Breaking News: Embargoed Feed - hidden

• share
• favorite_border

Obese patients undergoing colon surgery are 60 percent more likely to develop dangerous and costly surgical-site infections than their normal-weight counterparts, new Johns Hopkins research suggests. These infections, according to findings published in the journal Archives of Surgery, cost an average of $17,000 more per patient, extend hospital stays and leave patients at a three-times greater risk of hospital readmission.

• share
• favorite_border

Nearly everyone who has tried to quit smoking says it’s incredibly difficult, and the struggle is due in part to genetic factors. Now, a new study from the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania sheds light on how one specific genetic risk for smoking relapse may work: Some of the difficulties may be due to how many receptors, called "mu opioid" receptors, a smoker has in his or her brain. The results, published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, may lead to the development of new treatments that target these receptors and help smokers increase their chances of success when they try to quit.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study using sophisticated brain scans shows how simple line drawings can capture the essence of a beach or a mountain for viewers just as well as a photograph would.

• share
• favorite_border

Inhaling small amounts of hydrogen in addition to concentrated oxygen may help stem the damage to lung tissue that can occur when critically ill patients are given oxygen for long periods of time, according to a rat model study conducted by researchers in Pittsburgh. The study also found hydrogen initiates activation of heme-oxygenase (HO-1), an enzyme that protects lung cells.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center attempting to identify the vital signs that best predict those hospitalized patients at greatest risk for cardiac arrest found that a composite index used in some hospitals to activate a rapid response team and by emergency room physicians to assess the likelihood of a patient dying was a better predictor of cardiac arrest than any single vital sign.

• share
• favorite_border

Surrogate decision-makers faced with the difficult task of overseeing loved ones’ medical care may find help thanks to a new decision aid aimed at patients with prolonged mechanical ventilation. According to a study conducted by researchers in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington who developed and tested the aid, surrogates reported the aid significantly improved the often daunting decision-making process.

• share
• favorite_border

By analyzing complex interactions of the immune system in an animal study, researchers have found potential tools for controlling a cytokine storm, a life-threatening condition that may strike children who have juvenile arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.

• share
• favorite_border

What does it take to regenerate a limb? Biologists have long thought that organ regeneration in animals like zebrafish and salamanders involved stem cells that can generate any tissue in the body. But new research suggests that cells capable of regenerating a zebrafish fin do not revert to stem cells that can form any tissue. Instead, the individual cells retain their original identities and only give rise to more of their own kind.

• share
• favorite_border

Whitehead Institute researchers have found that depriving human melanoma cells of the amino acid leucine can be lethal to the cells, suggesting a possible strategy for therapeutic intervention. The cells studied have a mutated RAS/MEK pathway—the most common mutation found in the deadliest form of skin cancer.

• share
• favorite_border

Joslin Diabetes Center scientists identify promising candidate for drugs treating type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers have demonstrated the effectiveness of a novel treatment that stimulates the nerve that controls the diaphragm to normalize the breathing of patients who suffer from both heart failure and central sleep apnea.

• share
• favorite_border

Although so-called clot-busting drugs are commonly used in the treatment of some patients with blood clots in the lungs, a new study conducted by researchers in Spain and the U.S. indicates the agents do not appear to be any more effective than traditional blood thinners for the majority of these patients. Clot-busters, or thrombolytic agents, also appear to increase the risk of death in patients with normal blood pressure.

• share
• favorite_border

A new program developed by researchers at Pennsylvania State College of Medicine and Pennsylvania State University may make it easier for patients with moderate/severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to make critical decisions regarding their care as their disease worsens. The computer-based decision aid (CDA) is designed to educate patients about planning for end-of-life decisions without diminishing hope, according to the researchers.

• share
• favorite_border

Removing enlarged tonsils and adenoids may help prevent high blood pressure and heart damage in children who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a study conducted at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. In some children with OSA, adenotonsillectomy can result in significantly lower blood pressure within 24 months of the procedure.

