The Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS) and OpenNotes have announced a partnership to advance transparency in health care and enhance patient and clinician communication by inviting patients to read and engage with the contents of their medical records.
In an effort to address widespread concerns related to testosterone deficiency (TD) and its treatment with testosterone therapy, a group of international experts has developed a set of resolutions and conclusions to provide clarity for physicians and patients. At a consensus conference held in Prague, Czech Republic last fall, the experts debated nine resolutions, with unanimous approval. The details of the conference were published today in a Mayo Clinic Proceedings report.
With $42 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, scientists from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) will lead a five-year research initiative to advance efforts to cure and prevent HIV/AIDS. Dan Barouch, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at BIDMC, and Louis Picker, MD, Assistant Director of the OHSU Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, will lead a consortium of researchers from across the country exploring the mechanisms behind promising new HIV vaccine candidates and potential cure strategies.
Pathologists have been largely diagnosing disease the same way for the past 100 years, by manually reviewing images under a microscope. But new work suggests that computers can help doctors improve accuracy and significantly change the way cancer and other diseases are diagnosed.
Nursing homes care for increasing numbers of people with dementia, yet many lack access to geriatric psychiatrists, behavioral neurologists and other specialists who can help manage dementia care. Consequently, nursing home staff may resort to physical restraints or antipsychotic medications to manage behavioral challenges. A new study led by BIDMC has found that use of video consultations between nursing home staff and hospital clinical experts was associated with significant reductions in the use of physical restraints and antipsychotic medication among dementia patients.
Light sensitivity, or photophobia, is a frequent symptom of migraine headaches, which affect nearly 15 percent of the world’s population. A new study, led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and published today in Brain, has found that exposing migraine sufferers to a narrow band of green light significantly reduces photophobia and can reduce headache severity.
Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have identified an enzyme that is significantly elevated in mouse models of systemic lupus erythematosus and in blood samples of patients with lupus. Published online today in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, the new findings demonstrate that inhibition of the SHP-2 enzyme can significantly diminish lupus symptoms – including skin lesions, enlarged spleen and kidney failure – and suggest that development of a SHP-2 inhibitor drug could offer a new therapeutic approach for this often debilitating disease.
Delirium, or sudden severe confusion due to rapid changes in brain function that can occur with physical or mental illness, affects 15% to 53% of older surgical patients. New research led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) may now help clinicians assess an individual patient’s risk of developing post-operative delirium, enabling preventive measures to safeguard their health. Published online today in the journal Biological Psychiatry, the research also provides insights into the potential mechanisms involved in the development of delirium, which could lead to new therapeutic strategies.
Infection is a serious complication of intravenous drug abuse and a major cause of illness and death among intravenous drug users. As the national problem of opioid abuse, including of heroin, continues to grow, new research by clinicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the VA Boston Healthcare System, published today in the May issue of the journal Health Affairs, offers new insights into the significant impact of the trend on opioid-related hospitalizations, infectious complications and health care costs.
In recent years, hospitals have reported dramatic increases in the number of cases of the highly contagious, difficult-to-treat, and often deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). Now, investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have developed a promising method of identifying new antimicrobials that target these organisms. The research is published in April issue of the journal ASSAY and Drug Development Technologies.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Barbara B. Kahn, MD, an international leader in the field of diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism whose research has identified fundamental molecular mechanisms underlying obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, will receive the 2016 Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) at the ADA Scientific Sessions in June.
For the second time, all four hospitals in the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) system have been recognized for their commitments to patient safety with “A” grades in The Leapfrog Group’s Spring 2016 Hospital Safety Score, which rates how well hospitals protect patients from preventable medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Milton, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Needham and Beth Israel Hospital–Plymouth are among only 31 percent of general hospitals in the United States to receive the honor.
According to new research led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) pulmonologist and critical care physician Mary B. Rice, MD, MPH, improved air quality in U.S. cities since the 1990s may not be enough to ensure normal lung function in children. The findings were recently published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care, a journal of the American Thoracic Society.
