Medical News

29-Dec-2016 Most Doctors Ignore One of the Most Potent Ways to Improve Health, Penn Experts Say Leveraging existing relationships with friends and family may be a more effective way to improve patients’ health and encourage new healthy habits and behaviors than increasing interactions with physicians or other clinicians. In a new perspective ... – Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania New England Journal of Medicine 28-Dec-2016 Cycling in Bed Is Safe for ICU Patients: Hamilton Study Researchers at McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton have demonstrated that physiotherapists can safely start in-bed cycling sessions with critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients early on in their ICU stay. – McMaster University Embargo expired on 28-Dec-2016 at 14:00 ET For Welders, Parkinson-Like Symptoms Get Worse with Exposure Welders can develop Parkinson’s disease-like symptoms that may get worse the longer and more they are exposed to the chemical element manganese from welding fumes, according to a study published in the December 28, 2016, online issue of Neurology®... – American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Neurology® Embargo expired on 28-Dec-2016 at 16:00 ET Low Levels of Manganese in Welding Fumes Cause Neurological Problems Welders exposed to airborne manganese at estimated levels well under federal safety standards develop neurological problems, according to a study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Current safety standards may not adequately pr... – Washington University in St. Louis Neurology, Dec-2016; UL1 RR024992; R01ES021488; K24ES017765; P42ES004696; R01ES021488; K23ES021444 Embargo expired on 28-Dec-2016 at 16:00 ET Study: Fewer Kids Visited ERs for Asthma After Indoor Smoking Bans Emergency rooms in communities with indoor smoking bans reported a 17 percent decrease in the number of children needing care for asthma attacks, according to new research from the University of Chicago Medicine. – University of Chicago Medical Center Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Study Unmasks the Genetic Complexity of Cancer Cells Within the Same Tumor A new study led by Cedars-Sinai investigators dramatically illustrates the complexity of cancer by identifying more than 2,000 genetic mutations in tissue samples of esophageal tumors. The findings reveal that even different areas of individual tumor... – Cedars-Sinai Novel Diet Therapy Helps Children with Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis Reach Remission Study results show pediatric patients with active Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis can reach remission with diet alone. – Seattle Children's Hospital Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology Plan to Succeed – UAB Experts Offer New Year’s Resolution Tips UAB experts say having a plan , setting specific goals and keeping track of progress are great action items to keep in mind when making resolutions for the new year. – University of Alabama at Birmingham 27-Dec-2016 The Neighborhood Effect: Sicker Patients Draw on Shared Resources In a research letter published Dec. 27, 2016, in JAMA, University of Chicago physicians found that when one patient on a typical 20-bed hospital unit took a turn for the worse, the other patients on that ward were at increased risk for their own setb... – University of Chicago Medical Center Embargo expired on 27-Dec-2016 at 11:00 ET Study Finds Hospital ICUs Overused ICUs are being used too often for patients who don’t need that level of care, according a new research in JAMA Internal Medicine. – Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) Embargo expired on 27-Dec-2016 at 11:00 ET Give New Year’s Resolutions a Boost with a “Monday Resolution” Research shows that only 8% of people making New Year’s resolutions end up achieving them each year. Some health experts believe a more effective approach would be to follow New Year’s with a recommit strategy that capitalizes on the natural mome... – Monday Campaigns Study IDs Key Indicators Linking Violence and Mental Illness New research from RTI International, North Carolina State University, Arizona State University and Duke University Medical Center finds a host of factors that are associated with subsequent risk of adults with mental illness becoming victims or perpe... – RTI International Psychological Medicine, Dec. 2016 26-Dec-2016 Synthetic Stem Cells Could Offer Therapeutic Benefits, Reduced Risks Researchers have developed a synthetic version of a cardiac stem cell. These synthetic stem cells offer therapeutic benefits comparable to those from natural stem cells and could reduce some of the risks associated with stem cell therapies. – North Carolina State University DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS13724 Embargo expired on 26-Dec-2016 at 05:00 ET Study: Hospital Readmission Rates Decrease Following Passage of Affordable Care Act Financial Penalties The Affordable Care Act (ACA) instituted financial penalties against hospitals with high rates of readmissions for Medicare patients with certain health conditions. A new analysis