Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute infused antibody-studded iron nanoparticles into the bloodstream to treat heart attack damage. The combined nanoparticle enabled precise localization of the body’s own stem cells to the injured heart muscle. The study addresses a central challenge in stem cell therapeutics: how to achieve targeted interactions between stem cells and injured cells.
The new home of the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center opens Monday and consolidates the clinical and administrative services for liver, kidney, lung and pancreas transplant patients. The four programs were previously housed at several locations on the 24-acre medical center campus, but now transplant patients can have nearly all of their medical needs addressed at one location.
An interdisciplinary research team in the Cedars-Sinai Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Regenerative Medicine Institute and Department of Surgery received a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop the first imaging technique used to identify biomarkers that could indicate patients have a painful, degenerative back condition.
The amount of time premature babies spend in Cedars-Sinai’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, part of the Maxine Dunitz Children’s Health Center, has declined dramatically during the past three years, with the average length of stay dropping from 21 days to 17 days.
Measuring the levels of sex hormones in patients’ blood may identify patients likely to suffer a sudden cardiac arrest, a heart rhythm disorder that is fatal in 95 percent of patients.
The Cedars-Sinai Department of Neurosurgery will present a one-day conference, Outsmarting Brain Tumors, for patients, families and caregivers Saturday, Sept. 6. The free program will cover a wide range of topics related to patient care, living with a brain tumor, the latest treatments, new research findings and clinical trials.
The August tip sheet includes information on Parkinson's disease and depression, locally advanced pancreatic cancer, a stem cell clinic for heart patients and more.
Regenerative medicine experts at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute have opened a new clinic to evaluate heart and vascular disease patients for participation in stem cell medical studies.
Doctors, nurses, midwives and doulas will debate healthy labor and delivery practices – including the use of the synthetic hormone Pitocin to hasten childbirth and vitamin K to speed blood clotting in newborns -- at the third annual Cedars-Sinai Birth Community Day, Aug. 14.
Ashley Anh Vo, PharmD, administrative director of the Transplant Immunotherapy Program at the Comprehensive Transplant Center at Cedars-Sinai, has been named the 2014 Clinician of Distinction by the American Society of Transplantation for her work in developing anti-rejection drug protocols for patients.
Registration is open for the 10th annual Run for Her® 5K Run and Friendship Walk, one of the nation’s premier events to raise public awareness and research funds for the fight against ovarian cancer. The flagship Los Angeles event will be held Sunday, Nov. 9, in Pan Pacific Park.
A new technique for repairing the most common cardiac birth defect in newborns, commonly referred to as “a hole in the heart,” has been used successfully to mend the condition in six premature infants without subjecting the tiny patients to open-heart surgery.
Like other major research centers studying genetic causes of uncommon and poorly understood nervous system disorders, Cedars-Sinai maintains a growing collection of DNA and tissue samples donated by patients. What sets Cedars-Sinai’s Repository of Neurologic and Neuromuscular Disorders apart is its special emphasis on tissue collection – part of its focus on creating future individualized treatments for patients.
Cedars-Sinai has launched an applied research center to improve the value of patient care inside the medical center and beyond its walls by strengthening patient-doctor bonds and bringing greater efficiency to the delivery of clinical services.
Investigators at the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute are developing a novel, multistep investigational treatment for one of the most complex and difficult-to-treat forms of the disease, locally advanced pancreatic cancer.
A siimple eye test that may help detect Alzheimer's disease early on, 3-D computer modeling for Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy for dystonia, an experimental biological pacemaker and more are story ideas included in the July tipsheet from Cedars-Sinai.
Cedars-Sinai has been named a center of excellence by two major advocacy groups for patients with neuromuscular disorders: Guillain-Barré Syndrome/Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy Foundation International and the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association.
Cardiologists at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute have developed a minimally invasive gene transplant procedure that changes unspecialized heart cells into “biological pacemaker” cells that keep the heart steadily beating. The laboratory animal research, published online and in today’s print edition of the peer-reviewed journal Science Translational Medicine, is the result of a dozen years of research with the goal of developing biological treatments for patients with heart rhythm disorders who currently are treated with surgically implanted pacemakers.
