ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center report that they have used a partial placebo effect to treat psoriasis patients, according to an early study published online today in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
In the study conducted between the dermatology and psychiatry departments, patients were given one quarter to one half of their usual dose of a widely used steroid medication, yet had the same results as a control group.
“Our study provides evidence that the placebo effect can make possible the treatment of psoriasis with an amount of drug that should be too small to work,” said Robert Ader, Ph.D., M.D. , at right, a professor in the University of Rochester’s School of Medicine & Dentistry, in a press release.
Other Health Safety and Recall headlines include:
- A study in Leiden, The Netherlands shows that dosage recommendations for newborns being cared for in an intensive care unit will in the future most likely be based on more individual characteristics rather than just body weight. This is the result of a study conducted by the Dutch Top Institute Pharma supervised by Leiden University’s Prof M. Danhof and the Rotterdam Erasmus Medical Centre/Sophia Children’s Hospital’s Prof D. Tibboel.
- At the ten-year anniversary of the landmark study “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System,” Dr. Robert M. Wachter, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, spoke to The New York Times about next steps in the patient safety movement, including what happens when staff does not follow safe patient policies.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a voluntary recall of an Acer notebook computer model because an internal microphone wire under the palm rest can short circuit and overheat.