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Abnormal sucking in preterm babies may indicate neurologic dysfunction

Preterm infants who demonstrate uncoordinated sucking patterns during feeding could have neurologic dysfunction, research suggests.

19 Nov 2012

Myasthenia gravis therapies: an interview with Professor Daniel Drachman

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease that produces weakness and fatiguability of muscles. It affects between 1 and 7 people per 10,000, according to the best statistics.

15 Nov 2012

Dysphagia is an easier pill to swallow with video technology

Video-assisted swallowing therapy significantly improves swallowing-associated outcomes in cognitively intact Parkinson’s disease patients, research suggests.

14 Nov 2012

State roundup: Examining health issues on state ballots

Sprinkled throughout ballots across the country are state initiatives that run the gamut from education to animal rights to marriage. And health care is well-represented, too. The National Conference of State Legislatures labels health a "key issue" in this cycle's roundup of state ballot questions.

6 Nov 2012

Study describes how Dbr1 gene halts toxic buildup of TDP-43-a protein

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes and the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered how modifying a gene halts the toxic buildup of a protein found in nerve cells. These findings point to a potential new tactic for treating a variety of neurodegenerative conditions, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease)-a fatal disease for which there is no cure.

29 Oct 2012

Advances in endoscopic technologies and techniques to be highlighted at ACG annual meeting

Advances in endoscopic technologies and techniques will be highlighted in clinical research presented at the 77th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology in Las Vegas, NV.

23 Oct 2012

Liquid version of breast cancer drug Tamoxifen launched in the US

Breast Cancer Awareness Month raises visibility and research dollars to address a disease that in the United States claims nearly 40,000 lives annually and affects approximately 240,000 people who each year are newly diagnosed. While the month's activities are important in the fight against breast cancer, they are not designed to directly improve the day-to-day management of the disease.

22 Oct 2012

Translational Genomics Research Institute creates new center for rare childhood disorders

The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) today announced the creation of a new center that could have life changing effects on the lives of potentially thousands of children and their families.

6 Oct 2012

Nova Scotia's stroke strategy improves care for three rural health districts

Stroke patients in rural Nova Scotia receive better treatment and are less likely to end up in long-term care facilities than they were before the province's stroke strategy was rolled out in 2008, according to a study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress.

1 Oct 2012

Study looks at rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism that has no known treatment

Fewer than 100 people in the world are known to be affected by a movement disorder called rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism (RDP), but its symptoms are life-changing. Seemingly normal young people are suddenly and dramatically unable to control movement of their arms or legs and have trouble speaking or swallowing. A normal life is nearly impossible.

27 Sep 2012

Dexamethasone use during tonsillectomy not associated with excessive bleeding in children

Tonsillectomy is exceedingly common, with a reported increase in tonsillectomy rates in children younger than 15 years from 287,000 to 530,000 per year over the past decade. Although safe, adenotonsillectomy can result in significant complications, such as aspiration and bleeding. Complications are infrequent, but because tonsillectomy is so common, the absolute number of children experiencing tonsillectomy complications is formidable.

26 Sep 2012

HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer patients have more rapid and robust radiation-therapy response

UC Davis cancer researchers have discovered significant differences in radiation-therapy response among patients with oropharyngeal cancer depending on whether they carry the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted virus. The findings, published online today in The Laryngoscope Journal, could lead to more individualized radiation treatment regimens, which for many patients with HPV could be shorter and potentially less toxic.

26 Sep 2012

UH Case Medical Center offers per-oral endoscopic myotomy for achalasia

University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center is one of five institutions nationwide performing a novel scarless procedure that restores swallowing function in some patients with achalasia, a rare condition where the esophagus is unable to move food into the stomach.

25 Sep 2012

New initiative to improve in-hospital management of stroke across VA medical system

Researcher-clinicians from the Regenstrief Institute, the Department of Veterans Affairs and Indiana University School of Medicine are leading a national effort to coordinate and organize acute stroke care across the entire VA medical system.

14 Sep 2012

Strep throat should be treated with penicillin or amoxicillin: IDSA guidelines

Although people often say they have "strep" throat, most sore throats actually are caused by a virus, not streptococcus bacteria, and shouldn't be treated with antibiotics, suggest guidelines published by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Antibiotics are ineffective against viruses.

11 Sep 2012

Biopsies may misdiagnose eosinophilic esophagitis

University of Utah engineers mapped white blood cells called eonsinophils and showed an existing diagnostic method may overlook an elusive digestive disorder that causes swelling in the esophagus and painful swallowing.

7 Sep 2012

Researchers discover genetic cause of hereditary spastic ataxia

Researchers from the Guy Rouleau Laboratory affiliated with the CHUM Research Centre and the CHU-Sainte-Justine Research Centre have discovered the genetic cause of a rare disease reported only in patients originating from Newfoundland: hereditary spastic ataxia (HSA).

7 Sep 2012

Cleaning capsule danger highlighted

Physicians in the UK are calling for improved warnings and more child-proof packaging for liquid cleaning capsules after a number of incidents in which toddlers were hospitalized after swallowing them.

6 Sep 2012

Study might help solve the biggest mystery of Parkinson’s

The recent discoveries that α-Synuclein(α-Syn) protein, a central player in Parkinson´s disease (PD) brain destruction, could not only pass from one neuron to another but also exist outside neuronal cells has led to major rethink on the disease.

23 Aug 2012

Aetna acquires additional stake in Medicare and Medicaid business

Aetna announced Monday plans to acquire Bethesda-based Coventry Health Care in a deal valued at $5.7 billion, part of the managed-care giant's effort to beef up its Medicare and Medicaid programs. The purchase comes as insurance companies race to position themselves for a broad expansion of health-care coverage slated to take effect in 2014, following the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the comprehensive reforms supported by the Obama administration.

22 Aug 2012