Feature Channels: Story Ideas: Medicine

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Susan Rausch, health educator at the University of Arkansas, offers a five-step plan for quitting smoking, even when stressed out.

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Researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have developed a new assessment tool to measure the severity of symptoms that can complicate stem cell transplantation. The tool assesses symptoms resulting from chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD), and was presented with supporting research at the 2010 Bone and Marrow Transplant Tandem Meeting.

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AER Journal—When “T” started kindergarten, she was an independent, confident child who was fully able to move about in her new environment—even though she was the only visually impaired child in her school and used a long cane. She was introduced to the long cane at the early age of 14 months to foster her independence of mobility and functioning.

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A new study using mice suggests that a repeated stressful situation that triggers the animals’ natural “fight-or-flight” response may actually enhance their ability to fight disease when re-exposed to the same pathogen.

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A drug called aprepitant can dramatically reduce nausea and vomiting in bone marrow transplants, a study has found.

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Reversing a protein deficiency through gene therapy can correct motor function, restore nerve signals and improve survival in mice that serve as a model for the lethal childhood disorder spinal muscular atrophy, new research shows.

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Marking a shift in decades of thought on the cause of osteoporosis, researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have identified an age-related mechanism – not a decrease of the hormone estrogen – as the primary culprit.

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Vitamin D deficiency is almost universal among kidney disease patients who have low blood protein levels and who start dialysis during the winter, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The research identifies a group of patients who are at extremely high risk of being deficient in vitamin D and provides some clues as to why the deficiency occurs in these individuals.

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A comparison of two strategies for treating severe sepsis or septic shock finds that using lactate levels measured in blood samples showed a similar short-term survival rate compared to a treatment regimen using central venous oxygen saturation measured using a specialized catheter, according to a study in the February 24 issue of JAMA.

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An analysis of six tests that are used to measure platelet function and help gauge the effectiveness of antiplatelet drugs for patients undergoing a cardiac procedure such as a coronary stent implantation found that only three of the tests were associated with a modest ability to predict outcomes such as heart attack or death, according to a study in the February 24 issue of JAMA.

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Patients hospitalized with mild to moderate community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) should not be routinely prescribed prednisolone, a corticosteroid, as it is associated with a recurrence of symptoms after its withdrawal, according to the first randomized double-blind clinical trial to address the subject.

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A study published in the March 2010 issue of the journal Anesthesiology gives researchers new insights in how to better understand and control a severe side effect of hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs), often referred to as “artificial blood.”

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The severe shortage of specially-trained intensivist physicians has hospital intensive care units (ICUs) nationwide struggling to staff units with critical care teams led by intensivists. A new Penn Medicine report found that replacing intensivist-led teams with multidisciplinary care teams can also reduce the risk of dying in intensive care units.

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The number of referrals Dr. Angelo Malamis has received for an osteoporosis treatment called kyphoplasty has dropped sharply since publication of two controversial studies.

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An international group of medical experts has crafted a much-needed classification system for diabetic nephropathy, the leading cause of total kidney failure, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The effort should improve communication among health professionals, help researchers design better clinical studies, and guide patient care.

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New research shows people who regularly take ibuprofen may reduce their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010.

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Researchers from the University of California’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR) have found “reasonable evidence that cannabis is a promising treatment” for some specific, pain-related medical conditions.

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A new Cochrane review did not find clear evidence that taking zinc supplements reduces the occurrence of middle ear infections or otitis media in healthy children.

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A new evidence review suggests that giving employees more flexibility over their work schedules is likely to boost their health as judged by measures like blood pressure and stress.

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The ATS and the European Respiratory Society have issued official standards for the quantitative assessment of lung structure.

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An artificial foot that recycles energy otherwise wasted in between steps could make it easier for amputees to walk, its developers say.

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Research by Johns Hopkins sensory biologists studying fruit flies, has revealed a critical step in fly vision. Humans with problems in this same step suffer retinal dystrophies, which manifest as visual defects ranging from mild visual impairments to complete blindness. The article, published Jan. 26 in Current Biology paves the way for using the fruit fly to screen for therapies to treat human retinal degeneration.

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An international team of investigators at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences and other organizations have discovered that TKS4, a protein implicated in cancer metastasis, also plays a significant role in Frank-Ter Haar syndrome (FTHS), a rare fatal disorder.

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Simple urine tests for four proteins might be able to detect early kidney disease in people with lupus, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in an animal study.

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In the wake of Johns Hopkins’ success in virtually eliminating intensive-care unit bloodstream infections via a simple five-step checklist, the safety scientist who developed and popularized the tool warns medical colleagues that they are no panacea.

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One-third of people over the age of 65 wait longer than necessary for lifesaving, new kidneys because their doctors fail to put them in a queue for organs unsuitable to transplant in younger patients but well-suited to seniors, research from Johns Hopkins suggests.

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Patients suffering from hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), an inherited vascular condition characterized by profuse nosebleeds, may find hope in a cancer-fighting drug called bevacizumab, also known as Avastin.

