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University of Florida initiates enrollment in SPI-1005 Phase II trial for sensorineural hearing loss

The University of Florida (UF) has started enrolling subjects in a new study testing the oral drug developed by Sound Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SPI-1005) to prevent hearing loss caused by loud music. Loud music or noise can induce temporary and permanent auditory threshold shifts (TTS or PTS).

6 Dec 2012

Speech problems affect half of all children with cerebral palsy

Speech disorders are highly prevalent among children with cerebral palsy and vary according to the nature and timing of the brain injury, an investigation by Swedish researchers has found.

5 Dec 2012

Depression, anxiety not linked to psychosis transition

Depression and anxiety disorders are common in patients at increased clinical risk for psychosis, but do not appear to influence transition to full-blown psychosis, say UK researchers.

5 Dec 2012

Environmental tobacco smoke exposure during pregnancy may harm child’s health

It is a known fact that active maternal smoking during pregnancy has negative effects on child health, such as attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, new research suggests that second hand smoke, or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), may be just as harmful.

5 Dec 2012

Appeals court reverses conviction of drug sales rep who talked about off-label uses

In a case that could have broad ramifications for the pharmaceutical industry, a federal appeals court on Monday threw out the conviction of a sales representative who sold a drug for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The judges said that the ban on so-called off-label marketing violated the representative's freedom of speech.

5 Dec 2012

Leaders, policymakers recognize World AIDS Day

On Saturday, December 1, "United Nations officials [marked] World AIDS Day with a call for building on recent successes and pressing ahead to get to zero -- zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths -- by 2015," the U.N. News Centre reports.

4 Dec 2012

Deficiencies in sensory information processing can explain complex symptoms of schizophrenia

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the VA San Diego Healthcare System have found that deficiencies in the neural processing of simple auditory tones can evolve into a cascade of dysfunctional information processing across wide swaths of the brain in patients with schizophrenia.

30 Nov 2012

GM1 ganglioside effectively treats patients with Parkinson's disease

Treating Parkinson's disease patients with the experimental drug GM1 ganglioside improved symptoms and slowed their progression during a two and a half-year trial, Thomas Jefferson University researchers report in a new study published online November 28 in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

30 Nov 2012

Party lines on entitlement programs play role in 'fiscal cliff' negotiations

Congressional leaders signal they are making progress in "fiscal cliff" talks. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., urged his party to back an immediate extension of Bush-era tax cuts for households earning less than $250,000 and focus on tax breaks for higher-income people later. Meanwhile, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, said that Medicare and other federal health care programs should be part of long-term solutions, but not a short-term deal.

29 Nov 2012

Nontraditional velopharyngoplasty predictor unveiled

The necessity of subsequent velopharyngoplasty does not depend on the time of soft palate closure and type of cleft, say researchers.

28 Nov 2012

Renowned biotech researcher to receive TJU's Lennox K. Black International Prize

Thomas Jefferson University will honor the renowned biotech researcher whose discoveries led to a slew of innovative drugs that revolutionized treatment including Herceptin-one of the first gene-based medications for breast cancer-with its prestigious Lennox K. Black International Prize for Excellence in Biomedical Research.

27 Nov 2012

Azathioprine exposure concerns raised for SLE mothers

Researchers have raised the possibility of an increased risk for developmental delay in the children of mothers who used azathioprine for systemic lupus erythematosus during pregnancy.

26 Nov 2012

Smoking in pregnancy has adverse impact on children’s reading skills

Mothers who smoke during pregnancy may be putting their children at risk for having poor reading skills, say researchers.

22 Nov 2012

Tirofiban effectively prevents strokes in high risk patients

Scientists may have discovered a new way to prevent strokes in high risk patients, according to research from the University of Warwick and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW).

22 Nov 2012

Symptomatic voice therapy enhances vocal exercise response in transgender patients

Vocal function exercises do not significantly improve the voice feminization of male-to-female transgender patients, but researchers say that symptomatic voice therapy and the experience of full-time living as a woman may help.

21 Nov 2012

Prader-Willi children may receive relief from sleep disorders after adenotonsillectomy

Children with Prader-Willi syndrome may receive relief from sleep disorders after undergoing an adenotonsillectomy, suggests a new study from Nationwide Children's Hospital published in the November print issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

21 Nov 2012

Health professionals may soon have new method to diagnose Parkinson's

Health professionals may soon have a new method of diagnosing Parkinson's disease, one that is noninvasive and inexpensive, and, in early testing, has proved to be effective more than 90 percent of the time.

21 Nov 2012

UNC expert to talk about gratitude research at SPSP annual meeting, Jan. 17-19

Sara Algoe of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill who has investigated how gratitude benefits close relationships, including how expressing gratitude leads to long-term social outcomes for women with metastatic breast cancer and the evolutionary role for gratitude. She will be presenting some of this work at the SPSP annual meeting in New Orleans (Jan. 17-19, 2013), and she is a recipient of grant funding through the Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude project.

21 Nov 2012

Study: 2-PMPA improves cognition in mice with MS

Johns Hopkins researchers report the successful use of a form of MRI to identify what appears to be a key biochemical marker for cognitive impairment in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis (MS). In follow-up experiments on mice with a rodent form of MS, researchers were able to use an experimental compound to manipulate that same marker and dramatically improve learning and memory.

21 Nov 2012

Maternal cigarette smoking reduces reading accuracy in children

Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that children born to mothers who smoked more than one pack per day during pregnancy struggled on tests designed to measure how accurately a child reads aloud and comprehends what they read.

20 Nov 2012