Medicine News and Research

RSS

Gender-specific group therapy effective in treating depressed women with Type 2 diabetes

Gender-specific group therapy is effective for treating depressed women with Type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in the latest issue of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine and funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research.

4 Oct 2012

SLU professor to investigate natural history and progression of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency

Jeffrey Teckman, M.D., professor of pediatrics and biochemistry and molecular biology at Saint Louis University, has received a $1.4 million grant from the Alpha-1 Foundation to investigate the natural history and progression of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, an inherited disease that can cause liver damage in children as well as adults.

4 Oct 2012

Biceps tenodesis hastens recovery, cuts rehabilitation time for labrum tears

Athletics have always been a part of Jade Dismore's life. The 27-year-old native of South Africa grew up playing tennis and swimming; as an adult she became an avid runner and recreational volleyball player. For several years she felt soreness in her shoulder, but assumed it was nothing serious. As she began training for her first triathlon, the pain became increasingly severe. After trying to manage the pain on her own for years, Dismore decided it was time to seek medical attention.

4 Oct 2012

New type of drug for drug-resistant cancer

New drug may be an effective alternative for patients whose cancer is resistant to currently available drugs.

4 Oct 2012

Simple new test can monitor treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis

A simple new test, in which the patient swallows a string, can monitor treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis as effectively as an invasive, expensive and uncomfortable procedure that risks complications, particularly in children.

4 Oct 2012

Certificate of Need appears to do neither for heart bypass surgery

Certificate of Need, a form of state government regulation designed to keep mortality rates and health care costs down, appears to do neither for heart bypass surgery, according to a health economics researcher at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM).

4 Oct 2012

Stereocilia not only move sideways but also change in length: Study

The sensory cells of the inner ear have tiny hairs called stereocilia that play a critical part in hearing. It has long been known that these stereocilia move sideways back and forth in a wave-like motion when stimulated by a sound wave. After having designed a microscope to observe these movements, a research team at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has discovered that the hairs not only move sideways but also change in length.

4 Oct 2012

SpineSmith receives U.S. patent for VisuALIF lumbar interbody device

SpineSmith, a Celling Biosciences company, announces that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued US Patent 8,273,127, covering the VisuALIF, the first lumbar interbody device featuring a revolutionary open-face design.

4 Oct 2012

Study finds significant variation in overall health of all major Latino subgroups in the U.S.

Despite a shared Latino heritage, there are significant differences in the overall health and the use of health-care services among Cuban-Americans, Mexican-Americans and Puerto Rican-Americans - even between men and women in the same subgroup - according to two recently published studies by Florida State University researchers.

4 Oct 2012

Starting HIV-infected patients on ART reduces food insecurity, improves physical health

Starting HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy reduces food insecurity and improves physical health, thereby contributing to the disruption of a lethal syndemic, UCSF and Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have found in a study focused on sub-Saharan Africa.

4 Oct 2012

Modulating immune response to injury could accelerate regeneration of peripheral nerves

Modulating immune response to injury could accelerate the regeneration of severed peripheral nerves, a new study in an animal model has found. By altering activity of the macrophage cells that respond to injuries, researchers dramatically increased the rate at which nerve processes regrew.

4 Oct 2012

New mathematical formulas can evaluate kidney function with age

Within the framework of a Berlin cohort study, scientists from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin have succeeded in developing new mathematical formulas that dependently assess kidney function with age.

4 Oct 2012

Roundup: Individual mandate back on Fla. ballot; More Mass. doctors embrace new payment methods; Ga. hospital tax fight rages on

In a bid to remake Florida's judiciary, Republicans are asking voters to oust three state Supreme Court justices and give the Legislature greater power over Supreme Court appointments. ... In Florida, the issue is not same-sex marriage but another politically divisive matter: President Obama's health care law. In a 2010 ruling, the Florida Supreme Court removed from the ballot a nonbinding amendment allowing Floridians to refuse to buy mandatory health insurance.

4 Oct 2012

Beta blockers do not lower cardiac risk in patients with or without CAD

Beta-blocker therapy does not reduce the risk for cardiovascular events in patients with or without coronary artery disease, researchers say.

3 Oct 2012

Cleaning-product-related asthma concern for hospital workers

Research suggests that exposure to cleaning products, particularly those containing decalcifiers and ammonia, may increase the risk for asthma in female hospital workers.

3 Oct 2012

Antifungal resistance of Candida genital isolates on the increase

Resistance to antifungal therapy of genital-infection causing Candida species may be an increasing problem, suggests research presented at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology annual congress in Prague, Czech Republic.

3 Oct 2012

Haploidentical bone marrow transplants for sickle cell disease: an interview with Dr. Javier Bolaños Meade

Bone marrow transplant (also called stem cell transplant) is a medical intervention that allows a physician to deliver very high doses of chemotherapy (if needed) but more importantly, deliver a new immune system to the patient to fight a disease (such as cancer).

3 Oct 2012

First Edition: October 3, 2012

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jordan Rau reports: "Medicare's new readmission penalties for hospitals just got a bit tougher. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has discovered errors in its initial calculations in August. As a result, 1,422 hospitals with comparatively high readmission rates will lose slightly more money than they were expecting, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of the revised penalties. Fifty-five hospitals will lose less than were previously told."

3 Oct 2012

Adolescent and young cancer cost barriers: an interview with Anne Kirchhoff

According to the National Cancer Institute, almost 70,000 people ages 15-39 are diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States. Cancers in this adolescent and young adult (AYA) population differ quite a bit across this age span.

3 Oct 2012

NF1 gene mutations cause noninheritable or spontaneous breast cancers

Cancerous tumors contain hundreds of mutations, and finding these mutations that result in uncontrollable cell growth is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. As difficult as this task is, it's exactly what a team of scientists from Cornell University, the University of North Carolina, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York have done for one type of breast cancer.

3 Oct 2012