With 12 medical specialties rated among the finest in the nation, Cedars-Sinai has been named to the Honor Roll in the 2014-15 issue of America’s Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report.
A noninvasive optical imaging device developed at Cedars-Sinai can provide early detection of changes that later occur in the brain and are a classic sign of Alzheimer’s disease, according to preliminary results from investigators conducting a clinical trial in Australia. The researchers presented their findings July 15 in an oral presentation at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The Global Outreach Symposium on Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is an educational conference and interactive webinar featuring Cedars-Sinai gastroenterology experts presenting the latest medical research and treatment options to educate and empower patients, families and healthcare providers on all aspects of IBS and Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO). The seminar will be simulcast on the Internet, drawing in participants from around the world.
When evaluating another person’s emotions – happy, sad, angry, afraid – humans take cues from facial expressions. Neurons in a part of the brain called the amygdala “fire” in response to the visual stimulation as information is processed by the retina, the amygdala and a network of interconnected brain structures. Some of these regions respond just to the actual features of the face, whereas others respond to how things appear to the viewer, but it is unknown where in the brain this difference arises.
Researchers using a complex set of data from records and imaging scans of patients who have undergone successful DBS implantation, have created 3-D, computerized models that map the brain region involved in dystonia. The models identify an anatomical target for further study and provide information for neurologists and neurosurgeons to consider when planning surgery and making device programming decisions.
The June Tipsheet from Cedars-Sinai includes story ideas pertaining to prostate cancer, regrowing damaged heart muscle, sickle cell disease, and an NIH grant to enlist African-American barbers in the fight against hypertension.
A Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute physician has been awarded an $8.5 million grant aimed at enlisting African-American barbers in the fight against hypertension, a deadly condition that can cause strokes, heart attacks and organ failure, and which is particularly devastating to African-American men.
Every six weeks for the past nine years, Mawasi Belle has been donating blood at Cedars-Sinai’s Blood Donor Services, totaling nearly 80 trips to the medical institution and thousands of pints of blood collected. But for Belle, this selfless act is merely a part of her lifestyle. “My decision to give is easy. If I do not donate, patients with serious blood diseases, like sickle cell anemia, will die.” And Belle is right: Patients with sickle cell disease and other serious blood conditions rely on donors to keep their blood flowing and hearts beating.
The Mexican American Bar Foundation named Arthur J. Ochoa, Cedars-Sinai’s senior vice president of Community Relations and Development, the 2014 recipient of the legal organization’s Professional Achievement Award. The award was presented at the Mexican American Bar Foundation’s Annual Scholarship and Awards Gala June 14 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Stem cell therapy for cardiovascular disease isn’t a medical pipe dream – it’s a reality today, although patients need to better understand the complex science behind these experimental treatments, according to the chief of Cardiology for the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute.
Cedars-Sinai’s Graduate Program in Biomedical Science and Translational Medicine will confer doctoral degrees on six students during a commencement ceremony June 12. The students -- whose research focused on heart disease, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, neurodegenerative disease and protective immunities against bacterial infections – comprise the medical center’s second graduating class.
For the fifth year in a row, Cedars-Sinai Medical Group and Cedars-Sinai Health Associates have been awarded the highest possible designation for quality care by a leading national organization representing managed care physician groups. CAPG, formerly known as the California Association of Physician Groups, rated both Cedars-Sinai groups as excelling in all six of the criteria used in the 2014 Standards of Excellence survey.
An international team of scientists including researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute and the University of Southern California found that an enzyme commonly used as a target for antidepressants may also promote prostate cancer growth.
Depression in hospitalized patients, end-of-life planning, stroke research and more are all included in this month's medical tipsheet. Links to full news releases are included. To pursue any of these story ideas, please contact the individual listed for the respective item or items.
Uniting around a vital cause, nearly a dozen of Southern California’s leading healthcare providers are issuing a joint set of recommendations to reduce suffering and promote greater dignity for patients approaching the end of life.