Aaron D. Boes, MD, PhD, Clinical Neuroscience Fellow in the Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) received the 2016 S. Weir Mitchell Award from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) at a ceremony held at the AAN annual meeting in Vancouver. This prestigious honor recognizes a junior investigator based on a manuscript likely to make a significant contribution to the field of neurology.
Cancer cells often devise ways to survive even in the presence of toxic chemotherapy. Now, a research team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has found a way to attack a process that tumor cells use to escape the effects of standard cancer drugs. The discovery is published online today in the journal Nature Cell Biology.
New research in monkeys exposed to SIV, the animal equivalent of HIV, reveals what happens in the very earliest stages of infection, before virus is even detectable in the blood, which is a critical but difficult period to study in humans. The findings, published online today in the journal Cell, have important implications for vaccine development and other strategies to prevent infection.
In a paper published in the April 13 issue of Nature Communications, investigators from Harvard report on a novel biochemical method that enables the rapid and repeated regeneration of selected molecular constituents in situ after device implantation, which has the potential to substantially extend the lifetime of bioactive films without the need for device removal.
Understanding the motivations that drive humans to eat is an important consideration in the development of weight loss therapies. Now a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) helps explain how the diabetes and weight loss drug liraglutide acts on brain receptors to make enticing foods seems less desirable. The findings were recently presented at ENDO 2016, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, and will appear in the May issue of the journal Diabetologia.
Cancer cells are notorious for their genomes gone haywire, often yielding fusion proteins — mash-ups of two disparate genes that, once united, assume new and harmful capabilities. Exactly how such genome scrambling impacts RNA, particularly the vast and mysterious world of non-coding RNA, has been largely unexplored. Now, a team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) offers some early answers by studying an intriguing class of non-coding RNAs known as circular RNAs.
Nearly 1 million people in the United States receive coronary artery stents each year. Nearly all stent patients are expected to take dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) using the combination of aspirin and a second antiplatelet medication to prevent the formation of blood clots. Exactly how long patients should receive DAPT has been debatable.
Pancreatic cancer, the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States, is often diagnosed at a late stage, when curative treatment is no longer possible. A team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has now identified and validated an accurate 5-gene classifier for discriminating early pancreatic cancer from non-malignant tissue. Described online in the journal Oncotarget, the finding is a promising advance in the fight against this typically fatal disease.
Scientists from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center show that PGC1 alpha works through the NAD "aging molecule" to guard against stress; research offers new therapeutic target for acute kidney injury, a widespread problem for hospitalized patients
BOSTON – While the protective connection between moderate alcohol consumption and heart health has been well-studied, new research from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health suggests that the association is more complicated than is widely accepted. Researchers found that in the hour following even moderate consumption of alcohol, the risk of heart and stroke doubled.
National health care leaders, John Santa, MD, MPH, Homer Chin, MD, MS, and Amy Fellows, MPH, have joined the OpenNotes team. The three bring decades of expertise in information technology and population health to the expanding OpenNotes movement.
BOSTON – Robert E. Gerszten, MD, an accomplished clinician and researcher focused on the relationship between cardiac and metabolic diseases, has been named Chief of Cardiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).
Major infections such as influenza and bacterial sepsis kill millions of people each year, often resulting from dangerous complications that impair the body's blood vessels. But the reasons why some patients experience these dramatic responses to infections -- and others don't -- have been unclear. Now, researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center find that the Tie2 gene plays a role.
The Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) today announced the launch of a new online community that will offer support and information for people with cancer, their friends, families and caregivers.
New research led by a scientific team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center provides important insights into the biology underlying PI3K's role in glycolysis, the metabolic process that enables cancer cells to thrive by generating biomass and energy.
A pioneer in developing life-saving therapies for a deadly heart arrhythmia has called on electrophysiologists to reexamine a widely used technique to guide the treatment of the faulty electrical impulses responsible for these abnormal heart beats.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at BIDMC and MetroWest Medical Center have signed a clinical affiliation agreement that will expand access to clinical services west of Boston and strengthen the organizations' ability to provide comprehensive and coordinated care.
