Blood News and Research

RSS

Report says feds stop public disclosure of serious hospital errors

USA Today reports the federal government has stopped publicly reporting when hospitals leave foreign objects in patients' bodies or make other life-threatening mistakes. Meanwhile, Medicare spent more than $30 million on questionable HIV medications in 2012 and the agency is resuming audits for some fee-for-service claims.

7 Aug 2014

Novel therapy takes rheumatoid arthritis treatment in mice to a new level

Rheumatoid arthritis is a condition that causes painful inflammation of several joints in the body. The joint capsule becomes swollen, and the disease can also destroy cartilage and bone as it progresses. Rheumatoid arthritis affects 0.5% to 1% of the world's population. Up to this point, doctors have used various drugs to slow or stop the progression of the disease.

7 Aug 2014

Prompt administration of alteplase treatment reduces disability in stroke patients

Many more stroke patients could benefit from thrombolytic treatment (the use of drugs to break up or dissolve blood clots), but it needs to be administered as quickly as possible after the first signs of illness, according to new findings from the largest meta-analysis to date investigating the clot-busting drug alteplase.

7 Aug 2014

PSAL students to receive free comprehensive health screening at HSS

It's a parent's worst nightmare, and it happens out of the blue. While playing a sport, often football, a teen athlete collapses on the field and doesn't make it.

7 Aug 2014

CTI BioPharma's pacritinib granted FDA Fast Track designation for treatment of myelofibrosis

CTI BioPharma Corp. announced today that pacritinib has been granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of intermediate and high risk myelofibrosis, including but not limited to patients with disease related thrombocytopenia, patients experiencing treatment emergent thrombocytopenia on other JAK2 therapy or patients who are intolerant to or whose symptoms are sub-optimally managed on other JAK2 therapy.

7 Aug 2014

Low levels of vitamin D may double dementia, Alzheimer's risks

In the largest study of its kind, researchers suggests that in older people, not getting enough vitamin D may double the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The study is published in the August 6, 2014, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

7 Aug 2014

First Edition: August 6, 2014

Today's headlines include reports about the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index that details how politics play a role in the nation's health care gap between red and blue states.

6 Aug 2014

Loss of sensation in the feet of diabetics may predict heart attack, stroke

Experts have discovered that loss of sensation in the feet, a result of diabetes, may be a predictor of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and strokes.

6 Aug 2014

Mental health coaching eases depression and reduces blood sugar levels in people with diabetes

In a rural, low-income area with a high rate of diabetes, mental health coaching significantly eased depression and reduced blood sugar levels in people with diabetes, according to a pilot study being presented here today at AADE14, the American Association of Diabetes Educators Annual Meeting & Exhibition.

6 Aug 2014

PET-CT using FDG-labeled leucocytes may help in detecting infection in patients with acute pancreatitis

A new study diagnosing infection in patients with pancreatic fluid collections may swiftly and accurately rule out active infection in the body.

6 Aug 2014

Blood cancer patients in the UK can now benefit from Roche's MabThera SC

Patients with one of the most common forms of blood cancer can now benefit from a new injection. MabThera subcutaneous (SC), which is given to patients just beneath the skin, can be administered in approximately five minutes, compared to the current two and a half hour intravenous (IV) infusion.

6 Aug 2014

Eating pistachios may reduce body's response to stresses among adults with diabetes

Among people with type 2 diabetes, eating pistachios may reduce the body's response to the stresses of everyday life, according to Penn State researchers.

6 Aug 2014

Small molecule may be able to convince damaged nerves to effectively rewire circuits

Frogs, dogs, whales, snails can all do it, but humans and primates can't. Regrow nerves after an injury, that is—while many animals have this ability, humans don't.

6 Aug 2014

New techniques offer insight into cell-by-cell makeup of organisms

In general, our knowledge of biology-and much of science in general-is limited by our ability to actually see things. Researchers who study developmental problems and disease, in particular, are often limited by their inability to look inside an organism to figure out exactly what went wrong and when.

6 Aug 2014

Discoveries about how butterflies feed could help engineers develop tiny probes

New discoveries about how butterflies feed could help engineers develop tiny probes that siphon liquid out of single cells for a wide range of medical tests and treatments, according to Clemson University researchers.

6 Aug 2014

Cancer fighter may also help patients survive pneumonia

The tip of an immune molecule known for its skill at fighting cancer may also help patients survive pneumonia, scientists report.

5 Aug 2014

Laboratories at TSRI investigate antibodies to fight Ebola virus

Laboratories at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) are investigating antibodies to fight Ebola virus, including the three antibodies recently used to treat two American health care workers infected with the Ebola virus.

5 Aug 2014

Research shows how bacteria in airways can help each other replenish vital iron

The body's assailants are cleverer than previously thought. New research from Lund University in Sweden shows for the first time how bacteria in the airways can help each other replenish vital iron.

5 Aug 2014

New treatment plan could reduce need for antihypertensive drugs

It truly could be mind over matter after all. University Hospitals Case Medical Center's Richard Josephson, MD, recently released trial results in a study published in Psychosomatic Medicine that discusses mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for hypertension.

5 Aug 2014

Whey protein drink can control erratic glucose levels associated with type 2 diabetes

Blood sugar surges - after-meal glucose "spikes" - can be life threatening for the 29 million Americans with diabetes. Diabetic blood sugar spikes have been linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, kidney failure, and retinal damage.

5 Aug 2014