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Ever Shorter Hospital Stays After Orthopaedic Operations Present A Major Challenge To Rehabilitation - Pre-operative Training Can Improve Results
"Rehabilitation medicine is facing a major challenge today," says Dr. Karsten Dreinh̦fer (Head of Department for Orthopaedics and Orthopaedic Surgery, Medical Park Berlin Humboldtm̿hle, Germany) speaking at the EFORT Congress in Vienna. "Not only in Germany but in many other European countries too, the trend is towards the shortest possible stay in an acute hospital after orthopaedic or trauma-related surgery. This means patient care is shifting increasingly to the rehabilitation sector, which must then be appropriately equipped and trained." But demographic developments are also presenting a significant challenge to orthopaedic rehabilitation: with modern surgical procedures, surgery such as joint replacement operations can be carried out on more and more patients, including the elderly and the very elderly, who then require special care and mobilization assistance, says Dr. Dreinh̦fer, who has been appointed to the professorship for musculoskeletal rehabilitation, prevention and health care research at the Charit̩ in Berlin. Broad interdisciplinary cooperation is also necessary, he says. "Multimodal concepts have proven to be especially effective in numerous diseases of the musculoskeletal system," says Dr. Dreinh̦fer, speaking of a further important trend. "This involves orthopaedics working together with other disciplines, such as physiotherapy, psychotherapy and sports sciences, to be able to help effectively such common complaints as back pain." He says it is also important to cooperate across various health sectors. "It is increasingly important to optimise, via treatment pathways, the transition from the pre-inpatient sector, to acute care and to rehabilitation."

A Rush Of Blood To The Head - Anger Increases Blood Flow
Mental stress causes carotid artery dilation and increases brain blood flow. A series of ultrasound experiments, described in BioMed Central"s open access journal Cardiovascular Ultrasound, also found that this dilatory reflex was absent in people with high blood pressure.
News of the day
BIO Commends NIH On New Stem Cell Research Guidelines
The Biotechnology Industry Organization released the following statement in response to the National Institutes of Health"s (NIH) final guidelines on federal funding of stem cell research, which includes embryonic stem cell research. The new guidelines go into effect today.
Mental Health

Economist Examines 'Snail-Fever' In China

The Economist examines schistosomiasis in China. The disease, which is also called snail-fever, is the "world"s second-most prevalent tropical disease after malaria, affecting 207 million people of whom 726,000 are Chinese, according to the most recent official figures, from 2004," the Economist reports. Although "Chairman Mao" ordered a "fierce, if rudimentary, campaign in the late 1950s when cases neared 12 millionò€¦ subsequent efforts to eradicate the disease failed, despite the arrival in the 1980s of Praziquantel, a drug scientists say is highly effective in controlling the disease but fails to prevent reinfection," the magazine writes. However, earlier this year Chinese researchers said they had reduced infection rates to less than 1 percent in two villages by improving sanitation and using tractors instead of water buffaloes, a parasite host. According to the Economist, "Nine-tenths of the world"s schistosomiasis sufferers live in Africa and studies have shown the disease leaves sufferers more susceptible to HIV infection." China has the potential to take a lead in addressing the disease in Asia and Africa, but first it must get to the bottom of its own problems in tackling the disease, experts say. Some of the challenges of dealing with schistosomiasis in China include: ignorance about the disease and treatment. The Economist writes, "Some people refuse to take Praziquantel because they believing it will hamper their ability to work. Students and migrant workers often miss their chance of treatment. Villagers also rail against the government policy of using molluscides to kill the snails. They pay workers not to scatter the powder in the water as it depletes shrimp stocks and endangers eel farms." In addition, "Deeper flaws are emerging," which include the high costs of tractors, the effect of the economic slowdown on migrant workers and "the impact of that emblem of controversy, the Three Gorges Dam," the Economist writes, adding that scientists are concerned that changes in water levels along the Yangzi river could create new snail habitats in areas where the disease did not exist previously. In the long term, experts say the solution is to find a vaccine (Economist, 6/18). This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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