The Division of Clinical Informatics at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) / World Health Organization have signed a framework agreement to collaborate in supporting the advancement of eHealth in Latin America and the Caribbean.
A large multi-center clinical trial has found that a combination of antiviral medications can eradicate hepatitis C infection in more than 90 percent of patients with advanced liver disease.
A gentle vibration therapy known as stochastic resonance stimulation, when used in specially developed mattresses, can successfully treat preterm infants in the NICU who are experiencing apnea and related symptoms.
New research led by scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center helps explain the role of an immunosuppressive pathway associated with irritable bowel disease, a condition that develops in genetically susceptible individuals when the body's immune system overreacts to intestinal tissue, luminal bacteria or both.
Researchers have identified a small molecule that treats animal models of aged related macular degeneration and retinopathy of prematurity by preventing the overgrowth of blood vessels that are characteristic of these two retinal diseases.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center announced today the launch of a new research center that will use rigorous scientific methods to evaluate and transform the delivery of care for cardiovascular conditions in the United States.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center researchers Anders Berg, MD, PhD, and David Friedman, MD, are awarded the 2015 Dvorak Young Investigator Award for their investigations into the genetic changes underlying kidney disease.
All four hospitals in the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) system have been recognized for their commitments to patient safety with "A" grades in The Leapfrog Group's Fall 2015 Hospital Safety Score.
A new method to grow 3D organoid cultures of pancreatic tumors directly from patients' surgical tissue offers a promising opportunity for testing targeted therapies and drug responses and personalizing treatments in a rapid, cost-effective manner.
MyICU, a new two-way communication tool created by patients, family members, clinicians and others at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), aims to help make the ICU stay a little bit better.
A discovery made by investigators from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Boston University School of Medicine may help lead to the development of a cell-based regenerative therapy which could be used to restore thyroid function in cancer patients or children born with congenital hypothyroidism.
Manuel Hidalgo, MD, PhD, has been named Director of the Clinical Cancer Center and Chief of Hematology-Oncology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) are homing in on the potential benefits of allowing patients access to the notes their clinicians write after a visit. An article published in the August edition of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety suggests that this kind of patient engagement has the power to improve safety and quality of care.
Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have identified a new vitamin B3 pathway that regulates liver metabolism. The discovery provides a new opportunity to purse development of novel drug therapies to address obesity, type 2 diabetes and related metabolic diseases.
Delirium is an acute state of confusion that often affects older adults following surgery or serious illness. Now a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center confirms that inflammation - an immune response that develops when the body attempts to protect itself from harmful stimuli - plays a role in the onset of delirium.
A new study from researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) compared open surgical repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm with a catheter-based procedure and found that the less invasive endovascular aortic repair has clear benefits for most patients, providing both a safer operation and a quicker recovery.
BOSTON – Advances in technology have spurred better outcomes for infants treated in neonatal intensive care units, but parents and physicians need to work together to avoid unnecessary and potentially harmful tests and treatments, according to new Choosing Wisely® recommendations developed by neonatologists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and published online in Pediatrics, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
New research by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center provides the first direct evidence linking traumatic brain injury to Alzheimer's disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy -- and offers the potential for early intervention to prevent the development of these debilitating neurodegenerative diseases.
The "placebo effect" is often described as events that occur when patients show improvement from treatments that contain no active ingredients. A "Perspectives" article in the July 2 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine proposes that placebo effects be more broadly defined to reflect their role as a valuable component of medical care.
BOSTON – Hospitals have made significant strides to reduce or eliminate physical harm to patients since the landmark 1999 Institute of Medicine Report “To Err is Human.” In a new paper published in BMJ, patient care leaders at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) say hospitals must now devote similar attention to eliminating emotional harms that damage a patient’s dignity and can be caused by a failure to demonstrate adequate respect for the patient as a person.