Neurologists in the US suggest irregular arm swings while walking could be an early sign of Parkinson’s disease and scientific measurement of such a suspected symptom could help diagnose the disease earlier, giving greater opportunity to slow brain cell damage and disease progression. The study is the work of Dr Xuemei Huang, associate professor of neurology, Penn State Hershey College of Medicine, and colleagues, and a paper on it is published in the current issue of Gait and Posture…

Advocates and experts examine progress made since the Institute of Medicine released its landmark report that called for the elimination of medical errors, or “never events,” ten years ago. Modern HealthCare interviews Helen Haskell, who founded the advocacy organization Mothers Against Medical Error, and examines progress and shortcomings: “Families are still losing loved ones to errors, Haskell explained during a recent conference hosted by Consumers Union. But the biggest difference in the past 10 years is, ‘where once there was denial, we now have tireless leaders…

Cost-effectiveness studies are widely used to guide prescribing policy in many countries, as part of health technology assessment programmes. However, a new study published this week in /PLoS// Medicine/ by Tjeerd-Pieter van Staa and colleagues suggests that cost-effectiveness analyses based on data from randomized controlled trials may not be realistic enough to accurately inform policy…

Surgeons who successfully performed kidney transplants after removing small cancerous and benign masses from the donated organs, have published their results in the December issue of the urology journal BJUI. The technique, carried out by US surgeons at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, could offer a vital lifeline to patients with end-stage renal disease as well as increasing the supply of viable organs…

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that a dietary antioxidant found in such vegetables as broccoli and cauliflower protects cells from damage caused by chemicals generated during the body’s inflammatory response to infection and injury.