Computer training can help schizophrenic patients improve their mental functioning, according to a Yale University School of Medicine study.
Computer training for such things as attention, memory and executive function tasks, combined with work therapy, improved normal working memory performance by nearly 50 percent, compared with patients who received only work therapy.
Reporting in the Archives of General Psychiatry, Morris Bell said computer training may work by stimulating mental activity, which can then enhance learning during work therapy.
Checking up on nursing homes
When it comes to selecting a nursing home, it might be a good idea to steer clear of those that are for-profit, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco have found.
Examining data from state inspections of 13,693 nursing facilities, they reported in the American Journal of Public Health that investor-owned facilities averaged 5.89 deficiencies per home, 46.5 percent higher than not-for-profit facilities and 43 percent higher than public facilities.
“Nursing homes care for many people who are too frail, too sick, too poor and too powerless to choose or even protest their care,’ said professor Charlene Harrington, a psychologist and nurse involved in the study. “We believe that it is unwise to entrust such vulnerable patients to profit-seeking firms.’
More angioplasty evidence
Balloon angioplasty is just as effective as surgery, is easier on the patient and costs about half as much, a Dartmouth Medical School researcher reports.
The study, presented at the Chicago meeting of the Radiological Society of North America and mirroring results of a recent Mayo Clinic heart study, looked at nearly 100 patients who suffered from crampy pain when walking due to artery disease in their legs. About two-thirds of the patients were treated with balloons and stents to open their arteries, and one-third received bypass surgery.
After more than a year of follow-up, the outcomes among the patients were virtually the same, reported Dr. Michael Bettmann, a Dartmouth radiologist. The costs of surgery averaged more than $12,000, and the less invasive angioplasty and stent treatments averaged about $6,500.
“We found the cost differential between surgery and minimally invasive intervention is huge, while there is no significant difference in the effectiveness of treatment,’ Bettmann said. “Also, minimally invasive therapy is far easier on the patient, with a much shorter recovery time compared to surgery.’
