Feature Channels: All Journal News

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A rare glimpse into the prior authorization requirements implemented by public and private insurance providers across the country has found substantial administrative burden for a new class of medications for patients with high cholesterol that places them at high risk for heart attack or stroke. So-called proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors are self-injected medications approved for individuals with a genetic condition called familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and those with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) who have high cholesterol despite receiving traditional statin medications and other treatments. Results of the study are published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

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Prostate tumors tend to be what scientists call “indolent” – so slow-growing and self-contained that many affected men die with prostate cancer, not of it. But for the percentage of men whose prostate tumors metastasize, the disease is invariably fatal. In a set of papers out today in the journals Nature Genetics and Nature Communications, researchers at the Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) shed new light on the genetic mechanisms that promote metastasis in the mouse model and also implicated the typical Western high-fat diet as a key environmental factor driving metastasis.

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Scientists at the University of Washington announced that they have built and tested a new biomaterial-based delivery system — known as a hydrogel — that will encase a desired cargo and dissolve to release its freight only when specific physiological conditions are met.

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Significant, quick reduction in scoliosis curves with two yoga poses

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Better thermal insulation means lower heating costs - but this should not be at the expense of exciting architecture. A new type of brick filled with aerogel could make thin and highly insulating walls possible in the future - without any additional insulation layer.

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In the February 2018 issue of Diseases of the Colon & Rectum, researchers from Denmark discuss their findings involving women with endometriosis who are not responding to hormonal treatment. If hormonal treatments are unsuccessful, surgery is often recommended. However, there has been controversy as to which type of surgery is best. Endometriosis experts from Denmark share the results of a large study of women who underwent laparoscopic colorectal resection for endometriosis not responding to hormonal treatment.

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Feelings about the frequency of rape or other forms of sexual assault in a neighborhood are significantly tied to women’s—but not men’s—perceptions of its safety, according to new research.

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Wearable biosensors have grown increasingly popular as many people use them in wristbands or watches to count steps or track sleep. But there is not enough proof that these devices are improving patient outcomes such as weight or blood pressure, according to a study by Cedars-Sinai investigators published in the new Nature Partner Journal, npj Digital Medicine.

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Two patterns of antecedent or "prodromal" psychiatric symptoms may help to identify young persons at increased risk of developing bipolar disorder (BD), according to a new analysis in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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A new study that seeks to better ascertain HIV mortality rates in Zambia could provide a model for improved national and regional surveillance approaches, and ultimately, more effective HIV treatment strategies.

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By analyzing immune cells of children who came to the emergency department with flu symptoms, researchers found that the suite of genes these early-response cells expressed was shaped by factors such as age and previous exposures to viruses. Better understanding how early infections influence long-term immune response has implications for the diagnosis and treatment of young patients who suffer from acute respiratory tract infections.

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New research reports that hyperreactive brain networks could play a part in the hypersensitivity of fibromyalgia.

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The field of immunotherapy – the harnessing of patients’ own immune systems to fend off cancer – is revolutionizing cancer treatment today. However, clinical trials often show marked improvements in only small subsets of patients, suggesting that as-yet unidentified variations among tumors result in distinct paths of disease progression and response to therapy.

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The approach could represent the first new treatment to improve survival in patients with severe scleroderma in more than four decades.

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In the January 12, 2017 Scientific Reports, a research team describes early tests of a minimally-invasive way to assess myelin damage—the hallmark of multiple sclerosis—using positron emission tomography (PET). This approach could be used to follow MS lesions over time.

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Satisfaction with care in hospitals declines when patients believe there are not enough nurses on wards, according to a new study based on the NHS Inpatient Survey published in the BMJ Open.

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Kidney specialists face increasing work demands, high rates of burnout, and declining interest in nephrology as a career. A group of articles publishing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN) sheds light on how that these factors threaten to reduce job satisfaction and impair the delivery of high-quality care to patients with kidney diseases.

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In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team led by researchers at the Technical University of Denmark, the DOE Joint Genome Institute and the Joint BioEnergy Institute report the first outcome from the large-scale sequencing of 300+ Aspergillus species.

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A multi-institutional research team led by Indiana University School of Medicine scientists has developed a new way to harvest blood stem cells for bone marrow donation that is faster and more effective than the current standard of care.

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Astronomers using the Green Bank Telescope have made the first definitive interstellar detection of benzonitrile, an intriguing organic molecule that helps to chemically link simple carbon-based molecules and truly massive ones known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. This discovery is a vital clue in a 30-year-old mystery: identifying the source of a faint infrared glow that permeates the Milky Way and other galaxies.