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MONDAY, Jan. 13, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- It's a question many aging Americans face: Is it time to replace my aching knee, or should I wait? New research suggests that for far too many patients, the procedure is done either too late or too soon. Much of the success of knee replacement surgery for knee osteoarthritis depends on timing, but a team at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago found that 90% of patients who could benefit from the procedure waited too long to have it, while about 25% of patients who didn't need it underwent the procedure too soon. In most cases, "people are waiting and waiting to have the procedure and losing the most benefit," said lead investigator Hassan Ghomrawi, associate professor of surgery. "When people wait too long, two...

MONDAY, Jan. 13, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- So-called "locker-room talk" among boys can actually be used to promote respect toward girls, a new study reports. Teenage boys are less likely to be abusive or sexually violent in a relationship after they've taken part in Coaching Boys Into Men, a prevention program delivered by athletic coaches as part of sports training, according to research results. They're also more likely to step in if they see someone being disrespectful toward others, researchers found. "Athletic coaches are important mentors and role models for their young athletes," said lead researcher Dr. Elizabeth Miller. "This program leverages the important role of coaches as key adult allies and powerful messengers to prevent violence against women." The program was...

MONDAY, Jan. 13, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Women who exercise throughout life may keep their muscle power as they age, a new study suggests. For the study, researchers from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., examined muscle strength, power and the size and type of muscle fibers in the thighs of three groups of women. Seven women in one group were over 70 and had exercised regularly for nearly 50 years. The second group had 10 women who averaged 25 years of age and also worked out regularly. The third group comprised 10 women over 70 who did not exercise regularly. The over-70 exercisers had more of the "slow-twitch" muscle fibers, the kind of fibers that add to endurance and efficient energy use than women who didn't exercise and young women who did, the researchers found....

MONDAY, Jan. 13, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- One-year survival rates are similar for transplant patients who receive a heart from a donor with hepatitis C or one without the infectious virus, a new study finds. The researchers suggest that using hearts from donors with hepatitis C, a viral infection of the liver, may be safe and could help reduce a U.S. organ shortage. The study included nearly 7,900 adults with heart failure who received heart transplants at 128 U.S. medical centers. Just over 4% received hearts from donors with hepatitis C. A year after their transplant, 90% of patients whose donors had hepatitis C and 91% of patients whose donors were not infected were still alive, the findings showed. The two groups also had similar rates of drug-treated organ rejection, stroke...