Hypothermia News and Research

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When exposed to cold temperatures, your body begins to lose heat faster than it can be produced. Prolonged exposure to cold will eventually use up your body’s stored energy. The result is hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperature. Body temperature that is too low affects the brain, making the victim unable to think clearly or move well. This makes hypothermia particularly dangerous because a person may not know it is happening and won’t be able to do anything about it.

Hypothermia is most likely at very cold temperatures, but it can occur even at cool temperatures (above 40°F) if a person becomes chilled from rain, sweat, or submersion in cold water.

Study examines forensic cases of hypothermia deaths in South Australia and Sweden

New research from the University of Adelaide shows that the state of South Australia has a higher rate of deaths from extreme cold compared with the northern European nation of Sweden.

12 Feb 2014

St. Joseph's Hospital opens new $20 million Heart Institute

St. Joseph's Hospital entered the next era of cardiac care by opening a new $20 million Heart Institute on Feb. 10, 2014. St. Joseph's Hospital Heart Institute is one of the most advanced and comprehensive centers for cardiovascular medicine in Florida, performing more than 50,000 adult cardiac catheterizations. It is also has the only pediatric catheterization program in Hillsborough County.

11 Feb 2014

Study to evaluate connections between brain networks and religious thought

Building on previous evidence showing that religious belief involves cognitive activity that can be mapped to specific brain regions, a new study has found that causal, directional connections between these brain networks can be linked to differences in religious thought.

28 Jan 2014

USAMRMC to develop strategic research plan that identifies critical research priority areas in TBI

The U.S. Department of Defense funds more than 500 neurotrauma research projects totaling over $700 million. Yet there remains a large unmet medical need for effective treatments of traumatic brain injury (TBI), a major cause of disability and mortality.

6 Jan 2014

Professor studies impact of different levels of physical contact on premature infants

The benefit that premature infants gain from skin-to-skin contact with their mothers is measurable even 10 years after birth, reports a new study in Biological Psychiatry.

6 Jan 2014

New projects advance treatments for radiation syndrome, cardiac arrest-induced brain injury and rare blood disorder

The National Institutes of Health today has launched three pre-clinical projects to advance potential new treatments for acute radiation syndrome, brain injury following cardiac arrest and a rare blood disorder called beta thalassemia.

17 Dec 2013

Better to fat finger a text than to lose a finger due to the cold

The popular half-gloves that leave fingers uncovered for texting may be good for communicating electronically but they may also lead to permanent loss of fingers due to exposure to the cold. "Fingers are one of the first body parts to feel the effects of the cold and damp and along with toes, ears and the nose are frequently subjected to frostbite and even amputation," says Arthur Sanford, MD, Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Burns, Loyola University Health System.

16 Dec 2013

NIH Stroke Trials Network includes UC San Diego Health System as grant recipient

A network of 25 nationally recognized stroke centers has been created to rapidly address the three core features of stroke research and care: prevention, treatment and recovery. The regional coordinating centers, working with nearby satellite facilities, will span the country and have teams of researchers representing every stroke-related medical specialty, with the primary goal of bringing new therapies and strategies to the stroke community more rapidly.

16 Dec 2013

Spaceflights cause cellular-level damage and may lead to long-term vision problems

Those who travel to space are rewarded with a beautiful sight - planet Earth. But the effects of space travel on the human sense of sight aren't so beautiful. More than 30 percent of astronauts who returned from two-week space shuttle missions and 60 percent who spent six months aboard the International Space Station were diagnosed with eye problems. Two recent investigations examined mechanisms that may explain eye changes in spaceflight, help find ways to minimize this health risk to astronauts and eventually prevent and treat eye diseases on Earth.

13 Dec 2013

Researchers analyze protective effects of mild hypothermia on CNS injuries

There are few data on the effectiveness and mechanism underlying mild hypothermia in the treatment of central nervous system injuries. Therefore, there is a need to investigate the potentially beneficial effects of mild hypothermia on central nervous system injuries.

4 Dec 2013

Higher 36°C temperature as effective as 33°C for therapeutic hypothermia treatment

Therapeutic hypothermia - cooling the body and brain down to 33-C - is the method used worldwide to treat cardiac arrest, even though a lower body temperature may raise the risk of side-effects. However, keeping the temperature steady at 36-C is just as effective, a study led by Lund University researchers has found.

20 Nov 2013

Lowering body temperature improves survival, neurological outcome in cardiac arrest patients

Francis Kim, M.D., of Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, and colleagues evaluated whether early prehospital cooling (lowering body temperature) improved survival to hospital discharge and neurological outcome in cardiac arrest patients with or without ventricular fibrillation (VF).

19 Nov 2013

ZOLL Medical announces establishment of ZOLL Foundation

ZOLL Medical Corporation, a manufacturer of medical devices and related software solutions, announced today the establishment of the ZOLL Foundation, an independent entity organized for scientific and educational purposes.

16 Nov 2013

Hypothermia does not improve result in patients with severe bacterial meningitis

Bruno Mourvillier, M.D., of the Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, and colleagues conducted a study to examine whether treatment with hypothermia would improve the functional outcome of comatose patients with bacterial meningitis compared with standard care.

9 Oct 2013

Study shows beneficial effects of mild hypothermia on cellular responses to TBI

Moderate reductions in body temperature can improve outcomes after a person suffers a traumatic brain injury (TBI). New research that identifies positive effects of mild hypothermia on brain tissue is presented in an article published in Therapeutic Hypothermia and Temperature Management, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

24 Sep 2013

CRF to present groundbreaking clinical trial findings at TCT 2013 scientific symposium

The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) has announced the late breaking trials and first report investigations that will be presented at next month's Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2013 scientific symposium.

21 Sep 2013

Fingerstick blood sample test using i-STAT device not accurate in determining troponin level: Study

Researchers have determined that fingerstick cardiac troponin I assay testing using thepoint-of-care i-STAT device is not accurate enough to determine the exact troponin level without the application of a corrective term.

21 Sep 2013

Repeated exposure to low level blasts causes harmful effects in brain

Repeated exposure to low level blasts (LLB) can cause symptoms similar to sports concussion. Soldiers or law enforcement officers called "breachers" receive training in using low level blasts for forced entry.

17 Sep 2013

Research reveals that only 7% of patients survive from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Survival for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is just 7%, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2013 by Professor Xavier Jouven and Dr Wulfran Bougouin from France.

2 Sep 2013

Comparison of guidelines highlights when player can resume athletic activity after concussion

Concussions are a common sports injury that can have long-term neurological consequences if not properly diagnosed and treated. Several new or updated guidelines for managing sports concussions were released earlier this year, and their key areas of consensus, including recommendations for return to play, are presented in an article in Journal of Neurotrauma, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

27 Aug 2013