Penn Medicine: Home Testing for Obstructive Sleep Apnea is Safe and Saves Patients Approximately $600 Compared with …

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SAN DIEGO Home testing for obstructive sleep apnea reduces costs and preserves good clinical outcomes compared to traditional testing in a sleep lab, according to a new study from researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh. The new study was presented yesterday at the American Thoracic Society International Conference in San Diego.

The randomized clinical trial examined 233 veterans undergoing testing with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device while sleeping; 110 of them in the lab and 113 at home. Both groups were overwhelmingly male, with an average age of 52 in the lab-based testing group and 55 in the home-testing group. Home testing consisted of an overnight recording with portable monitors to diagnose and help map a plan to begin CPAP treatment. Cost data were culled from case reports, staff logs, and VA administrative records and were estimated per categorysleep-related, pharmaceutical, laboratory, hospital, and other costs.

The research team was led by Penn Medicines Samuel T Kuna, MD, associate professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and chief of the Sleep Medicine section at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The teams analysis found no evidence of clinical inferiority of home testing when assessed using the Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire. And, the cost of sleep services, measured over 2.75 years, was $564 lower with home testing compared to lab testing.

These data, we believe give further support to the use of to the use of home sleep apnea management, says Kuna. It represents a cost-savings and allows the patient to use the device for the first time in the comfort of their own bed in their own home.

The project was funded by a Health Services Research and Development (HSRD) grant from the Veterans Health Administration.

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Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of theRaymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania(founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and theUniversity of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $4.3 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 17 years, according toU.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $392 million awarded in the 2013 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals byU.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; Chester County Hospital; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2013, Penn Medicine provided$814million to benefit our community.

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Penn Medicine: Home Testing for Obstructive Sleep Apnea is Safe and Saves Patients Approximately $600 Compared with ...

Harvard Medical School/Mass. Eye and Ear Faculty Members to Receive ARVO's Highest Honors

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Newswise BOSTON (May 20, 2014) Two prominent faculty members of the Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology and Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Schepens Eye Research Institute were selected to receive prestigious 2015 achievement awards from The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). These honors were announced during the ARVO 2014 Annual Meeting held May 4 through 8 in Orlando, Florida.

Patricia DAmore, Ph.D., M.B.A., F.A.R.V.O., is the recipient of the 2015 Proctor Medal, honoring her outstanding research contributions to ophthalmology. Established in 1949, The Proctor Medal is named for Dr. Francis I. Proctor, an ophthalmologist who conducted extensive research on the etiology and treatment of trachoma. This prestigious award honors outstanding research in the basic or clinical sciences as applied to ophthalmology. This was the first ophthalmology-related award to recognize basic scientists in the field.

ARVO is honored to have Dr. DAmore, as the recipient of the 2015 Proctor Medal. Her outstanding research on vascular growth and development throughout her career will continue the tradition of superb and highly deserving Proctor Medal recipients. We will all look forward to her presentation at the ARVO 2015 annual meeting, said William Mieler, M.D., F.A.R.V.O., President of ARVO.

Joan W. Miller, M.D., F.A.R.V.O., is the recipient of the 2015 Mildred Weisenfeld Award for Excellence in Ophthalmology recognizing her distinguished scholarly contributions to the clinical practice of ophthalmology. The Mildred Weisenfeld Award for Excellence in Ophthalmology was established as a tribute to Ms. Weisenfeld's outstanding contributions to the field, which include the founding of Fight for Sight in 1946. Dr. Miller is the first woman to ever win this honor.

Dr. Miller's leading-edge research on ocular angiogenesis has changed the lives of vision impaired persons across the globe. She is most deserving of this very important ARVO Achievement Award, said Justine Smith, Ph.D., F.R.A.N.Z.C.O., F.A.R.V.O., Immediate Past President of ARVO.

Dr. D'Amore is the Director of Research at Schepens Eye Research Institute, as well as the Charles L. Schepens Professor of Ophthalmology and Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. An internationally recognized expert in the field of angiogenesis, Dr. D'Amore will present the Proctor Award Lecture at the ARVO 2015 Annual Meeting in Denver Colorado, at which time she will receive the Proctor Medal. The Proctor Lecture will also be published in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.