In the latest national report on organ transplant outcomes, patients receiving a new liver at the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center had the best one-year survival outcomes of all hospitals in the Los Angeles region, with 90% of liver transplant patients surviving beyond that important milestone. Patients receiving new kidneys at the medical center also did extremely well with 97 percent of them surpassing the one year bench mark.
Researchers in separate clinical trials found two drugs slow the progression of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a fatal lung disease with no effective treatment or cure, and for which there is currently no therapy approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute have identified a heart-specific form of a protein, BIN1, responsible for sculpting tiny folds in pockets that are present on the surface of heart muscle cells. The study provides the first direct evidence of a previously theoretical “fuzzy space” or “slow diffusion zone” that protects against irregular heartbeats by maintaining an ideal concentration of electrochemical molecules.
When professional surfer Richie Lovett began experiencing hip pain at 31, he attributed it to his athletic lifestyle. But after months of discomfort and preliminary tests, the Australian native learned the pain was caused by a cancerous tumor in his femur or thigh bone.
Women's health pioneer Molly Carnes, MD, MS, has been awarded the inaugural Linda Joy Pollin Heart Health Leadership Award from the Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center in the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute.
Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute researchers have found that a commonly prescribed drug restores blood flow to oxygen-starved muscles of boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic muscle-wasting disease that rarely is seen in girls but affects one in 3,500 male babies, profoundly shortening life expectancy. It is the most common fatal disease that affects children.
Investigators at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute – whose previous research showed that cardiac stem cell therapy reduces scarring and regenerates healthy tissue after a heart attack in humans – have identified components of those stem cells responsible for the beneficial effects.
Michele Rigsby Pauley, RN, MSN, CPNP, has seen it all during 20 years of providing healthcare to the poor of Los Angeles. Throughout two decades of directing Cedars-Sinai's COACH for Kids and Their Families® mobile health units, she has tackled daunting challenges head-on.
In an effort to combat diabetes and obesity by funding new medical research and encouraging healthy eating and exercise, longtime Cedars-Sinai support group Sports Spectacular, has pledged $10 million to establish the Sports Spectacular Diabetes and Obesity Wellness and Research Center.
Andrew S. Klein MD, MBA, director of the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center is being honored for a lifetime of achievement in the field of liver transplantation by the Los Angeles chapter of the American Liver Foundation.
The new Pediatric Bowel Management Program in Cedars-Sinai’s Maxine Dunitz Children’s Health Center, is using innovative techniques to successfully manage fecal incontinence in children born with colorectal disorders.
Cedars-Sinai stroke intervention researchers have been informed that the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health, will award an $8 million grant to fund a multicenter Phase II clinical trial of an experimental drug for stroke.
In an effort to identify and treat patients with undiagnosed depression, Cedars-Sinai nurses are screening each hospitalized patient for signs of the illness and for risk factors that could make recoveries harder and longer. The new initiative is believed to be one of the broadest depression screening of patients in a U.S. medical center.
The "operating room of the future," a $2.5 Million Grant from the Department of Defense to study Alzheimer's Disease, and more are included in this month's medical tipsheet from Cedars-Sinai.
In a series of research studies, Cedars-Sinai spinal surgeons show that a new method of computer-guided spine surgery is beneficial for spinal reconstruction and for treating complex tumors and degenerative spine problems, resulting in fewer complications and better outcomes for patients.
The Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute has received a $2.5 million grant from the Department of Defense to conduct animal studies that, if successful, could provide the basis for a clinical trial of a gene therapy product for patients with Lou Gehrig’s disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
Two Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute physician-researchers have been named recipients of prestigious awards from the American College of Cardiology. Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, will be awarded the 2014 Distinguished Scientist Award (Basic Domain); and Sumeet Chugh, MD, associate director of the Heart Institute and a leading expert on heart rhythm disorders such as sudden cardiac arrest and atrial fibrillation, is to receive the Simon Dack Award for Outstanding Scholarship
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