The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has just released new recommendations on the quantity and quality of exercise for adults, definitively answering the age-old question of how much exercise is actually enough. The position stand, titled “Quantity and Quality of Exercise for Developing and Maintaining Cardiorespiratory, Musculoskeletal, and Neuromotor Fitness in Apparently Healthy Adults: Guidance for Prescribing Exercise,” reflects current scientific evidence on physical activity and includes recommendations on aerobic exercise, strength training and flexibility.

The energy density of food and drink, portion size, and the number of meals and snacks per day have all been linked to increases in the average daily total energy intake of US adults over the past 30 years, but increases in the number of eating occasions and in portion size have accounted for most of this increase: energy density of food consumed may have actually slightly decreased.

In 2007, Stephen Luby (SPL), Head of the Program on Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Sciences at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDRB) and colleagues studied hand washing behavior in 347 households from 50 villages across rural Bangladesh. Following the results of their study, they concluded that washing of hands with soap, or simply rinsing hands without soap prior to preparation of food can reduce the occurrence of diarrhea in children.

As major cardiac complications occur in a significant proportion of patients with community-acquired pneumonia-pneumonia contracted outside of health care settings-doctors should be more aware of this association to better inform, treat, and manage patients with this infection, especially as this form of pneumonia is the most frequent cause of infectious disease-related mortality in the US causing 60,000 deaths every year.

Cells that lack the protein HMGB1 have a different organization of genetic material than normal cells, which increases their sensitivity to genetic damage and changes the way that information contained within DNA is retrieved. These are the findings of a new study, published on 28 June in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken enforcement action against East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust because it has failed to protect the safety and welfare of people who use its service. The enforcement action is in the form of a Warning Notice which requires the trust to make urgent improvement to patient care. In February this year CQC carried out a routine review of all five hospitals which make up the East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust.

The government’s announcement of temporary measures for next year aimed at preserving financial support for medical students is a step in the right direction, but it must become a long term settlement, medical student leaders said today (Tuesday, 28th June 2011). David Willetts MP, the Minister for Universities and Science, confirmed in a statement to the House of Commons that the government intends to preserve the current arrangements for the NHS Bursary for the 2012 intake.

Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) today announced the launch of Medtronic’s first mobile application for use with implantable cardiac devices. As health care shifts care delivery from outpatient to home, Medtronic is leading the implantable cardiac device industry by offering cutting-edge technology designed to give physicians greater flexibility in monitoring patient data. The CareLink™ Mobile Application allows clinicians to access cardiac device diagnostic and patient data directly from their mobile devices.

Patients treated with sunitinib and sorafenib responded to the flu vaccine, which suggests the agents do not damage the immune system as much as previously feared, according to a study in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Keith Flaherty, M.D., director of developmental therapeutics at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a senior editor of Clinical Cancer Research, said the findings have broad implications beyond questions of patient management.

The ultimate source of some cancers is embryonic cells. Research published in the June 24th Cell, a Cell Press publication, traces the precursor of deadly esophageal cancers to leftover embryonic cells found in all adults. Some people with gastric reflux disease have a greater risk of developing esophageal cancer.

EndoGastric Solutions (EGS), the leader in the emerging field of Natural Orifice Surgery (NOS), today announced that the first patient has been enrolled and treated in the RESPECT study (Randomized EsophyX vs. Sham/Placebo Controlled Trial). The RESPECT trial was designed by co-principle investigators Dr. John Hunter, Chairman of Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, and Dr.

University of Rochester Medical Center researchers have pinpointed two genes that are amplified in the worst cases of esophageal cancer, providing data to support a new investigational treatment that targets those same genes. The study, led by Tony Godfrey, Ph.D., a research associate professor of Surgery at the James P.

Laparoscopic antireflux surgery or taking proton pump inhibitor esomeprazole for chronic GERD (chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease) were both found to result in similar rates of disease remission of five years, researchers from Nantes University, France, reported in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association).

In an evaluation of contemporary antireflux therapies for chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), most patients who received treatment with either the proton pump inhibitor esomeprazole or laparoscopic antireflux surgery achieved and remained in disease remission for 5 years, according to a study in the May 18 issue of JAMA.

An increasingly popular technique for removing lesions associated with Barrett’s esophagus has been deemed a safe and effective treatment option in a study of more than 1,000 resections published this month in the European journal Endoscopy.