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The rate of obesity among U.S. women has been i ncreasing , and obesity is associated with an increased risk of surgical site infection (SSI) following cesarean delivery. The optimal antibiotic regimen around the time of cesarean delivery to prevent as SSI in this high-risk population is unknown. Carri R. Warshak, M.D., of the University of Cincinnati, and colleagues randomly assigned obese women (prepregnancy BMI 30 or greater) who had received standard intravenous preoperative cephalosporin (an antibiotic) to receive oral cephalexin, 500 mg, and metronidazole, 500 mg (n = 202), vs identical-appearing placebo (n = 201) every 8 hours for a total of 48 hours following cesarean delivery. The researchers found that the overall rate of SSI (defined as any superficial incisional, deep incisional, or organ/space infections within 30 days after cesarean delivery) was 10.9 percent. Surgical site infection was diagnosed in 6.4 percent of the women in the cephalexin-metronidazole group vs 1...

A lady eradicating a tick from her arm. Credit score: American Academy of Dermatology As tick populations develop and unfold throughout the nation, their prevalence is growing the general public's threat for some troubling illnesses. Of those illnesses, say dermatologists from the American Academy of Dermatology, Lyme illness, Rocky Mountain noticed fever, Powassan virus and alpha-gal syndrome -- a mysterious pink meat allergy -- are among the many most critical. "Though most ticks don't carry illness, it is essential to be aware of those dangers and hold a watch out when you're outdoor," stated board-certified dermatologist Lindsay Strowd, MD, FAAD, an assistant professor of dermatology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Middle in Winston-Salem, Nor...

"ILCs are not very abundant in the body but, when activated, they secrete large amounts of immune factors," says Jandus, an investigator at the Ludwig Lausanne Branch. "In this way, they can dictate whether a response will be pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory" -- whether it stimulates an immune attack or suppresses it. These recently discovered cells come in three flavors -- ILC1, 2 and 3 -- and have been shown to play a role in inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Their role in cancer has, however, remained unclear. To address that question, Jandus and her colleagues began with the observation that one subtype of the cells, ILC2s, are abnormally abundant and hyperactivated in patients diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Because this particular blood cancer can be treated and cured, the researchers could examine ILC2 immunology in patients when they had active APL and compare it to that of patients in remission. "Our analyses sug...

In a 12-week, randomized trial, half the women were enrolled in a physical activity intervention program tailored to each person's interests and abilities and incorporating wearable activity devices, while the other half were assigned to a control group that received emails addressing women's health topics, healthy eating, stress reduction and general brain health. "Whether or not they receive chemotherapy , many breast cancer survivors experience a decline in brain function that impacts memory, thinking and concentration," said Sheri Hartman, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and co-director of the diet and physical activity shared resource at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. "The women who participated in the physical activity intervention experienced a significant improvement in cognitive processing speed and some improvements in their perceived mental abilities. This study supports the idea that exercise could...

Whole sleep deprivation or partial sleep deprivation can produce scientific enchancment in despair signs inside 24 hours. Credit score: © igorp17 / Fotolia Sleep deprivation -- usually administered in managed, inpatient settings -- quickly reduces signs of despair in roughly half of despair sufferers, in accordance the primary meta-analysis on the topic in almost 30 years, from researchers on the Perelman College of Drugs on the College of Pennsylvania. Partial sleep deprivation (sleep for 3 to 4 hours adopted by pressured wakefulness for 20-21 hours) was equally as efficient as complete sleep deprivation (being disadvantaged of sleep for 36 hours), and medicine didn't seem to considerably affect these outcomes. The outcomes are revealed at the moment within the  Journ...

"It's very rare, especially with such a large class size," says Chiara Gamberi, an affiliate assistant professor of biology and part-time faculty member in Concordia's Faculty of Arts and Science. This July,  Frontiers in Microbiology  published an article co-authored by 106 of Gamberi's undergrad students. It was part of an ambitious pedagogical initiative in the Department of Biology. "Human Gut Microbiota: Toward an Ecology of Disease" is a review of the primary literature and latest discoveries on the interactions between gut microbiota and the human host. 'Strength in numbers' The idea for the project came out of Gamberi's desire to give her students an opportunity to improve their writing. She also wanted to provide them with the kind of individual guidance she supplies in smaller, more senior classes. "With just over 100 students, I figured we had strength in numbers," Gamberi says. She divided them into group...

The findings are an important step toward a potential new weapon in the fight against a sexually transmitted disease that affects millions of people around the globe, with nearly 80 million new cases estimated each year. The pathogen that causes the disease,  Neisseria gonorrhoeae , is considered a "superbug" because of its resistance to all classes of antibiotics available for treating infections. Gonorrhea is highly damaging to reproductive and neonatal health if untreated or improperly treated. It can lead to endometritis, pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, epididymitis and infertility. Also, babies born to infected mothers are at increased risk of blindness. More than half of infected women don't have symptoms, but those asymptomatic cases can still lead to severe consequences for the patient's reproductive health, including miscarriage or premature delivery, said OSU College of Pharmacy researcher Aleksandra Sikora. Subjecting  N. gonorrh...

The researchers discovered tiny bits of molecular material -- which they named "add-ons" -- on the outer edges of the protein interface that customize what a protein can do. They chose the name because the add-ons customize the interface between proteins the way software add-ons customize a web interface with a user. While it's long been known that proteins have an interface region where they connect with other proteins, it's not been clear exactly how key proteins are able to find each other within a crowded cellular environment that may contain tens of thousands of other proteins. Now, researchers at The Ohio State University and the University of Regensburg report in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  that it's the add-ons that enable proteins to connect exclusively with the right dedicated partner. Florian Busch, a postdoctoral researcher in chemistry and biochemistry at Ohio State and co-author of the study, called the existence of...

Many countries are currently considering switching from classic Pap tests to primary HPV tests for cervical cancer screening, based on the strong evidence linking cervical abnormalities and infection with certain HPV types, and data suggesting that HPV tests detect more high-grade precancerous lesions. However, no study has yet compared the different methods in a population in which younger women had been offered prior HPV vaccination. In the new Compass pilot study, researchers randomized cervical samples from 4,995 women aged 25-64 in Australia, in a 1:2:2 ratio, to be analyzed by either cytology (with HPV testing of low-grade abnormalities), HPV testing with partial genotyping of the virus for the highest risk types HPV16 and 18, and cytology (for participants with other high-risk HPV genotypes), or HPV testing with partial genotyping and dual-stained cytology. In the first screening round of the trial, the authors assessed the rates of women being referred for further testing...

Home blood pressure monitoring is currently recommended for people with high blood pressure so health professionals can make necessary adjustments to treatment. Previous research has shown that self-monitoring reduces clinic blood pressure by a small but statistically significant amount, but how best to implement it and for which patients it might be most useful remain unclear. In this new study, researchers searched the existing medical literature for randomized trials that included self-monitoring of blood pressure in people with high blood pressure . They then used individual patient data from 25 studies, with up to 10,487 patients in total, to evaluate the effect of self-monitoring on blood pressure levels. Overall, self-monitoring was associated with a clinic measurement of systolic blood pressure that was reduced by 3.2 mmHg (95% confidence interval [CI] -4.9 to -1.6) compared to usual care at 12 months. The effect, however, was strongly influenced by the intensity of prof...