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URMC cardiac team celebrates 100th heart transplant

The Program in Heart Failure and Transplantation at the University of Rochester Medical Center has reached a milestone, performing its 100th cardiac transplant surgery.

27 Feb 2008

Hormones produced by the heart eliminate pancreatic cancer in mice

Hormones produced by the heart eliminated human pancreatic cancer in more than three-quarters of the mice treated with the hormones and eliminated human breast cancer in two-thirds of the mice, according to researcher David Vesely, a doctor at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa and a professor at the University of South Florida (USF).

27 Feb 2008

Growing US disparities in health not inevitable

In the public health field, there is an ongoing debate as to whether improvement in the overall health of the population is linked to increases or decreases in social inequities in health, that is, the inequities between higher-income and lower-income groups or people of different race/ethnicities.

27 Feb 2008

RFID technology to secure donor blood supply

Radio frequency identification technology, or RFID, has inspired many novel applications of late, including efforts to study magazine reader patterns, access restricted areas, locate stolen vehicles and track luggage at major airports.

27 Feb 2008

Researchers engineer first system of human nerve-cell tissue

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated that living human nerve cells can be engineered into a network that could one day be used for transplants to repair damaged to the nervous system.

27 Feb 2008

NIU seeks approval for new proton cancer treatment and research center

Northern Illinois University has named Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation as its expected provider of clinical services for a new $160 million proton therapy cancer treatment and research center to be built in the DuPage National Technology Park about 35 miles west of Chicago.

27 Feb 2008

New insight into the fundamentals of Parkinson's disease

A single change in a protein may play a role in whether someone develops Parkinson's disease, say University of Florida Genetics Institute researchers writing in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

27 Feb 2008

Nanoemulsion vaccines show increasing promise

A novel technique for vaccinating against a variety of infectious diseases - using an oil-based emulsion placed in the nose, rather than needles - has proved able to produce a strong immune response against smallpox and HIV in two new studies.

27 Feb 2008

IRIS International completes study of 85 post-prostatectomy patients using investigational NADiA PSA assay

IRIS International Inc. has announced that its Iris Molecular Diagnostics (IMD) group has successfully completed a retrospective study of stored leftover serum of 85 post-prostatectomy patients, men who had their prostate removed due to prostate cancer, using its investigational NADiA (Nucleic Acid Detection ImmunoAssay) PSA Assay.

27 Feb 2008

First spatial map of global malaria risk

About 35 percent of the world's population is at risk of contracting deadly malaria, but many people are at a lower risk than previously thought, raising hope that the disease could be seriously reduced or eliminated in parts of the world.

27 Feb 2008

Drug for anemic cancer patients raises risk of death

Millions of cancer patients take drugs to boost their red blood cells and health when they become anemic after chemotherapy.

27 Feb 2008

Other types of E. coli shouldn't be ignored

While many of us are worried about E. coli 0157 in our food supply, a pre-harvest food safety expert at Kansas State University cautions that other types of E. coli shouldn't go ignored.

27 Feb 2008

Anemia drug linked to blood clots, death in cancer patients

Treating anemia with a class of drugs known as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) is associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (blood clots in the deep veins of the legs or in the lungs) and death among patients with cancer, according to an article in the February 27 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

27 Feb 2008

Adult stem cells may be beneficial for certain cardiovascular disorders and autoimmune diseases

A review of previously published research suggests that stem cells harvested from an adult's blood or marrow may provide treatment benefit to select patients for some autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular disorders, according to an article in the February 27 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

27 Feb 2008

Tenofovir gel safe for daily use over an extended period

A vaginal microbicide that incorporates an antiretroviral (ARV) drug normally used to treat people with HIV is safe for sexually active HIV-negative women to use every day over an extended period, suggest results of a clinical trial of tenofovir topical gel.

27 Feb 2008

Spinal cord injury may not increase risk of heart disease

Americans who live with spinal cord injury do not appear to be at greater risk of developing carbohydrate and lipid disorders such as insulin resistance, diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, and high or low blood cholesterol levels - risk factors for heart disease - than able-bodied persons, according to a new evidence review by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

27 Feb 2008

Discovery of new receptor complex in brain - better understanding of how hallucinations occur

Mount Sinai researchers have identified a new receptor complex in the brain that responds to several types of antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia and also reacts to hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD.

27 Feb 2008

Enzyme Cdk1 may lead to new cancer therapies

With a four-year, $707,000 grant from the American Cancer Society, Yanchang Wang, assistant professor of biomedical sciences in the Florida State University College of Medicine, hopes to learn how a particular enzyme could possibly help put the brakes on the runaway cell division process that occurs in many forms of cancer.

27 Feb 2008

OHSU Cancer Institute research gives hope for chemo holidays for men with advanced prostate cancer

Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers, in a first-of-its-kind study, have found that even men with advanced prostate cancer can take a much-needed safe break, or holiday, from chemotherapy.

27 Feb 2008

Number of Americans living with heart failure has increased

The number of elderly individuals newly diagnosed with heart failure has declined during the past ten years, but the number of those living with the condition has increased, according to a report in the February 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

26 Feb 2008