led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Ha... – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Annals of Internal Medicine; P01 CA 134294; R01 GM111339; R01 ES024332; K23 HL 118138-01 Embargo expired on 26-Dec-2016 at 17:00 ET Research Reveals the Importance of Long Non-Coding RNA Regulating Cellular Processes Scientific research over the past decade has concentrated almost exclusively on the 2 percent of the genome’s protein coding regions, virtually ignoring the other 98 percent, a vast universe of non-coding genetic material previously dismissed as no... – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Nature; R01 CA082328 ; R35 CA197529 Embargo expired on 26-Dec-2016 at 11:00 ET Reducing Radiation Successfully Treats HPV-Positive Oropharynx Cancers and Minimizes Side Effects Human papillomavirus-positive oropharynx cancers (cancers of the tonsils and back of the throat) are on rise. After radiation treatment, patients often experience severe, lifelong swallowing, eating, and nutritional issues. However, new clinical tria... – Yale Cancer Center Journal of Clinical Oncology, Dec. 26, 2016 Embargo expired on 26-Dec-2016 at 16:00 ET Naturally Occurring Mechanism of Cancer Drug-Resistance May Itself Be a Treatment Target The use of proteasome inhibitors to treat cancer has been greatly limited by the ability of cancer cells to develop resistance to these drugs. But Whitehead Institute researchers have found a mechanism underlying this resistance—a mechanism that na... – Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research Embargo expired on 26-Dec-2016 at 15:00 ET A Baby Boomer’s New Year Resolution: Ask Your Doctor About Your Medicines A Saint Louis University geriatrician says her patients frequently feel better when she reduces the number of medicines they take. She advocates older adults who take five or more medications talk their doctors annually about triaging their pill boxe... – Saint Louis University Medical Center Shoulder Pain Linked to Increased Heart Disease Risk After all the lifting, hauling and wrapping, worn out gift givers may blame the season’s physical strain for any shoulder soreness they are feeling. It turns out there could be another reason. A new study led by investigators at the University of U... – University of Utah Health Sciences Journal of Environmental and Occupational Medicine; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 23-Dec-2016 Trial Results Confirm Ebola Vaccine Provides High Protection Against Disease An experimental Ebola vaccine was highly protective against the deadly virus in a major trial in Guinea, according to a new study that included researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. – University of Maryland School of Medicine The Lancet UF Plays Key Role in Trial for Successful Ebola Vaccine An international group of researchers associated with the World Health Organization has published its final report on the Ebola vaccine trial in Guinea, finding that the vaccine is a safe and effective way to prevent Ebola infection. – University of Florida Lancet Hopkins Project Shows House Calls and Good Neighbors Can Benefit Patients and Hospitals When people with chronic health problems couldn't get around town to their doctors' appointments, a four-year Johns Hopkins program brought the appointments to them. Johns Hopkins cardiologist and senior director for accountable care Scott Berkowitz,... – Johns Hopkins Medicine Healthcare 22-Dec-2016 Obesity-Associated Protein Could Be Linked to Leukemia Development Cancer researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found an obesity-associated protein’s role in leukemia development and drug response which could lead to more effective therapies for the illness. – University of Cincinnati (UC) Academic Health Center CA178454,CA182528,CA214965,GM071440,2011R50015 Embargo expired on 22-Dec-2016 at 12:00 ET Prior Kidney Damage May Pose Risks for Pregnant Women and Their Babies • Women with a history of recovered acute kidney injury had an increased rate of preeclampsia and delivered infants earlier than women with a history of normal kidney function. – American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Journal of the American Society of Nephrology Embargo expired on 22-Dec-2016 at 17:00 ET Smoking While Pregnant May Compromise Children’s Kidney Function • Compared with those born from nonsmoking mothers, young children whose mothers smoked while pregnant were 1.24-times more likely to show signs of kidney damage. – American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology Embargo expired on 22-Dec-2016 at 17:00 ET Here's Why You Don't Feel Jet-Lagged When You Run a Fever A clump of just a few thousand brain cells, no bigger than a mustard seed, controls the daily ebb and flow of most bodily processes in mammals -- sleep/wake cycles, most notably. Now, Johns Hopkins scientists report direct evidence in mice for how th... – Johns Hopkins Medicine Current Biology; EY001730 Embargo expired on 22-Dec-2016 at 12:00 ET UCLA-Led Study Provides Roadmap to More Personalized Cancer Treatment Researchers have found that people with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and