负责救治众议员Gifford的外科医生从战地医学获得线索
USA Today (1/10, Sternberg) 报道：“远在黎巴嫩，伊拉克和阿富汗作战的战地医生处理严重脑损伤的经验给负责救治众议员Gabrielle Giffords的外科医生带来灵感。”大学医学中心的G. Michael Lemole周日说“救治Giffords和类似病人的关键是尽快减小密闭颅腔内的压力”，一种“能使我们救活受到严重爆破外伤的士兵的技术”，Lemole补充道“是移除Giffords颅骨左侧的一块楔形区域，这块区域之上已经被子弹打穿了。”特别的，“1981年当里根总统的新闻秘书James Brady遭到枪击后，外科医生们吸除了他大约25%的脑组织以清除子弹和颅骨碎片”，“不过——”Lemole说“现在我们已经知道在术中不需要挖掉周围，破坏那么多脑组织了”。
用处方提醒器来帮助患者的新技术
Los Angeles Times (1/11, Dance) 报道：“新的装置能够帮助患者按时服药并改进新药临床实验的结果”。新型药片将“向一个记录器或智能电话报告进入口腔并落进胃里的药物种类和数量。未来他们甚至能够报告患者心率等其他身体数据”。“下一代药片将是关于依从性的：就像医生讲话一般——患者趋向于遵从医嘱（或不遵医嘱）”。
另一条来自Los Angeles Times (1/11, Dance)报道：“除了梦想更高科技的药片，科学家们也在为非常规口服给药途径而努力”，以取代必须以注射或输液的方式使药物直接进入血液的方法”。研究者们希望“抛弃那些不舒服的、耗时的、以扎针为基础的治疗方法，代之以轻松的，不痛苦的药泵给患者使用”。
**在屏幕前的时间可能与心脏病风险增大相关
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Los Angeles Times (1/10, Roan)“加强针”博客报道：“每天在电脑屏幕、电视屏幕或者视频游戏屏幕前花费2个或2个以上小时，心脏病的风险会显著增大”，这一结论来源于发表在《美国心血管病学院杂志》上的一篇研究。研究者们“检查了4512名成人的数据。屏幕时间被定义为观看电视、DVD，玩视频游戏和休闲时间玩电脑。”
HealthDay (1/10, Reinberg)报道“经过4.3年随访，这些人中有325名死亡，215名发生了心血管事件”。
MedPage Today (1/10, Neale)报道：研究者们“发现那些每天在屏幕前花费4个小时以上的人比那些花费时间少于2小时的人心血管事件的发生率高2倍以上。”研究者们同时发现“经过平均4年随访，那些在屏幕前花费时间最长的人死亡的风险同时升高”。HeartWire (1/10, Nainggolan)也做了类似报道。
Surgeon responsible for saving Rep. Gifford took cues from battlefield medicine.</p>
USA Today (1/10, Sternberg) reports, “The surgeon who labored to save Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ (D-AZ) life says he took his cues from surgeons treating massive brain injuries suffered by troops fighting in such distant places as Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.” The University Medical Center’s G. Michael Lemole “said Sunday that the critical step for Giffords and patients like her is to quickly ease pressure within the closed vault of the skull,” a technique that “has allowed us to save soldiers with horrible blast injuries,” added Lemole, “who removed a wedge from the left side of Giffords’ skull, above the area pierced by a bullet.” Notably, “when President Reagan’s press secretary, James Brady, was shot in 1981, surgeons suctioned out 25% of his brain to remove bullet and bone fragments.” But, says Lemole, “we’ve learned we don’t need to dig around, damaging more brain in the process.”
New technology aims to help patients with prescription reminders.
The Los Angeles Times (1/11, Dance) reports on “new devices to help people take their meds on time and improve the results coming out of clinical trials for new drugs.” The new pills “will report back to a recorder or smart phone exactly what kind and how much medicine has gone down the hatch and landed in the stomach. Someday they may also report on heart rate and other bodily data.” The “next generation of pills is all about compliance, as it’s termed in doctor-speak — the tendency of patients to follow their doctors’ instructions (or not).”
Another Los Angeles Times (1/11, Dance) story reports that “in addition to dreaming up higher-tech pills, scientists are also working on drug delivery approaches that don’t go the oral route.” Instead, “patients must receive the medicine as injections or infusions so it directly enters the bloodstream.” Researchers are hoping “to replace the uncomfortable, time-consuming needle-based treatments with drug pumps that are easier and less painful for patients to use.”
Screen time may be linked to increased heart risks.
The Los Angeles Times (1/10, Roan) “Booster Shots” blog reported that “heart disease risks rise dramatically among people who spend two or more hours a day sitting in front of a computer screen, television or video-game box,” according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Investigators “examined data from 4,512 adults. Screen time was defined as TV or DVD watching, video gaming and leisure-time computer use.”
HealthDay (1/10, Reinberg) reported that “during 4.3 years of follow-up, 325 of these people died and 215 had a cardiovascular event.”
MedPage Today (1/10, Neale) reported that the researchers “found those who spent at least four hours of screen time each day were more than twice as likely as those with less than two hours of screen time to suffer a cardiovascular event.” The investigators also found that “people with the most screen time also had an increased risk of death during an average of four years of follow-up.” HeartWire (1/10, Nainggolan) also covered the story.