• share
• favorite_border

Telemonitoring may offer promise for patients in remote locations without access to specially trained intensive care physicians. However, a recent study indicates telemonitoring does not offer improved clinical outcomes compared to patients who receive standard care.

• share
• favorite_border

Children with cystic fibrosis (CF) who have poor lung function early in life are more likely also to have poor lung function in adolescence, regardless of whether they are exposed to a common infection caused by the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa in early childhood. Earlier studies had indicated infection with the bacteria early in life was strongly associated with poor lung function later on.

• share
• favorite_border

Clinicians consistently fall short in discussing end-of-life care with patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), according to a study completed by researchers in Washington. The study focused on the communication skills of staff physicians, physician trainees and advanced practice nurses.

• share
• favorite_border

Sleep problems among urban minority children, including resistance to going to bed, shortened sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness are much more common than previously thought, according to a study conducted by researchers in New York.

• share
• favorite_border

Sleep problems among urban minority children, including resistance to going to bed, shortened sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness are much more common than previously thought, according to a study conducted by researchers in New York.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and King’s College London have independently identified DNA on chromosome 3 that appears to be related to depression.

• share
• favorite_border

Vitamin D supplements may help patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) get more from their pulmonary rehabilitation programs, according to a study conducted by researchers from Belgium.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers have linked a variant in the vitamin D receptor gene (VDR) with the onset of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Caucasian men. The study population consisted of participants in the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study, a multidisciplinary study of aging that began in 1963.

• share
• favorite_border

The six-minute walking distance test (6MWD), a test that measures a patient’s ability to tolerate exercise and physical activity, is an effective tool for understanding disease severity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a three-year global study of patients with COPD sponsored by drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline.

• share
• favorite_border

Long-term survival rates for patients with advanced prostate cancer suggest they can be good candidates for surgery, Mayo Clinic researchers have found.

• share
• favorite_border

Changes in the ability of lung cells to divide may play a role in initiating or prolonging lung tissue inflammation, a hallmark of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a study conducted by researchers in France.

• share
• favorite_border

A simple, minimally-invasive technique using cells from the interior of the nose could help clinicians detect lung cancer in its earliest – and most treatable – stages, according to a study conducted by researchers in Boston.

• share
• favorite_border

Continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, can increase alertness and even improve quality of life for sufferers of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), even if their symptoms are minimal, according to a study conducted by researchers in Europe. Patients enrolled in the study reported an improvement in daytime sleepiness within six months of beginning CPAP treatment.

• share
• favorite_border

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) effectively decreases the risk of cardiovascular death in elderly patients who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a study conducted by researchers in Spain. The study is the first large-scale study to assess the impact of OSA and the effectiveness of CPAP treatment in cardiovascular mortality in the elderly.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers in Baltimore have identified new compounds which relax airway muscles and may provide relief from shortness of breath for patients with COPD and asthma. The bitter-tasting compounds are at least as, if not more, effective than currently available agents used to manage these diseases, and may present new options for treatment.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers in Baltimore have identified new compounds which relax airway muscles and may provide relief from shortness of breath for patients with COPD and asthma. The bitter-tasting compounds are at least as, if not more, effective than currently available agents used to manage these diseases, and may present new options for treatment.

• share
• favorite_border

Hospital patients with pneumonia may be at risk of experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, often with few or no warning signs, according to research from the University of Chicago Medical Center under the auspices of the American Heart Association’s Get with the Guidelines project.

• share
• favorite_border

A yoga-based maneuver, reported in the peer-reviewed Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation, relieves the pain of rotator cuff tear and restores range of motion during one short office visit. The subscapularis muscle takes over for the injured supraspinatus muscle in the rotator cuff. Symptoms usually almost completely disappear.

• share
• favorite_border

An international research team led by Dr. Tak Mak, Director, The Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH), has discovered a new aspect of “metabolic transformation”, the process whereby tumour cells adapt and survive under conditions that would kill normal cells.

• share
• favorite_border

Patients with small kidney tumors are more likely to be offered treatment options based on surgeons’ case volume and type of practice than on tumor characteristics.