the KRAS-variant inherited genetic mutation have significantly improved survival when given a short course of the drug cetuximab in combination with standard c... – University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences JAMA Oncology Embargo expired on 22-Dec-2016 at 11:00 ET UAB’s 500th TAVR Procedure Gives Retired Pastor, Baseball Player Opportunity to Help Others UAB is the only hospital in Alabama to perform 500 TAVR cases. – University of Alabama at Birmingham Embargo expired on 22-Dec-2016 at 12:00 ET Study Potentially Explains Vulnerability of Young Cancer Patients to Treatment Toxicities Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute say they have discovered a potential explanation for why brain and heart tissues in very young children are more sensitive to collateral damage from cancer treatment than older individuals. – Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Cancer Cell New Precision Medicine Tool Helps Optimize Cancer Treatment Columbia University researchers have created a user-friendly computational tool that rapidly predicts which genes are implicated in an individual’s cancer and recommends treatments. – Columbia University Medical Center Genome Medicine, December 22, 2016 High-Mileage Runners Expend Less Energy Than Low-Mileage Runners Runners who consistently log high mileage show more neuromuscular changes that improve running efficiency than their low-mileage counterparts, according to researchers from Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom. The paper is publishe... – American Physiological Society (APS) Wayne State University Leads Groundbreaking Research on Preterm Birth Preterm birth — birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy — affects up to one in every six births in the United States and many other countries. In a recent study published in the premier biomedical research journal Nature Medicine, a team of researcher... – Wayne State University Division of Research Nature Medicine, Dec-2016; National Institutes of Health, AI95776 Training to Become a Scuba Diver? Start at the Dentist A new University at Buffalo pilot study found that 41 percent of scuba divers experienced dental symptoms in the water. Recreational divers should consider consulting with their dentist before diving if they recently received dental care. – University at Buffalo British Dental Journal Canadian-Israeli Development: A New Biological Pacemaker Using human embryonic stem cells to create a type of cardiac cells known as sinotrial (SA) node pacemaker cells, researchers have developed a biological pacemaker that overcomes many of the limitations of electrical pacemakers. – American Technion Society Nature Biotechnology, Nov-2016 Scientists Discover Concussion Biomarker The secret to reliably diagnosing concussions lies in the brain’s ability to process sound, according to a new study by researchers from Northwestern University’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory. Widely considered a crisis in professional sports... – Northwestern University Nature, Scientific Reports Kidney Transplant Donor, Recipient Will Attempt Mount Kilimanjaro Climb Together in 2017 In an effort to bring awareness to the power and benefits of living organ donation, Hasberry, Kuykendall and Kuykendall’s son, Cade, will attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, East Africa, in June 2017. – University of Alabama at Birmingham TSRI Study: Protein Monitors Lung Volume and Regulates Breathing The researchers said this study might help shed light on sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in human babies, which is thought to be associated with dysfunctional airway sensory neurons. – Scripps Research Institute Nature, Dec. 2016; R01DE022358; R01HL132255 Post-Op Complications Measurements Differ, Mayo Clinic Study Finds PHOENIX – How do medical professionals determine whether or not a patient has experienced a post-operative complication? A team of Mayo Clinic physicians and researchers has published results of a three-year study examining mechanisms for measuring... – Mayo Clinic Annals of Surgery Capsule for Severe Bleeding Disorder Moves Closer to Reality Researchers are working to develop a pill to treat this serious inherited bleeding disorder. Oral delivery of the treatment--clotting factor IX--would allow individuals with type B hemophilia to swallow a pill rather than be subjected to several week... – National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Int J Pharm, Dec-2016; EB000246 Protein That Activates Immune Response Harms Body’s Ability to Fight HIV In findings they call counterintuitive, a team of UCLA-led researchers suggests that blocking a protein, which is crucial to initiating the immune response against viral infections, may actually help combat HIV. – University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences Journal of Clinical Investigation Interdisciplinary Teamwork Yields Improved Antibiotic Stewardship A hospital engaged in a quality improvement program launched by ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) has identified weaknesses in existing antibiotic