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Popular Articles

AIBN And US Researchers Join Forces, Australia
A UQ institute has joined forces with a leading American university to work on research to change the way we live.

Stopping Fatty Change In Heart Cells
Heart failure is one of the world"s most frequent causes of death - caused by conditions such as diabetes and obesity. With people who are overweight, the heart has to do more work in order to pump the blood through the circulatory system and this causes an increase in blood pressure. The heart itself becomes enlarged as the myocardial muscle cells increase in mass. To enable the heart to grow there also has to be an increased supply of energy and oxygen. However, the myocardial muscle cells suffer from a lack of oxygen and energy until such time as there are enough blood vessels to support the tissue.
News of the day
Reports From The White House And Kaiser Family Foundation Address Health Care Disparities
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House Health Czar Nancy Ann DeParle held a discussion of minority health issues at the White House yesterday, where Sebelius "said the Obama administration is committed to addressing the "alarming disparity in the delivery of quality health care"," which she said was necessary to lower costs, the Associated Press reports. The White House also "issued a summary report on minority health care showing that African-Americans are seven times more likely as whites to have HIV/AIDS, that blacks and Hispanics have diabetes rates nearly twice as high as whites, and that black men are 50 percent more likely than whites to have prostate cancer" (Evans, 6/9).
Endocrinology

Support Grows For New Home Based Service For Challenging Mental Patients

A new national service which will provide comprehensive care and support for challenging mental health patients in their own homes following discharge from hospital is being welcomed by lead clinicians and patient advocates. Vicky Wadsworth, head of the mental health department at Roebucks solicitors in Blackburn, which acts on behalf of hundreds of patients, said: "There is a huge gap in care provision that this service can help fill. Health service outreach teams are desperately overstretched and cannot provide the sustained intensive treatment and rehabilitation support that many patients require. In some cases, this means that patients can"t be moved on into the community and so remain confined in secure facilities unnecessarily." Dr Christopher Findlay, a leading community psychiatrist working in Runcorn, said: "There are limits to what Community Mental Health Teams can provide. There are also limited in-patient beds. Any service that offers to work alongside established NHS services to provide intensive safe alternatives to in-patient care is to be welcomed, particularly those that are individually tailored and committed to improved outcomes and the safe social inclusion of patients with mental health difficulties. Working alongside and not replacing existing services is an advantage for responsible clinicians who hope to establish a long term relationship through the journey towards recovery." The service from Gray Healthcare provides sustained support for people who may or may not have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act but who typically have a history of admission, medication and treatment, discharge and re-admission. The service is designed to build self esteem and independence. Patients will be helped to obtain their own tenancy and will then benefit from appropriate support provided by a multidisciplinary team including psychiatric nursing, occupational therapy and psychological services. The majority of patients being referred to the new service are those being considered for discharge from hospital by their responsible clinician under a Community Treatment Order (CTO). This means that the Gray Healthcare clinical team will work closely with NHS staff to create a bespoke care, support and treatment package, tailored to meet the needs and safety of the individual. Jonathan Gray, Chief Executive of Gray Healthcare says: "The Mental Health Act requires us to care for people in the least restrictive environment that is possible and our aim is to help those who have suffered mental illness move from a secure hospital/rehabilitation setting into their own homes with the full range of support necessary to do this safely and successfully. Our goal is a safe and sustainable return to living in the community." Gray Healthcare


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