• share
• favorite_border

A cancer drug already used to treat adults and school-age children with sickle cell anemia is safe and significantly reduces pain and other complications of the disease in children as young as 9 months, according to a national study involving a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher.

• share
• favorite_border

In what is being hailed as a significant advance in the treatment of children with sickle cell anemia, a drug commonly used to treat adults has been shown to be safe and effective in children. A multi-site, placebo-controlled study, conducted in part at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Children’s Hospital of Alabama, showed that hydroxyurea reduced episodes of pain and pneumonia in infants and toddlers with sickle-cell disease and reduced hospitalizations and blood transfusions.

• share
• favorite_border

1) More progress needed to prevent urban tuberculosis in the U.S.; 2) An increased distrust of health care system is associated with lower utilization of breast and cervical screenings among women; 3) Some social smokers find it difficult to quit.

• share
• favorite_border

A little-studied gene known as notum plays a key role in the planarian’s regeneration decision-making process, according to Whitehead Institute scientists. At head-facing wounds, the gene acts as a dimmer switch to dampen the Wnt pathway—an signaling circuit that operates in all animals—and promote head regeneration.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have identified a bacterium in field-caught mosquitoes that, when present, stops the development of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria in humans. According to the study, the Enterobacter bacterium is part of the naturally occurring microbial flora of the mosquito’s gut and kills the parasite by producing reactive oxygen species (or free radical molecules).

• share
• favorite_border

Whitehead Institute researchers have found that the planarian flatworm regenerates missing tissues using pluripotent adult stem cells. Until now, scientists could not determine if the dividing cells in planarians are a mix of specialized stem cells that regenerates specific tissues, or if individual neoblasts are pluripotent and able to regenerate all tissues.

• share
• favorite_border

In a four-decade, Holy Grail-like quest to fully understand what it means to be in a “supersolid” state, physicists have found that supersolid isn’t always super solid. In other words, this exotic state of frozen helium appears to have liquid-like properties.

• share
• favorite_border

A uniquely collaborative study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies uncovered a novel mechanism that turns up glucose production in the liver when blood sugar levels drop, pointing towards a new class of drugs for the treatment of metabolic disease.

• share
• favorite_border

A collaborative effort by investigators at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies recently revealed just how similarly mammals and insects make critical metabolic adjustments when food availability changes, either due to environmental catastrophe or everyday changes in sleep/wake cycles. Those findings may suggest novel ways to treat metabolic conditions such as obesity and type II diabetes.

• share
• favorite_border

Sepsis is a major killer in hospital intensive care units. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have found that manipulating a genetic factor that can launch or throttle the body’s defenses can improve survival rates during bacterial infection.

• share
• favorite_border

The Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 has taken an image of galaxy NGC 4214. This galaxy glows brightly with young stars and gas clouds, and is an ideal laboratory to study star formation and evolution.

• share
• favorite_border

The safety of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico became a central concern following the Deepwater Horizon blowout a year ago. Even after previously closed Gulf waters began reopening in summer 2010, consumer confidence in the safety of Gulf seafood remained shaky. A new review published online May 12 ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) affirms that levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) found thus far in Gulf seafood samples in fact have been well below levels that would be of concern for human health.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists have used a genetically re-engineered herpes virus that selectively hunts down and infects cancerous tumors and then delivers genetic material that prompts cancers to secrete a biomarker and reveal their presence, according to a study appearing May 11 in PLoS (Public Library of Science) ONE.

• share
• favorite_border

Johns Hopkins researchers have demonstrated that human liver cells derived from adult cells coaxed into an embryonic state can engraft and begin regenerating liver tissue in mice with chronic liver damage.

• share
• favorite_border

Using geriatric mice, a Johns Hopkins research team has shown that losartan, a commonly used blood pressure drug, not only improves regeneration of injured muscle but also protects against its wasting away from inactivity.

• share
• favorite_border

Buck Institute study in Nature identifies novel metabolic signaling pathway in worms that coordinates the aging response to nutrient availability. Results provide missing piece of DR puzzle.