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Gene therapy succeeds in the second blind eye for three patients

Three people have now have reported a dramatic improvement in vision after having gene therapy in both eyes after having lost their eyesight as children.

9 Feb 2012

ACC: New community-wide collaboration to reduce impact of chronic diseases

A new community-wide collaboration to reduce the impact of chronic disease and empower patients is generating impressive early results, leaders of the Accountable Care Community (ACC) initiative said today. The Akron-based Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA) is leading the initiative with its founding institutional members and more than 60 public and private community partners.

9 Feb 2012

Patients with GERD benefit from radiofrequency ablation

Heartburn. Acid reflux, GERD. They're different terms for the same type of condition - stomach acid used for digestion travels back up the esophagus, the "food pipe" that connects your throat to your stomach.

9 Feb 2012

Women less satisfied with pain control after TKR surgery

Increased pain following surgery has long been linked to anxiety and "catastrophizing," an extreme response to stress. In a new study presented today at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), 97 patients - men and women - who were about to undergo minimally invasive total knee replacement (TKR) surgery, completed a brief survey to quantify their level of anxiety, as well as their typical level of anxiety and potential for catastrophizing. Pain data was then collected for seven days following surgery.

9 Feb 2012

Two new cancer research laboratories at WEHI receive $2M ACRF funding

The Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) has committed $2 million towards the fit-out of two new cancer research laboratories at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

9 Feb 2012

Roundup: State legislatures consider nursing home, insurance exchange bills

Even as Massachusetts business and government leaders celebrate the most modest premium rate hikes in years for small employers and individuals, speakers at a health insurance seminar here yesterday warned that the main trend restraining bigger increases - fewer people seeking health care in the past year - already may be changing.

9 Feb 2012

Road Hockey To Conquer Cancer to raise funding for personalized medicine

After an extraordinary inaugural event in 2011 that raised $2.4 million for cancer research at The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Canadian Cancer Society, Road Hockey To Conquer Cancer kicked off its sophomore campaign with a flash-mob road hockey game on February 7 at 12:30pm in the courtyard at Commerce Court.

9 Feb 2012

Obama aides seek to calm storm over contraceptive rule

Administration suggests there may be ways to meet religious groups' concerns but insists that the president is committed to the policy. Sen. Mitch McConnell suggests Congress may change the rule if the administration doesn't.

9 Feb 2012

Lymphatic Research and Biology focuses on lymphangiomatosis, Gorham's disease

A clinically challenging and under-studied subset of diseases affecting the lymphatic system and grouped under the disease spectrum lymphangiomatosis and Gorham's disease is the focus of a special issue of Lymphatic Research and Biology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

9 Feb 2012

Discussion of SGR fix heats up

Conferees negotiating the legislative package to extend the payroll tax break and to prevent a scheduled Medicare physician pay cut increased their focus on the physician payment piece of the puzzle. Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing exploring private sector ideas for creating a new physician payment system.

9 Feb 2012

Readministration of gene therapy improves vision in three patients with LCA

Gene therapy for congenital blindness has taken another step forward, as researchers further improved vision in three adult patients previously treated in one eye.

9 Feb 2012

Court says Medicare beneficiaries can't opt out if they receive Social Security

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that seniors who receive Social Security cannot reject their legal right to Medicare benefits, in a rare case of Americans suing to get out of a government entitlement. Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey is among the five senior citizens who sued to stop their automatic eligibility for Medicare.

9 Feb 2012

Washington state's Medicaid program will no longer pay for unnecessary ER visits

Washington state's Medicaid program will no longer pay for ER visits deemed medically unnecessary. Elsewhere, Illinois' governor will propose $2 billion in Medicaid cuts, and fallout continues over controversial proposals to reform California's Medicaid Medi-Cal program.

9 Feb 2012

DNA sequencing can direct immune system to attack cancer

DNA sequences from tumor cells can be used to direct the immune system to attack cancer, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

9 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Political furor on contraceptive policy; Confusing estimates of Medicare's costs

The political furor over President Obama's birth-control mandate continues to grow, even among those for whom contraception poses no moral qualms, and one needn't be a theologian to understand why. The country is being exposed to the raw political control that is the core of the Obama health-care plan, and Americans are seeing clearly for the first time how this will violate pluralism and liberty.

9 Feb 2012

Researchers examine effectiveness of Omega 3 in treating psychiatric symptoms

Researchers at Zucker Hillside Hospital's Recognition and Prevention (RAP) Program who have worked with teenagers at risk for serious mental illness for the past decade are now studying the effectiveness of Omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil) for treating psychiatric symptoms.

9 Feb 2012

Sanford-Burnham, Florida Hospital and Moffitt partner to develop PMP Florida

Moffitt Cancer Center, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and Florida Hospital have announced they will collaborate on the creation of a Personalized Medicine Partnership of Florida (PMP Florida). The partnership will conduct collaborative research to accelerate discovery and develop new treatments in the areas of cancer and metabolic diseases, including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

9 Feb 2012

Conventional method has minimal role in determination of PJI

In their search for new, better ways to diagnose periprosthetic joint infection, Rothman Institute at Jefferson researchers have discovered that measurement of C-reactive protein in the synovial fluid is extremely accurate, while measuring a patients- serum white blood cell count (WBC) and the percentage of neutrophils (PMN%), the conventional method for diagnosis, has a minimal role in the determination of PJI.

9 Feb 2012

DF/CHCC specialists recommend genetic counseling for children with Li-Fraumeni syndrome

Genetic specialists at Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center (DF/CHCC) are recommending that children being treated for sarcoma should be offered genetic counseling for Li-Fraumeni syndrome, a rare condition that greatly raises a person's risk of developing additional cancers.

9 Feb 2012

First comprehensive look at how metal-on-metal total hip replacements fail in patients

A study by Hospital for Special Surgery researchers has provided the first comprehensive look at just how metal-on-metal total hip replacements are failing in patients around the country.

9 Feb 2012