stewardship initiatives and implemented workflow changes that resulted in faster ant... – ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) The Medical Minute: Social Interaction Can Affect Breast Cancer Outcomes New research suggests that women with stronger social connections while being treated for breast cancer may fare better than those who don’t have that kind of support. – Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Neurologist Warns of Increased Risk of Strokes During the Holidays Along with increased cheer and festivities during the holidays comes an increased risk of stroke, one of the leading causes of death and disability in the U.S. Patrick D. Lyden, MD, chair of the Cedars-Sinai Department of Neurology, said he sees a si... – Cedars-Sinai Linking Human Genome Sequences to Health Data Will Change Clinical Medicine, Says Penn Expert The value of intersecting the sequencing of individuals’ exomes (all expressed genes) or full genomes to find rare genetic variants -- on a large scale -- with their detailed electronic health record (EHR) information has “myriad benefits, includ... Expert Available – Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Physician, Heal Thyself: Doctors and Clinicians Make New Year’s Resolutions, Too We all make resolutions to be healthier in the New Year, but what resolutions do health professionals themselves make? UCLA Health experts share theirs. Expert Available – University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences Making the Most of the Holidays When You’re Hospitalized When a patient is hospitalized over the holidays, it can intensify the feelings of "holiday blues." Here are some tips to make the most of the holidays when hospitalized. Expert Available – University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences MedWire Announcements Providence Saint John’s and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Medical Group to Provide the Highest Level Care for Fragile Newborns Providence Saint John’s Health Center is partnering with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Medical Group to raise the level of neonatal care in Santa Monica and surrounding Westside communities. – Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Embargo expired on 28-Dec-2016 at 09:00 ET Military Health System Will Test U-M-Developed Concept Under Newly Signed Defense Bill A health care reform idea originated by University of Michigan faculty will get a major test among members of the nation’s military and their families, thanks to a provision in the national defense spending bill signed by President Obama Friday. – University of Michigan Health System Einstein Secures $160 Million NIH Funding in 2016 Investigators at Albert Einstein College of Medicine were awarded more than $160 million from the National Institutes of Health in federal fiscal year 2016. The grants provide critical support for major research projects in aging, intellectual and de... – Albert Einstein College of Medicine Rebecca Baum Named Chief of Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Division and Section of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Rebecca A. Baum, MD, will become the new chief of the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital effective January 1, 2017. – Nationwide Children's Hospital Fred Hutch’s New Evergreen Fund to Accelerate Commercialization of Research Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center announced its first-ever grants from its newly established Evergreen Fund to spur researchers’ efforts to advance bold ideas toward creating or partnering with a commercial entity. – Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Dr. Anthony Atala Named 2016 Innovator of the Year Dr. Anthony Atala, leader of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM), has been named 2016 Innovator of the Year by R&D Magazine and received a Smithsonian Magazine American Ingenuity Award in life sciences for his efforts to const... – Wake Forest University CDP Offers ‘Summer Institute’ for Future Military Behavioral Health Providers The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences’ Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) is seeking psychology or counseling students interested in careers as military behavioral health providers for their “Summer Institute,” June 19-23... – Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) With $8.6 Million Grant From Nih, UCLA-Led Consortium Will Map the Heart’s Nervous System A consortium directed by UCLA’s Dr. Kalyanam Shivkumar has received a three-year, $8.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to map the heart’s nervous system. The group’s goal: To conduct research that leads to new ways to treat... – University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences 2017 Neuro Film Festival Introduces New Categories, Expanded Mission The 2017 Neuro Film Festival, presented by the American Academy of Neurology, is now accepting video submissions. The Neuro Film Festival, now in its eighth year, is an online video contest that encourages people to share their story about how brain ... – American Academy of Neurology (AAN)