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Study reveals three effective treatments to stop epilepsy seizures

There are effective treatments to stop life-threatening epilepsy seizures when the initial treatment has failed, a sweeping new study reveals.

3 Dec 2019

Study: Holding intubated infants found to be well tolerated and safe

Critically ill infants who are old enough to move on their own but too young to cooperate with care instructions have been among the last to benefit from patient mobility initiatives.

2 Dec 2019

‘I feel like I’m in jail’: Hospital alarms torment patients

When Kea Turner’s 74-year-old grandmother checked into Virginia’s Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital with advanced lung cancer, she landed in the oncology unit where every patient was monitored by a bed alarm.

2 Dec 2019

Trial comparing three drugs for status epilepticus

Status epilepticus is a condition that is characterized by repeated seizures and is a medical emergency. Treatment is usually with a Benzodiazepine such as Diazepam or Lorazepam etc. There have been not any studies that look at the comparative benefit of drugs that could be prescribed for those who do not respond to the benzodiazepines. The study titled, “Randomized Trial of Three Anticonvulsant Medications for Status Epilepticus,” was published in the latest issue of the journal New England Journal of Medicine.

1 Dec 2019

Comparative study finds three anti-seizure drugs to be equally safe and effective

A new study finds that the three most common treatment options administered in the emergency department for patients who experience refractory status epilepticus are equally safe and effective.

27 Nov 2019

Coping with (power) loss: California’s hospitals, clinics, patients face new reality

We all know that when the power goes out, refrigerators, heaters and air conditioners stop running. Homes go dark, and desktop computers shut down.

27 Nov 2019

Eastern equine encephalitis virus poses emergent threat in the U.S.

Although eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), a mosquito-borne illness, has existed for centuries, 2019 has been a particularly deadly year for the disease in the United States.

21 Nov 2019

Terminally ill scientist replumbed as a Cyborg

A 61 year old British scientist suffering from a life threatening muscle wasting disease – motor neurone disease or MND, has managed to convert himself fully into a cyborg called Peter 2.0 making him the first to do so.

14 Nov 2019

New study sounds a note of caution in using probiotics in ICU

It's become common for patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), both children and adults, to receive probiotics. Often, they are started at home to counteract diarrhea caused by antibiotics. There is also interest in using probiotics proactively in the ICU. A large multicenter clinical trial in Canada is testing whether probiotics would prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia in adult ICU patients.

12 Nov 2019

New method can enable POLST form to reflect informed preferences of patients, families

A team, led by Regenstrief Institute researcher Alexia Torke, M.D., is exploring if guidance in filling out medical treatment options on the POLST form makes a measurable difference in a person's care preferences being respected.

24 Sep 2019

California hospitals and nursing homes brace for wildfire blackouts

California has seen a relatively slow start to this year's wildfire season, but Wanda Chaney still frets every time it's hot and windy in Chico, a college town about two hours north of Sacramento. She's far less worried about an actual wildfire than the power company shutting off her electricity to prevent one.

11 Sep 2019

Akron professor receives NSF grant to help premature babies breathe

It's that sound we hear when healthy babies are born, just seconds after delivery -- a gasp of air, perhaps even a cry, as a newborn inflates its lungs for the very first time.

8 Sep 2019

Years ago, this doctor linked a mysterious lung disease to vaping

Dr. John E. Parker was working at a West Virginia hospital in 2015 when a 31-year-old female patient was admitted with acute respiratory problems.

23 Aug 2019

New therapy improves survival rate to 99% in preemies with chronic lung condition

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is the most common illness that develops in babies born premature with underdeveloped lungs.

6 Aug 2019

New drug provides hope for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

The results from three clinical trials have shown that a new drug can successfully delay the progression of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

10 Jul 2019

Antibiotic combination effective against drug-resistant Pseudomonas

Two well known and used antibiotics when combined have been found to be more effective against a deadly bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common cause of hospital-based infections.

8 Jul 2019

Five things we found in the FDA’s hidden device database

After two decades of keeping the public in the dark about millions of medical device malfunctions and injuries, the Food and Drug Administration has published the once hidden database online, revealing 5.7 million incidents publicly for the first time.

27 Jun 2019

Miracle machine makes heroic rescues — and leaves patients in limbo

The latest miracle machine in modern medicine — whose use has skyrocketed in recent years — is saving people from the brink of death: adults whose lungs have been ravaged by the flu; a trucker who was trapped underwater in a crash; a man whose heart had stopped working for an astonishing seven hours.

18 Jun 2019

A final comfort: ‘Palliative transport’ brings dying children home

Anne Brescia sat beside her only child, Anthony, as he lay unconscious in a hospital bed at age 16. Just a few months before, he was competing in a swim meet; now cancer was destroying his brain. Brescia couldn’t save her son. But she was determined to bring him home.

28 May 2019

PPDC announces seed grants to develop medical devices for children

The Pennsylvania Pediatric Medical Device Consortium has announced its latest round of seed grants to companies developing medical devices for children. The Consortium chose four companies from 11 finalists in a competition to receive seed grants of $50,000 each.

3 May 2019