Hospital News and Research

RSS

Paired exchange and incompatible kidney transplant program launched by UAB

Ann Marie Reynolds, a 32-year-old who has been in and out of hospitals fighting chronic kidney disease since she was a teenager, had a less than 1 percent chance of receiving a kidney without the University of Alabama at Birmingham's groundbreaking organ donation system that helped her and two other hard-to-match patients get kidneys in a three-way, incompatible kidney exchange earlier this year.

24 Dec 2013

Who do Americans want care from? Doctors or other practitioners?

Doctors who provide personalized care get organized into a new group while a new survey seems to suggest American prefer getting their care from a doctor instead of nurse practitioners or physician assistants.

24 Dec 2013

U.S. FDA grants Veloxis Orphan Drug status for Envarsus

Veloxis Pharmaceuticals A/S, today announced that Envarsus was granted Orphan Drug status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for prophylaxis of organ rejection in patients receiving allogenic kidney transplants.

24 Dec 2013

Medical consultation increases for Medicare patients before cataract surgery

Preoperative consultations before cataract surgery became more common for Medicare patients despite no clear guidelines about when to require such a service, hinting at unnecessary use of health care resources, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

24 Dec 2013

State highlights: Minn. to cut elderly Medicaid benefits; Calif.'s Insurance Commissioner finds fault with Obamacare, seeks re-election

Starting in January, thousands of low-income elderly Minnesotans could lose government benefits intended to help them stay in their homes and out of nursing care. In an effort to constrain runaway Medicaid spending, Minnesota is implementing stricter rules that will make it harder for senior citizens to qualify for home-based services, potentially leaving them with reduced care or no care at all (Serres, 12/21).

24 Dec 2013

Transplanting self-donated Schwann cells aids hind limb functional recovery

A study carried out at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine for "The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis" has found that transplanting self-donated Schwann cells (SCs, the principal ensheathing cells of the nervous system) that are elongated so as to bridge scar tissue in the injured spinal cord, aids hind limb functional recovery in rats modeled with spinal cord injury.

24 Dec 2013

New tools for neglected diseases: an interview with Dr. BT Slingsby, CEO, GHIT Fund

Nearly 3.3 billion people, a little less than half of our world’s population, are at risk of malaria, TB and what we call “neglected tropical diseases”—diseases caused by worms, parasites, viruses and bacteria like Chagas disease, river blindness, elephantiasis, sleeping sickness, etc.

24 Dec 2013

Physicians study mothers' breast milk to determine correct amounts of nutrients for premature infants

Physicians in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the Maxine Dunitz Children's Health Center launched a pilot study in which mothers' breast milk is analyzed to determine whether premature infants are receiving the correct amounts of nutrients they need to thrive.

24 Dec 2013

Changes to LZTR1 gene predispose people to develop schwannomas

Changes to a gene called LZTR1 predispose people to develop a rare disorder where multiple tumors called schwannomas form near nerve pathways, according to a study published today in the journal Nature Genetics and led by researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

24 Dec 2013

Researchers identify potential therapy for meibomian gland dysfunction

Meibomian gland dysfunction is the leading cause of dry eye disease, which affects tens of millions of Americans. However, there is no FDA-approved treatment for MGD. Researchers from the Schepens Eye Research Institute/Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School have just identified a potential therapy.

24 Dec 2013

Native Americans fight government over hospital compensation

When the federal government reneged on its agreement to fully compensate the Shoshone-Paiute tribes for running a hospital on the Duck Valley reservation, the Washington contracting world barely noticed.

24 Dec 2013

Researchers report new gene delivery method that targets tumor blood vessels

Working in mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report developing a gene delivery method long sought in the field of gene therapy: a deactivated virus carrying a gene of interest that can be injected into the bloodstream and make its way to the right cells.

24 Dec 2013

Most frequent reasons for readmission often related to patients' underlying chronic medical conditions

Researchers cite identification and monitoring of known underlying chronic medical conditions as opportunities to reduce readmission rates and improve patient safety.