Dr. Miller is the Henry Willard Williams Professor of Ophthalmology and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, and Chief of Ophthalmology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2002 Dr. Miller became the first woman physician to be appointed Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, and in 2003 she became first woman ever appointed to chair the HMS/Mass. Eye and Ear department. Dr. Miller will receive the Weisenfeld Award and deliver the honorary lecture at the ARVO 2015 Annual Meeting. The Weisenfeld Lecture will also be published in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.

Drs. DAmore and Miller have been at the forefront of angiogenesis and vision research for over three decades. Together, they have made numerous seminal discoveries in the field of ophthalmology forming new paradigms in basic science and successfully translating groundbreaking discoveries into the most compelling benefits of anti-angiogenic therapy. Their foremost transformative contributions include the identification of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as the elusive Factor X that causes pathological blood vessel growth in blinding neovascular eye diseases. These investigations formed the scientific foundations of anti-VEGF therapies, which were first approved for clinical use in 2004 and currently used to treat various cancers and intraocular vascular diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The impact of their research has been extraordinary: more than 500,000 ophthalmic patients in the U.S. and over 1 million worldwide are treated annually with all anti-VEGF agents combined, and it is estimated that two years of anti-VEGF treatment for neovascular AMD reduces visual impairment by 37% and legal blindness by 72%.

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Harvard Medical School/Mass. Eye and Ear Faculty Members to Receive ARVO's Highest Honors

Libertarian to file for Kansas governor

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Libertarian Keen Umbehr has put his name on the November Kansas ballot for governor, saying residents want a government that is fair for all people all the time.

The 55-year-old Alma attorney filed the paperwork and paid a fee Tuesday to make his bid official.

Umbehr says taxes and civil liberties are first on his agenda. His running mate is his son, Dr. Josh Umbehr, a Wichita physician.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, filed last week for their bid for a second term.

Democrat Paul Davis, the current House minority leader, is running for governor with Jill Docking as his running mate, but they have yet to file. The filing deadline is June 2. No other Democrats have entered the race.

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Libertarian Keen Umbehr is preparing to file the paperwork and pay the fee to enter this year's race for Kansas governor.

The Kansas Libertarian Party nominated Umbehr, a lawyer from Alma, during its April convention. His campaign said Umbehr would file for governor Tuesday at the secretary of state's office in Topeka.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, filed last week for their bid for a second term.

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Libertarian to file for Kansas governor

Saying 'I Do' Because of Similar DNA?

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Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter Posted: Monday, May 19, 2014, 4:00 PM

MONDAY, May 19, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Married couples typically have a lot in common, and researchers now say that may extend to their genes.

Spouses tend to be more genetically similar than two people chosen off the street at random, according to a new study.

It's likely this is because people who are genetically similar have more opportunities to meet and mate -- in other words, "birds of a feather flock together," said lead author Benjamin Domingue, a research associate at the University of Colorado-Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Science.

"Genes drive so many things that can structure opportunities and outcomes that determine who we mate," Domingue said. For example, genes may determine whether your potential partner shares your height or weight, or your ethnic background, religion or level of education.

Domingue and his colleagues examined the genetics of 825 white heterosexual American married couples, comparing 1.7 million potential points of genetic similarity.

The results, published May 19 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that spouses share a significant number of genetic similarities, compared to any two random individuals.

This conclusion could end up changing the statistical models scientists use to understand genetic differences between human populations, because such models often assume random mating, the researchers said.

The similarity between married folks is not nearly as deep as that between siblings, though.

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Saying 'I Do' Because of Similar DNA?

First Case Of MERS Contracted On U.S. Soil: Illinois Resident Catches Deadly Virus – Video

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First Case Of MERS Contracted On U.S. Soil: Illinois Resident Catches Deadly Virus
First Case Of MERS Contracted On U.S. Soil: Illinois Resident Catches Deadly Virus First Case Of MERS Contracted On U.S. Soil: Illinois Resident Catches Deadly Virus First Case Of MERS Contracted...

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First Case Of MERS Contracted On U.S. Soil: Illinois Resident Catches Deadly Virus - Video