XDR-TB has been reported in 49 countries throughout the world. This study shows that a comprehensive, ambulatory management program can cure more than 60 percent of HIV-negative XDR-TB patients in spite of numerous, prior unsuccessful TB treatments. This ambulatory model could be widely implemented in resource-poor settings.
Less than 27 months after announcing that he had institutional permission to attempt the creation of patient and disease-specific stem cell lines, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) Principal Faculty member Kevin Eggan today proclaimed the effort a success.
A dividing cell tags more than 14,000 different sites on its proteins with phosphate, a molecule that typically serves as a signal for a variety of biological processes. This preponderance of signals"”more than twice the number identified by past studies"”suggests that the cell may become a control freak during the division process, regulating each of its parts, no matter how obscure.
A new computer language for modeling biological phenomenon can "think" like cells and molecular mechanisms think, thereby simulating the dynamics of biological phenomenon. Through incorporating basic principles of engineering, the new language, called Little b, surpasses current biological modeling software in that it goes beyond simply representing biological information. It allows biologists to create programs that can reason about biological knowledge and thereby help overcome the barrier of complexity.
Alumni of private foster care programs have lower rates of mental and physical disorders when compared with alumni of public foster care programs.
Harvard Medical School has been awarded a five-year Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health to launch a center that will transform patient-oriented medical research at the School and create an unprecedented level of unity and communication across the University's disparate schools and affiliated medical centers.
A sugar molecule produced by a beneficial bacterium in the intestinal microflora appears to have anti-inflammatory effects that can mitigate symptoms of colitis in experimental animals. When the molecule is administered to animal models of colitis, disease symptoms did not develop.
A study of 12,067 people over a period of 32 years has found that people quit smoking in droves. Through reconstructing the social network of the 12,067 individuals, researchers discovered that smoking cessation occurs in network clusters. Those who continue to smoke are increasingly pushed to the periphery of social networks.
T cells can initiate cellular suicide, also known as apoptosis, by a previously unrecognized pathway that starts with the destruction of a key enzyme in mitochondria, the power plant of the cell.
While the new Medicare Part D drug benefit has produced positive outcomes, the sickest patients still skip medications for financial reasons.
Scientists have created a set of computer programs that use electronic medical records to help clinicians and public officials detect contagious illness and automatically report them to public health departments.
Some children with unexplained cardiac hypertrophy"”a thickening of the heart muscle"”harbor mutations in the same 10 genes responsible for the condition in many adults. Regardless of the age at which symptoms appear, cardiac hypertrophy can share common genetic roots.
Infants and toddlers who sleep less than 12 hours a day and who watch two or more hours of television per day are twice as likely to become overweight by age 3 than children who sleep longer.
Schizophrenic patients in Maine's Medicaid program experienced more frequent interruptions in treatment when the state began requiring physicians to seek prior authorization for medications not on the programs' preferred drug list.
In a previous study, researchers showed that a protein called REST"”which keeps neural programs silent in most parts of the body"”serves as a tumor suppressor. Now they've identified a protein that promotes tumor growth by tagging REST for destruction, thereby activating neural programs.
While life-expectancy has increased significantly for educated people over the last twenty years, it has plateaued for less educated people. In other words, those whose education level does not exceed high school have not been sharing the benefits of prolonged lifespan. This is the case for both African Americans and Caucasians.
Researchers have developed a chemical toolkit for manipulating mitochondria in its normal cellular environment. After introducing nearly 2,500 compounds to this platform"”many of which are FDA-approved"”the researchers immediately discerned new insights into basic mitochondrial function, which in turn revealed why some commonly used drugs have particular adverse effects.
Topical drop application of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) led to a significant decrease in clinical signs of dry eye syndrome (DES) in animal models.
Researchers have found that a particular gene is central to the brain cancer glioblastoma and will either fight the tumor or, conversely, help the tumor advance, depending on the tumor's genetic makeup.
The largest study to date of over 45,000 Medicare recipients who had been treated for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) shows that endovascular repair, a less invasive way to treat the condition compared with open surgery, has the best health outcomes for patients.
Using a technique called RNA interference to screen thousands of genes, researchers identified 273 human proteins required for HIV propagation. The vast majority had not been connected to the virus by previous studies.
A large-scale study of over 55,000 colorectal cancer patients found that Medicare beneficiaries in "high spending" areas get better care in some circumstances, but worse care in others. On net, they do no better than their peers in lower spending areas.
Contrary to recent reports, oral osteoporosis medications that inhibit bone breakdown reduce the risk of jaw problems, based on an analysis of medical claims.
A 12-year study of over 7,000 Americans shows that individuals without health insurance experience a dramatic improvement in their subsequent health trends when they become eligible for Medicare at age 65. In an era when health-care coverage is a very prominent issue on the political landscape, this study provides the most rigorous assessment to date of the impact of insurance on health.
Researchers have discovered a key molecular switch that regulates cancer stem cells. This switch, which belongs to a class of molecules called microRNAs, can decrease a cancer stem cell's ability to propagate tumors.
Scientists have found that when monkeys choose between different options, the value neurons assign to each option does not depend on the menu of choices. This phenomenon may explain a behavioral trait called preference transitivity, which is the hallmark of rational economic choice. The results may also elucidate our understanding of certain "choice deficits" such as eating disorders, compulsive gambling and other abnormal social behaviors.
