* Your patients with allergies may ...

* Your patients with allergies may not be thrilled that prescription-strength allergy medication is now over-the-counter (OTC) according to review findings cited in American Medical novels Of 239 adults surveyed, more than common half said they spent more circulating medium on allergy medications in 2003 after a popular allergy medication was given OTC status in late 2002 principally said they switched to over-the-counter medication because their health insurance plan did not protect prescription allergy medicines or co-payments were increased. About 60 percent of respondent preferr taking their former allergy medication as a prescription.

* Patients with chronic pruritus can perceive noxious stimuli as itchiness. In a subject of attention published in Neurology, noxious stimuli were applied to the skin of 25 patients with atopic dermatitis (lesional and visually nonlesional areas), nine patients with psoriasis vulgaris (lesional areas), and 20 healthy adults (control subjects) The stimuli included mechanical pinpricks, electrical stimuli, contact heat, and injection of a low-pH solution. The stimuli evok pain in the mastery subjects and the patients with psoriasis. However, the patients with atopic dermatitis experienced itch instead of pain. The researchers close that there may be central sensitization for itch in patients with chronic dermatitis.

* Noise--and a fate of it-- may explain to what end many patients have trouble sleeping in a hospital. According to a pres release about a research conducted at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., a nursing team ground that noise dosimeter readings in a thoracic surgery unit were as high as 113 decibels, nearly equivalent to the cacophany made by dint of a jackhammer or chainsaw. The highest on a level of noise was recorded during the 7 a.m. shift change, further clamor also increased during the 11 pm shift change. Noise was reduc on more than 80 percent when the pampers made sleep-promoting changes such as placing foam rubber padding in chart owners on doors and routinely shutting the doors to patients' rooms

* Who are the greatest in number conscientious handwashers? A study published in BMJ measured a British primary care team's use of soap from dispensers for the same year and found that the couple nurses on the team paid greater attention to personal hygiene than the three physicians. The nourish who washed her hands the in the greatest degree did so at least twice as many times or twice as thoroughly, as the physician who washed the most numerous The researcher notes potential bias because of the traditionally more "hands-on" part of nurses and suggests that the conclusions may not apply to other primary care teams. steady so, it never hurts to wash hands more thoroughly!

* A birth-control pill that can be chewed like candy? As reported in a recently made knowns brief published in Family Practice recently made knowns the U.S. Food and physic Administration (FDA) has approved the use of a chewable, spearmint-flavored version of Ovcon 35 a combination oral contraceptive pill (OCP) The recently made known formulation, which will be marketed subordinate to the same trade name, can be chewed and swallowed, or swallowed whole. The FDA indicated that women should drink at least 8 oz of water immediately after chewing the OCP to make sure that all of the pill is to the full absorbed from the stomach and that residue is not left in the mouth

* It's a "weighty" matter! investigation findings published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report exhibit to that Americans consumed significantly more calories in 2000 than they did in 1971 In an analysis of data from four National Health and Nutrition Examination measure and estimates (NHANES), the Centers for Disease sway and Prevention found that average daily pluck intake increased by 168 kcals in men and 335 kcals in women The increase was attributed primarily to greater daily carbohydrate intake (a 677-g increase in men and a 624-g increase in women)

* A studious mood published in Neurology showed that women who use supplemental vitamin D have a 40 percent lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis than women who do not use correlatives The study examined two cohorts of women from the Nurses' Health research (NHS): NHS, 92,253 women followed from 1980 to 2000; and NH II, 95310 women followed from 1991 to 2001 Participants complet a comprehensive semiquantitative sustenance frequency questionnaire at baseline and then each four years throughout the studious mood The study found no association between the incidence of multiple sclerosis and vitamin D intake from subsistence alone. A stated limitation of the meditation was the inability to assess the drifts of vitamin D intake independently from the use of multivitamins.

* When your patients with arthritis say they can predict the weather based in succession their symptoms, are they right? Well, they just might be. As reported in Family Practice recently made knowns a study of 147 someones in the Barcelona area compared weather changes with reports of arthritis symptoms. The research subjects included 79 patients with osteoarthritis, 14 patients with fibromyalgia, 12 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and 42 someones with no history of rheumatic disease. The two-year reflection showed a link between rising temperatures and decreased joint pain in all patients with rheumatic disease. Rising temperatures also present the appearanceed to correlate with improved functional capacity, object in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Changes in barometric influence and relative humidity seemed to affect sole patients with osteoarthritis.