music, including Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Verdi's La Traviata. As volume increased, so did the subject's blood pressure, heart rate, and blood flow. Long melodies led heart rhythms to synchronize with the tempo. And during a two-minute silence, breathing and blood pressure dropped.
The authors, who have done similar research before, hope their findings will show how music therapy can help in rehabilitative medicine. The paper was published in the journal Circulation.
- Heather J. Chin
The study examined 5,434 outpatient medical records from 19 community-based and four academic medical centers that offered primary care services, as well as the centers' methods of documentation - paper records, electronic medical records, or partial electronic records. Eleven blood tests and three screening tests - mammographies, Pap smears, and fecal occult blood matter - were examined in patients who were between 50 and 69 years old when treated.
Out of 1,889 abnormal test results, 135 patients were not informed of them promptly - either within 21 or 90 days, depending on the type of test. That was a failure rate of 7.1 percent. Three medical centers had a zero error rate while the rest ranged up to 26.2 percent.
The authors aim for more awareness of how often these errors occur and how managing results can reduce failure rates and successful malpractice claims from uninformed patients.
- Heather J. Chin
The researchers' work came from reviewing medical records of more than 50,000 people, and looking at how age, race, and diabetes affected patients' fate.
The waiting time for a kidney from a deceased donor has increased in recent years, with especially negative consequences for those over 60. Older people's other health problems can kill them or make them ineligible for a transplant, and they may have fewer friends and relatives willing and able to serve as living donors.
A person's likelihood of hanging on long enough to get a kidney depended on more than just age. Some groups - including women, nonwhites, diabetics, and obese people - were more likely to die in the waiting line. Blood type and the region where the patient lived also were factors.
Patients should use this information to assess their options and increase their chances of survival, the authors said. These options include getting on the waiting list as quickly as possible, moving to a region with a shorter wait time, or seeking a living donor.
- Karen Knee
Calcific tendonitis occurs when calcium deposits form on tendons in the shoulder, most often those of the rotator cuff. It eventually heals on its own, but before it does, it can cause years of shoulder pain and disability. Other treatments, while effective, can cost thousands of dollars, require repeated doctor visits, or entail serious risks like exposure to radiation or tendon rupture.
The new treatment uses ultrasound to precisely locate the calcium deposit. Doctors then numb the patient's shoulder and insert two syringes into the deposit, one to inject a calcium-dissolving saline solution and one to extract the fluid once the calcium dissolves. Many patients experience relief right away.
Compared with an untreated control group, patients who received the treatment had less pain and greater shoulder mobility one month, three months, and one year later. After five years, there was no difference between treatment and control groups, likely because the control group's deposits dissolved on their own. - Karen Knee
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