Sumeet S. Chugh, M.D., an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of heart rhythm abnormalities who is leading groundbreaking research on sudden cardiac arrest, has been named associate director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, where he will also serve as director of Clinical Electrophysiology.
Cedars-Sinai researchers will participate in 42 presentations at American Heart Association meetings on topics ranging from a mutant gene that protects against atherosclerosis to new cardiac stem cell research and findings related to menopause and heart disease in women.
An international study showed testosterone, when used with no other hormone therapy, is an effective treatment for low libido in postmenopausal women. More than 800 women from 65 centers in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Sweden participated in the study, the first to show that testosterone administered by a skin patch can boost sex drive in postmenopausal women.
Patients who cannot make it to the polls to vote in the historic presidential election Nov. 4 will have the polls brought to them, courtesy of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center volunteers . More than 25 volunteers will visit hundreds of patient care rooms to ensure any voter currently at Cedars-Sinai has an opportunity to cast a ballot.
Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute who first isolated cancer stem cells in adult brain tumors in 2004 have now identified a molecular mechanism that is involved in the development of these cells from which malignant brain tumors may originate. This could offer a target for scientists seeking treatments that would kill malignant brain tumors at their source and prevent them from recurring.
Six months ago, Alice County was dying from congestive heart failure. Her weak heart was barely pumping blood, she was listless, had no appetite and had dropped 50 pounds in less than a year, and was so short of breath that she slept sitting up. Doctors were afraid that she wouldn't live until a donor heart could be found, and even if she did, they feared she couldn't survive the arduous surgery. But thanks to a livesaving VAD and ultimately a heart transplant, this story has a happy ending.
Authors of an article in the Oct. 15 Journal of the American Medical Association are available to provide details on "evidence-based reimbursement" as a way to reduce health care costs without diminishing quality.
According to Michael J. Alexander, M.D., director of the Neurovascular Center and director of endovascular neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, for patients who have experienced a stroke, a good outcome depends on several factors, but nothing is more important than responding quickly and receiving care at a center that is equipped to offer the latest interventions. Thanks to clot-busting drugs, new devices and minimally invasive procedures, patients experiencing the onset of a stroke have improved chances of surviving with fewer "“ or even no "“ long-term disabilities.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Stroke Program has been certified as a Primary Stroke Center by The Joint Commission, the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. This distinction, awarded to centers that pass a rigorous on-site review and a thorough examination of program and patient-care data, recognizes a center's commitment to following national standards and guidelines that can significantly improve outcomes for stroke patients.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has received its third consecutive Magnet designation for nursing excellence, marking it as the hospital with the longest-running Magnet designation in California.
Surgeons at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Institute for Spinal Disorders have combined three innovative minimally invasive spine surgery procedures to treat spinal curvature in adults, a common consequence of aging. An article in the October issue of the Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques is believed to be the first to document the use of these procedures in combination to correct this condition, known as adult lumbar degenerative scoliosis.
New technology installed this summer at Cedars-Sinai's Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute allows physicians to treat (without surgery) arteriovenous malformations, tumors, other lesions that are close to the spinal cord. The Trilogyâ„¢ System provides highly focused, image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery, which is ideal for treating malformations, tumors and other lesions that are in close proximity to the spinal cord or other critical structures.
Kidney transplant specialists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have developed innovative laboratory techniques to improve opportunities and success rates for kidney transplant candidates who are at high risk of organ rejection because of previous exposure to donor antigens, according to an article in the Sept. 27 issue of the journal Transplantation.
Research scientist Dwain Morris-Irvin, Ph.D., is available to explain how a protein that glows green is helping researchers in their quest to create new brain cells to replace those lost to Parkinson's disease.
Doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles have performed the first two non-surgical procedures in the Western United States that restrict the size of the stomach to treat obesity. The experimental procedures were part of the TOGA Pivotal Trial, a Phase III, multi-center study evaluating an incision-free procedure using the TOGA System (transoral gastroplasty).
When virally infected cells in the brain called astrocytes come in contact with anti-viral T cells of the immune system, they undergo a unique series of changes that dramatically reorganize their shape and function, according to researchers at the Board of Governors Gene Therapeutics Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Intriguingly, the new data indicate that astrocytes may defend themselves from attacking T cells by engulfing (gobbling up) the aggressors.
No one expects to experience a stroke at 26 years of age, and when it happened to David Bellamy (Brentwood, CA), he had no idea where to turn to get his life back on track. But instead of giving up in frustration, he has been instrumental in organizing a support group at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center that specifically addresses the special needs of people who experience a stroke in the prime of their lives.
