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Recommendations to ease emergency room overcrowding
Reports are surfacing of staff shortages in emergency rooms in smaller communities. There are backlogs of patients waiting in emergency rooms until they are admitted to a hospital ward acute care bed. It is a chain of events and circumstance stemming in part from a shortage of these acute care beds and the result is…
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Prevalence of injuries in young athletes increasing
With increasing numbers of children participating in a greater variety of organized sports, injury patterns seem to be following a pattern seen in professional sports venues. New research presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery in San Diego, finds that serious injuries in young athletes are happening more frequently, and…
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Trends in Acute Inpatient Hospitalizations and Day Surgery Visits in Canada
Advances in surgical technology is reducing the need for inpatient hospitalization. Although the overall number of surgeries have increased over the past decade, surgical hospital admissions are decreasing. The Canadian Institute for Health Information has recently released a report entitled Trends in Acute Inpatient Hospitalizations and Day Surgery Visits in Canada, 1995–1996 to 2005–2006 that…
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Study: antioxidants increase the risk of all-cause death
It is estimated that 80 to 160 million adults take antioxidants in the form of Vitamin A, E and beta-carotene. The premise is that antioxidants will prevent cellular damage from environmental sources maintain their health and thus lead to a longer life. A new study published in the February 28, 2007 issue of the Journal…
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New scanner to evaluate breast tumours
With the growing awareness of the cumulative effects of x-ray radiation, new imaging technologies are being developed to reduce the exposure risk. A new imaging device called SoftScan has recently been approved by Health Canada for breast cancer detection. SoftScan is a non-invasive and painless optical imaging technology, which enables the characterization of breast tumours…
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Portion control's influence on weight gain
Portion sizes and how much we are eating has increased over the last 20 years–that converts to additional calories and additional pounds. Another study supports the growing evidence that it is not hunger but environmental triggers and behaviour that influence our eating habits. Jaime Schwartz, MS,RD, registered dietitian and lead author of this study and…
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Safety of medication use during pregnancy
What do we know about the safety and efficacy of medications when they are used during pregnancy and breastfeeding? What measures do we have in place today and are improvements needed? A new Alliance of health professionals, academia, patients, health care policy experts and industry individuals has been formed to address these issues The Canadian…
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What is pharmacogenomics?
What is pharmacogenomics? What research is taking place in pharmacogenomics right now? What role will it play in patient care as we try to live longer, even following cancer, diabetes, heart & stroke? Pharmacogenomics is an emerging science that integrates the patient’s genomic data so as to personalize treatment and thereby improve the effectiveness and…
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New Canada Food Guide a bust
The new Canada Food Guide was released this week with great fanfare. Various food advocacy groups have sent me their press releases expressing their favourable opinion about the guide. What does the science have to say about these recommendations? Is there a consensus about what constitutes an evidence-based food guide? Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, Medical Director…
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