Month: November 2014

The best thing people who have had a kidney stone can do to prevent more is to drink lots of water, new guidelines say. The guidelines come from the American College of Physicians. The group looked at evidence for treatments and diet changes that doctors sometimes recommend to reduce the risk of second kidney stones. They focused on clinical trials, in which similar patients are randomly assigned to treatments. But there were not many of these. The strongest evidence was for drinking more fluids, enough to produce 2 liters of urine each day. The evidence for this advice was described as moderate to low in quality. Taking thiazide diuretics (“water pills”) also may increase urine flow, the guidelines say. Flushing liquids through the body may make it harder for stones to form.

People who take dabigatran (Pradaxa) to prevent stroke may have more bleeding problems than those taking warfarin (Coumadin), a study finds. But people taking warfarin had a higher risk of bleeding in or around the brain. Dabigatran was first approved in 2010. It reduces stroke risk in people with atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm. Warfarin has been used for this purpose for many years. The new study used Medicare data to look at real-world use of dabigatran. The study included about 9,400 people with atrial fibrillation. About 1,300  were prescribed dabigatran. More than 8,100 received warfarin. Researchers kept track of them for up to a year. In that time, about 9% of those taking dabigatran had major bleeding. About 33% had any bleeding problem. Among people taking warfarin, 6% had major bleeding. About 27% had any bleeding.

Mothers talk to their babies more often than fathers do, and they say more to the girls than to the boys. Those are the main conclusions of a new study of 33 babies and their parents. Babies wore special vests that recorded sounds for up to 16 hours straight. They wore the vests first as newborns. Then the vests were used again to record sounds at about 1 month and 7 months of age. All of the later recordings were done on days when both parents were home. Not only did mothers talk to the babies more than fathers did, but babies also responded more to their mothers than to their fathers. Mothers talked more to daughters than to sons when they were newborn or 1 month old. By age 7 months, this trend was not as strong. Fathers talked slightly more to their sons than to their daughters. However, the difference was small enough that it could have been the result of chance.