One year to the day after Charlie Lustman learned he had cancer, he turned to the medicine he knew best: music. The result was a dozen songs on an album called "Made Me Nuclear," which traces the tale of his personal battle with cancer, from the phone call giving him the news of his diagnosis to his heartfelt thanks to all who supported him through his journey to recovery.
After seven years, Ryan Woodward, 16, is getting a new pair of shoes. Not even a new car could elicit the excitement the Canadian teenager feels about this seemingly ordinary purchase, made possible after painstakingly complex surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Charcot-Marie-Tooth/Hereditary Neuropathy Center.
Seven years after Joaquin Lucio's kidneys shut down, he had a heart attack and was taken to a Los Angeles area hospital where doctors performed an angioplasty to clear his coronary arteries. He also was suffering from idiopathic congestive heart failure "“ a condition in which the heart becomes weak and enlarged "“ and a special pacemaker was implanted to provide support.
In a study using laboratory animals, researchers found that medications commonly prescribed for erectile dysfunction opened a mechanism called the blood-brain tumor barrier and increased delivery of cancer-fighting drugs to malignant brain tumors. The experiments were conducted at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute and published in Brain Research.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded a planning grant to the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute to support its researchers in their study of regenerative stem cell-based approaches to heart attacks, congestive heart failure and pacing abnormalities.
A new therapy developed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center improves transplant rates and outcomes for patients awaiting living- and deceased-donor kidney transplantation. The therapy may provide an option for many patients "sensitized" to transplant antigens (human leukocyte antigens, or HLA) who previously would not have been candidates for transplantation because of their intense immune response to these HLA targets.
Researchers conducting a clinical trial of a dendritic cell vaccine designed to fight malignant brain tumors called glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) have found a correlation between the "intensity" of a patient's immune response and clinical outcome, according to an article in the July 15 issue of the journal Cancer Research.
In the battle against childhood obesity, the best way to defend your children against the fat-filled foods and sugary sweets lurking at school is to arm them with a healthy lunch made at home. A Cedars-Sinai Medical Center expert serves up the skinny on healthy and fun school lunches.
Senior author of an article in Nature Genetics is available to provide details on the discovery of a gene and molecular mechanism leading to an inherited form of scoliosis.
What type of intervention, if any, should cardiologists offer their patients who have a heart abnormality called myocardial bridging and symptoms of heart problems? A research team at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the University of Texas Medical Branch and RWTH Aachen University in Germany has developed a new classification system that may help guide decision-making.
Fixing hearts from the inside out -- In a series of "firsts" and "mosts," the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute has established a leadership role in innovative and experimental techniques that are performed in a cardiac catheterization laboratory instead of an operating room. Several conditions that once required open-heart surgery are now being corrected during intricate, procedures that deliver therapeutic devices to the heart non-surgically -- through blood vessels.
Fixing hearts from the inside out -- On Nov. 26, 2007, doctors at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute performed the first "transcatheter" minimally invasive replacement of an aortic heart valve in the western United States, using the Edwards SAPIEN transcatheter aortic heart valve developed by Edwards Lifesciences Corp. Cedars-Sinai is one of 16 centers participating in a pivotal clinical trial (the PARTNER trial) of the device, and is the only site currently recruiting on the West Coast.
Fixing Hearts from the Inside Out - Doctors at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute were among the first in California to offer an experimental therapy for atrial fibrillation using the WATCHMAN Left Atrial Appendage System. This system is designed to form a mechanical barrier that seals off the entrance to the appendage and prevents clots from forming. It is threaded to the heart through blood vessels, starting at the groin.
As temperatures spike, so do trips to emergency rooms and the frequency of heat-related illnesses. Dr. Paul Silka, vice chairman of the Emergency Department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, offers tips on "keeping your cool" even when the temperature is soaring.
Glenn D. Braunstein, M.D., chair of the Department of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai and a nationally known endocrinologist, has been honored with a Mastership by the American College of Physicians (ACP).
After years of debilitating back pain, Charisse Elliott of Palm Desert has more than a new lease on life. After minimally invasive spinal fusion surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the nursing student also has a newfound professional goal "“ to put her talents to work at the hospital that got her life back on track so quickly and with so little pain.
Interrupting a signaling pathway in certain immune system cells in laboratory mice had the opposite effect researchers expected but opened the possibility of a new approach to treating Alzheimer's disease, according to an article in the journal Nature Medicine.
A new study in mice suggests molecules in plants may have beneficial effects on Alzheimer's Disease. Terrence Town, Ph.D., a research scientist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and one of the article's senior authors, is available to provide additional information.