24 Dec 2013

Hospital-diagnosed maternal bacterial infections during pregnancy increase risk of autism in children

Hospital-diagnosed maternal bacterial infections during pregnancy were associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders in children, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published Dec. 23 in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

24 Dec 2013

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition beneficial to cardiac regeneration

Cell-based therapies have been shown to enhance cardiac regeneration, but autologous (patient self-donated) cells have produced only "modest results." In an effort to improve myocardial regeneration through cell transplantation, a research team from Germany has taken epithelial cells from placenta (amniotic epithelial cells, or AECs) and converted them into mesenchymal cells. After transplanting the transitioned cells into mice modelling a myocardial infarction, the researchers found that the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition was beneficial to cardiac regeneration by lowering infarct size.

24 Dec 2013

New CANHEART health index measures behaviours, health factors for optimal heart health

Fewer than 1 in 10 adult Canadians is in ideal cardiovascular health, according to the new CANHEART health index developed to measure heart health published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

24 Dec 2013

Meridian Health and Tilton Fitness now join with network of five fitness centers

Meridian Health, the largest provider of hospital and health care services in Monmouth and Ocean counties, has announced an expansion of its partnership with Tilton Fitness Management, a regional leader in health club operations.

24 Dec 2013

Research findings reveal how immune system responds to respiratory viral infections

An antibody that blocks a component of a key signaling pathway in the respiratory airways could help the immune system rid the body of the influenza virus, a new study suggests. The findings, from a team at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, not only offer a new approach to treating the flu, but also add new information about how the immune system responds to respiratory viral infections.

24 Dec 2013

Variation in oxytocin receptor gene influences face recognition skills, study finds

New findings suggest the oxytocin receptor, a gene known to influence mother-infant bonding and pair bonding in monogamous species, also plays a special role in the ability to remember faces. This research has important implications for disorders in which social information processing is disrupted, including autism spectrum disorder. In addition, the finding may lead to new strategies for improving social cognition in several psychiatric disorders.

24 Dec 2013

Eating more peanuts during pregnancy associated with lower risk of peanut allergy in offspring

Women need not fear that eating peanuts during pregnancy could cause their child to develop a peanut allergy, according to a new study from Boston Children's Hospital published online Dec. 23 in JAMA Pediatrics.

24 Dec 2013

Hospital News and Research

Paired exchange and incompatible kidney transplant program launched by UAB

Who do Americans want care from? Doctors or other practitioners?

U.S. FDA grants Veloxis Orphan Drug status for Envarsus

Medical consultation increases for Medicare patients before cataract surgery

State highlights: Minn. to cut elderly Medicaid benefits; Calif.'s Insurance Commissioner finds fault with Obamacare, seeks re-election

Transplanting self-donated Schwann cells aids hind limb functional recovery

New tools for neglected diseases: an interview with Dr. BT Slingsby, CEO, GHIT Fund

Physicians study mothers' breast milk to determine correct amounts of nutrients for premature infants

Changes to LZTR1 gene predispose people to develop schwannomas

Researchers identify potential therapy for meibomian gland dysfunction

Native Americans fight government over hospital compensation

Researchers report new gene delivery method that targets tumor blood vessels

Most frequent reasons for readmission often related to patients' underlying chronic medical conditions

Hospital-diagnosed maternal bacterial infections during pregnancy increase risk of autism in children

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition beneficial to cardiac regeneration

New CANHEART health index measures behaviours, health factors for optimal heart health

Meridian Health and Tilton Fitness now join with network of five fitness centers

Research findings reveal how immune system responds to respiratory viral infections

Variation in oxytocin receptor gene influences face recognition skills, study finds

Eating more peanuts during pregnancy associated with lower risk of peanut allergy in offspring

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

How microplastics and bacteria interact to drive antibiotic resistance

Single-cell proteomics: Revealing proteome diversity from cellular heterogeneity to non-canonical biology

Latest News