When human cells wander in suspension, free of their normal attachments, many of them launch invasions into their neighbors. These "homeless" cells bore into other cells and hang out inside, where they either die or exit, apparently unscathed. This bizarre process, which the researchers term entosis, appears to underlie a natural process involving tumor cells inhabiting other tumor cells that pathologists have observed for decades. This process may be relevant to cancer if entosis inhibits tumor progression by killing "homeless" cancer cells before they colonize distant sites.
Researchers have discovered that blood stem cells are capable of patrolling the body's organs where they seek out, and respond to, pathogens. They appear to be proactive participants in our innate immune response.
According to the most comprehensive survey of people affected by Hurricane Katrina, the percentage of pre-hurricane residents of the affected areas who have mental disorders has increased significantly compared to the situation five to eight months after the hurricane. These findings counter a more typical pattern from previous disasters where prevalence of mental disorders decreases as time passes.
In the early 1990s, many policy makers viewed managed care as a panacea to the nation's health care problems. They reasoned that HMOs could provide high quality yet efficient care for more people by more tightly managing care processes. They also believed that HMOs might eliminate the quality of care gap between the Medicaid and commercial populations, encouraging them to move Medicaid beneficiaries into managed care. This study suggests their strategy didn't eliminate disparities in quality of care between Medicaid and commercial populations, implying that additional interventions are needed.
Scientists have combined a normally inactive lidocaine derivative with capsaicin, the "˜heat'-generating ingredient in chili peppers, to produce pain-specific local anesthesia. When injected into rats, this combination completely blocked pain without interfering with either motor function or sensitivity to non-painful stimuli.
A general population survey found that in U.S. adults mental disorders result in more than 1.3 billion days each year out of role"”unable to work or carry out usual activities. This number equals roughly half as many days out of role as those associated with all chronic physical conditions combined.
Scientists at Harvard Medical School, Cornell Medical School, and the National Institutes of Health have discovered how caloric restriction enables cells"”and many higher mammals"”to live longer and healthier lives.
Researchers in the Harvard Medical School Department of Systems Biology have constructed a memory loop out of bits of DNA. After being placed in a yeast cell, the loop continued throughout many cell divisions.
Uninsured patients who receive their primary health care in publicly funded community health centers face significant obstacles accessing specialty services outside of these centers, even after a physician has deemed them necessary. While Medicaid patients, to a lesser extent, also face obstacles, insured/Medicare patients have a far easier time accessing needed services.
Underinsured children, that is, those whose health insurance plans do not cover the cost of vaccines, often do not have access to all recommended vaccines.
Using a whole-genome association scan, an international consortium of scientists has found genetic variations in multiple sclerosis patients, findings that suggest a possible link between MS and other autoimmune diseases.
A study of 12,067 people over a period of 32 years has found that social networks have a marked influence on weight gain. For example, if a person's close friend becomes obese, that person's chances of becoming obese increase 57 percent; for siblings, increase is 40 percent; and for spouses, increase is 37 percent.
Individuals approaching age 65 who lack health insurance need costlier care once they enter Medicare program.
The skin's ability to replace the tissue it sloughs off is controlled by a variety of genes. A new study from Harvard Medical School published in the May 4 issue of Cell, however, identifies a "master regulator" of this regeneration process not only for skin, but for many epithelial tissues including breast, prostate, and urogenital tract.
Pregnant women who gain excessive or even appropriate weight, according to current guidelines, are four times more likely than women who gain inadequate weight to have a baby who becomes overweight in early childhood. These findings are from a new study at the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
Patients who switched to high-deductible health plans went to the emergency department 10 percent less than patients who remained in traditional plans, according to a new study by the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention (of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care).
A national series of interventions designed to improve the quality of care in health centers for three prevalent chronic conditions has improved processes of care for these conditions but did not improve intermediate clinical outcomes, according to results of a study collaboratively supported by the HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and Health Resources and Services Administration.
Benzodiazepine use was not shown to be associated with hip fractures after all, according to a new study from the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention (of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care). Previous epidemiological studies suggesting an association have been used to support legislation and policy decisions that limit access to these drugs among the elderly. These policies may need to be reexamined based on these new findings, which are being published in the Jan. 16 Annals of Internal Medicine.
Patients are more likely to receive high quality of care in not-for-profit hospitals and in hospitals with more registered nurses and advanced technology, reports a comprehensive Harvard Medical School (HMS) analysis published in the Dec. 11 Archives of Internal Medicine.
Fighting like a girl or fighting like a boy is hardwired into fruit fly neurons, according to a study in the Nov. 19 Nature Neuroscience advance online publication by a research team from Harvard Medical School and the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna. The results confirm that a gene known as "fruitless" is a key factor underlying sexual differences in behavior.
Researchers have used a single compound to increase the lifespan of obese mice, and found that the drug reversed nearly all of the changes in gene expression patterns found in mice on high calorie diets"”some of which are associated with diabetes, heart disease, and other significant diseases related to obesity. The research is the first time that the small molecule resveratrol has been shown to offer survival benefits in a mammal.
Numerous studies show the African-Americans receive worse quality of care relative to white Americans across a broad array of medical conditions"”disparities that can significantly harm patients or reduce quality of life. A new study from Harvard Medical School and Brown Medical School shows that such disparities in care cannot simply be attributed to low-performing health plans.
A treatment mainstay for prostate cancer puts men at increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to a large observational study from Harvard Medical School published in the Sept. 20 Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Researchers in Boston have discovered a new common, noncoding variant in the Complement Factor H (CFH) gene that is associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of irreversible visual impairment and blindness among persons aged 60 and older. Their analyses, for the first time, combine this new variant with all previously reported variants to estimate individual risk of advanced AMD.
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