Medicine News and Research

RSS

Different takes on the doctor shortage

Fox News reports that the health law may exacerbate this this access-to-care issue, but CNN reports that that family medicine residencies have seen a record increase in enrollment.

25 Mar 2011

FDA approves Boston Scientific's Clik Anchor for Precision Plus Spinal Cord Stimulator System

Boston Scientific Corporation today announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and U.S. launch of the Clik™ Anchor for its Precision Plus™ Spinal Cord Stimulator (SCS) System, the world's first rechargeable SCS device for chronic pain management. The Clik Anchor features an innovative locking system designed to improve lead anchoring speed and consistency.

25 Mar 2011

Medical experts: Nation needs to offer more confidential care for sexually active teens

After reviewing existing research regarding the common practices of health care providers who see adolescent patients across the country, Rebecca Allen, MD, MPH, a clinician and researcher at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, and her colleague, Michelle Forcier, MD, MPH, an adolescent medicine specialist at Hasbro Children's Hospital, asserted that the nation needs to offer more confidential care for teenagers who are sexually active.

25 Mar 2011

UC Berkeley, UCSF partner to help develop neural prostheses for brain repair

Neuroscientists and engineers at UCSF and UC Berkeley have joined forces to help pioneer a new frontier of brain repair - the development of devices that would allow patients with such conditions as stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and Lou Gehrig's disease to control prosthetics through thoughts alone.

25 Mar 2011

Loyola earns recognition for pathology research

Loyola University Medical Center tied for fourth place in a recent research competition for pathologists-in-training that included 100 academic medical centers worldwide.

25 Mar 2011

Quantum dots allow stem cell therapy monitoring for brain injury

A new technique using "quantum dots" produced through nanotechnology is a promising approach to monitoring the effects of stem cell therapies for stroke and other types of brain damage, reports the April issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

25 Mar 2011

Positive top-line results from POZEN's PA32540 Phase 1 study against cardiovascular disease

POZEN Inc., a pharmaceutical company committed to transforming medicine that transforms lives, announced today positive top-line results of a Phase 1 study of PA32540, a novel coordinated-delivery tablet of enteric-coated aspirin and immediate-release omeprazole.

25 Mar 2011

Researchers identify gene that can predict hypersensitivity to epilepsy drug

Research published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. A multinational team of scientists led by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the University of Liverpool has identified a gene that could indicate if epilepsy patients starting a common drug treatment are likely to experience side-effects ranging from a mild skin irritation to the potentially fatal Steven-Johnson Syndrome.

25 Mar 2011

Researchers create hand and finger gesture controlled microscope

The multitouch microscope integrates two Finnish innovations and brings new dimensions into teaching and research.

25 Mar 2011

Study finds significant increase in MRSA infections during summer, autumn months

A new study from Rhode Island Hospital has found a significant increase in the occurrence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in the summer and autumn months.

25 Mar 2011

Young adults with religious involvement more likely to become obese in middle-age

Could it be the potato salad? Young adults who frequently attend religious activities are 50 percent more likely to become obese by middle age as young adults with no religious involvement, according to new Northwestern Medicine research.

25 Mar 2011

HDL, BG Medicine to offer galectin-3 testing services for patients with heart failure

Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc. and BG Medicine, Inc., announced today an agreement under which HDL, Inc. will offer galectin-3 testing services based on the BG Medicine Galectin-3 Test.

25 Mar 2011

Sitagliptin drug can slow onset of diabetes

Diabetes type 2 is caused by insufficient levels of insulin to keep blood glucose under control. Excessive levels of another hormone, glucagon, can also contribute to diabetes type 2 by causing the liver to flood the body with stored glucose.

25 Mar 2011

Mercury in fish may not increase heart disease risk: Study

According to a new study Americans' level of exposure to mercury from sources such as fish is not associated with a higher risk of heart disease, stroke or other cardiovascular disease. This is in spite of the repeated proofs of neurological deficits in children and unborn babies due to mercury exposure.

24 Mar 2011

Religious people more prone to obesity: Study explores link

A new study has shown that people who frequently attend religious services are significantly more likely to become obese by the time they reach middle age. The finding is surprising especially considering that religious people tend to be in better health than others, said study author Matthew J. Feinstein, a medical student at Northwestern University in Chicago. Feinstein said, “It highlights a particular group that appears to be at a greater risk of becoming obese and remaining obese…It's a group that may benefit from targeted anti-obesity interventions and from obesity prevention programs.”

24 Mar 2011

Mouse sperm created in lab: Hope for male infertility

In a scientific breakthrough, researchers report that they've grown mouse sperm from testicular tissue in the laboratory, a development that could advance the field of infertility in human males. Although still proven in mice, “this is a small but important step in understanding how sperm are formed, which may, in time, lead to us being able to grow human sperm in the laboratory,” said Dr. Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield in England, who is familiar with the study results.

24 Mar 2011

Serotonin influences sexual preference: Study

Researchers from Beijing's National Institute of Biological Sciences, China have found a chemical in the brain controls sexual preference in mice. The study published in the journal Nature said that male mice bred without serotonin lose their preference for females. This is the first study that shows that a neurotransmitter plays a role in sexual preference in mammals. However it is still a long way before similar conclusions can be drawn for humans the experts believe.

24 Mar 2011