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Pelvic health concerns in women are common -- yet how the issues impact sexuality and childbearing is not often discussed, according to Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource.

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The liver, the largest internal organ, is the body’s ultimate multitasker. The liver simultaneously plays a key role in the body’s metabolic, digestive and regulatory systems.

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A chemical compound found normally in the blood shows promise in treating and preventing an intractable form of heart failure in a mouse model of the disease.

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Factors such as maternal high blood pressure and high hematocrit levels (the proportion of blood that consists of red blood cells) are associated with a greater likelihood of restricted fetal growth during the first trimester, with restricted growth linked to an increased risk of preterm birth and low birth weight, according to a study in the February 10 issue of JAMA.

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Despite being of questionable benefit for patients with advanced dementia, new research finds that hospitals with certain characteristics, such as those that are larger or for-profit, are more likely to have a higher rate of feeding tube placement, according to a study in the February 10 issue of JAMA.

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A simple, inexpensive test can determine whether it is safe to send home a patient who comes to the emergency room with chest pain.

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A new assessment tool, reported recently by the Journal of Hospital Medicine, may help hospitals avoid under- or over-treating patients who are admitted through hospital emergency departments (EDs).

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Cerebral palsy (CP) has increased in infants born prematurely in the United States, according to data presented by researchers from Loyola University Health System (LUHS). These findings were reported at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in Chicago. They also were published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

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Differences might exist in the amount of pain medicine given to Latino and white children after surgery, found a new, small study.

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A University of Adelaide forensic pathologist has sounded a worldwide warning of the potential lethal dangers of herbal medicines if taken in large quantities, injected, or combined with prescription drugs.

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An investigational drug that inhibits serotonin in the gut, administered orally once daily, effectively cured osteoporosis in mice and rats. Serotonin in the gut has been shown in recent research to stall bone formation. The finding could lead to new therapies that build new bone; most osteoporosis drugs only prevent the breakdown of old bone.

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Using an elaborate sleuthing system they developed to probe how cells manage their own division, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that common but hard-to-see sugar switches are partly in control.

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Cardiologists and heart imaging specialists at 15 medical centers in eight countries, and led by researchers at Johns Hopkins, have enrolled the first dozen patients in a year-long investigation to learn whether the subtle squeezing of blood flow through the inner layers of the heart is better than traditional SPECT nuclear imaging tests and other diagnostic radiology procedures for accurately tracking the earliest signs of coronary artery clogs.

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Physicians in training and bioethicists at Johns Hopkins have created an easy-to-remember checklist to help medical students and clinicians quickly assess a patient’s decision-making capacity in an emergency.

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Children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may one day be able to have an injection or use a throat spray instead of getting their tonsils removed to cure their snoring, according to a new study from the University of Chicago, which found that a specific gene product may be responsible for the proliferation of adenotonsillar tissue that can cause pediatric OSA.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Xiaflex, a new drug to treat Dupuytren’s contracture (or disease) that was discovered and developed by Marie A. Badalamente, Ph.D., and Lawrence C. Hurst, M.D., in the Department of Orthopaedics at Stony Brook University Medical Center.

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In a new guest editorial published in JRRD, HHV reports that nearly 90 percent craft kit users experience physical and mental improvements.

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“The tobacco industry has always been very nimble and aggressive in its responses to new regulations, and Altria’s current attempts to market smokeless tobacco as ‘less harmful’ are no exception,” says Douglas Luke, Ph.D., professor and director of the Center for Tobacco Policy Research at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. “Part of what we're seeing here is the tobacco industry trying to position smokeless tobacco products so that they either do not come under the new Food and Drug Administration regulations or they come under weaker regulations.”

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An analysis of previous studies suggests that for patients with a suspected blood clot in a deep vein of a leg, withholding anticoagulation therapy after a negative whole-leg compression ultrasound is associated with a low risk of developing a blood clot during the subsequent 3 months, suggesting that multiple ultrasounds may not be necessary for some low-risk patients, according to an article in the February 3 issue of JAMA.

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Preliminary research indicates that decreased levels in the brainstem of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine [5-HT]; a neurotransmitter involved in several brain functions) and tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH2; an enzyme involved in the synthesis of serotonin) are associated with an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), according to a study in the February 3 issue of JAMA.

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Patients with high levels of proteinuria (protein in urine) in addition to another marker of reduced kidney function had an associated increased risk of all-cause death, heart attack or progression to kidney failure, according to a study in the February 3 issue of JAMA.

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Cleft palate has been linked to dozens of genes. During their investigation of one of these genes, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis were surprised to find that cleft palate occurs both when the gene is more active and when it is less active than normal.

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Biochemists led by Scott Garman have for the first time determined the mechanism of one of the cell’s “recycling” enzymes, human alpha-GAL, as it breaks down substances in the lysosome, the cell’s recycling center. It promises to aid treatment of a rare childhood metabolic disorder, Fabry disease.