Denzel Washington's hometown of Mount Vernon, N.Y., will host the 2008 awards ceremony for the Neuroscience Scholarships bearing the Washington family name. This year's awards ceremony, which is by invitation only, will be Friday, May 2, at 10 a.m. at the Mount Vernon High School.
A bold new resource for women's heart health, The Barbra Streisand Women's Cardiovascular Research and Education Program at Cedars-Sinai, has been created with a philanthropic gift of $5 million. The gift brings to nearly $16 million the money raised from her recent concert tours she has directed to charitable distribution in the areas of education, the environment, women's health, and other key civic concerns.
A common, naturally occurring virus that attacks cancer cells but appears to be harmless to normal cells is being studied as a possible treatment for malignant, highly aggressive and deadly brain tumors called gliomas. Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are among a few in the United States evaluating this experimental therapy.
Neurosurgeons, brain tumor researchers and other professionals affiliated with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Department of Neurosurgery will present a one-day conference, "Outsmarting Brain Tumors," on Saturday, May 10, from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The free conference is part of National Brain Tumor Awareness Week and will be held in the Medical Center's Harvey Morse Auditorium, 8700 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048.
After the devastating loss of two children in infancy, Lakshmi and Sreedhar Raparla have four very special reasons to celebrate Mother's Day this year. The Artesia, Calif., couple became the parents of quadruplets in February "”instantly doubling the size of their family. The babies were born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, spent only about a week in the hospital's Newborn Intensive Care Unit "“ an extremely short stay for quadruplets "“ and are now at home, where they weigh in at nearly seven pounds each.
A major gift from Helene A. and Philip E. Hixon will create the Hixon Endowed Fellowships in Investigative Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Their generous contribution will support the training of gifted physician-scientists in clinical investigation and the translation of medical discoveries to new patient treatments.
Nanomedicine, immunotherapy, stem cells and gene discovery are some of the specialty areas converging on deadly, aggressive brain tumors. Scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, working from a variety of disciplines and perspectives, are dissecting the complex biological events from which malignant brain tumors emerge, grow and acquire defense mechanisms that make them highly resistant to treatment.
Heart specialists and scientists from the divisions of Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery and Cardiac Imaging at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute will be involved in more than two dozen presentations at the 2008 scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. Meetings will be held March 29 through April 1 in Chicago.
Daniel S. Berman M.D., FACC, chief of Cardiac Imaging and Nuclear Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's S. Mark Taper Foundation Imaging Center and Dr. Ariel Gutstein from Cedars-Sinai will present their findings at the American College of Cardiology 57th Annual Scientific Session to be held in Chicago, Ill. (March 29 - April 1, 2008). They will be available to discuss their novel approach of using full tube current in the shortest allowable window at 70 percent of the cardiac cycle, which results in marked radiation dose reduction, while preserving high quality of coronary CTA. To arrange interviews, please contact Nilou Salimpour via e-mail at [email protected] or call (310) 292-6536.
California's generous winter rains have set the stage for a spectacularly lush spring"”and a potentially severe allergy season, says Zab Mosenifar, M.D., medical director, Women's Guild Lung Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Mosenifar offers tips on the steps one can take to reduce the effect of pollens and other allergens.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center announced today a new program that expands the pivotal role of physicians in the hospital's fundraising efforts. The "Grateful Patient Program" offers patients and their families new opportunities to support research, educational, clinical and community service programs. Leo A. Gordon, M.D., a 29-year-veteran of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Staff, will lead the new program.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is seeking participants with type 2 diabetes for a randomized, controlled clinical study evaluating an implantable device that delivers electrical impulses to the stomach. The study is part of a national clinical trial to determine the safety and efficacy of the device for possible treatment for overweight patients with type 2 diabetes.
A group of world-class track and field athletes has teamed with one of the world's highest-quality medical centers, Cedars-Sinai, to form an alliance that combines physiology expertise with training techniques to improve performance. The Cheetah International Track Club, a not-for-profit organization that has produced some of the nation's best track and field athletes for more than 30 years, selected Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedic Center because of its unique expertise in the specialized treatment, research and education in the field of sports medicine, including the emerging area of high-performance/athletic medicine.
The Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute is recruiting female patients with recurrent chest pains who are not eligible for surgery to participate in a clinical trial studying an experimental product designed to promote blood vessel growth within the heart muscle. The AWARE trial will study the effects of Generx (Ad5FGF-4) in women for the potential treatment of myocardial ischemia which can cause chest pains associated with coronary heart disease.
A research team from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Johns Hopkins University and China Medical University and Hospital in Taiwan have described for the first time the mechanisms by which variants of a specific gene, CAPON or NOS1AP, can disrupt normal heart rhythm. Until recently, CAPON was not even suspected of existing in heart tissue or playing a role in heart function.
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