Medicine News and Research

RSS

Dengue fever emerges as major health threat in Gulf coast cities

Several cases of dengue fever, a potentially fatal viral disease transmitted by the bite of urban dwelling Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, have recently been reported in the continental United States. Prevalent in Central America and the Caribbean, dengue fever's most common symptoms include fever, chills, headache, and body aches lasting several days. The disease's more threatening form, dengue hemorrhagic fever, can cause internal bleeding, loss of blood pressure, and death. Over the past five years, outbreaks of both forms of the disease have been reported in Texas and Florida.

28 Jul 2010

Analyzing PSA level not sufficient for treatment decisions: Report

A new report published in the July 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine claims many men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer undergo aggressive therapy, even when they have low PSA scores and low-risk disease, saying "these results underscore the fact that PSA level, the current biomarker, is not a sufficient basis for treatment decisions."

28 Jul 2010

Calcium transfer impacts fuel mechanism for normal cell metabolism

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers have described a previously unknown biological mechanism in cells that prevents them from cannibalizing themselves for fuel. The mechanism involves the fuel used by cells under normal conditions and relies on an ongoing transfer of calcium between two cell components via an ion channel. Without this transfer, cells start consuming themselves as a way of to get enough energy.

28 Jul 2010

Antigenics announces positive results of AG-707 genital herpes vaccine

Antigenics announced positive results with AG-707, an investigational therapeutic vaccine being developed to treat herpes simplex virus-2,the virus that causes genital herpes, in infected patients. Developed by Antigenics, the vaccine triggers a cellular immune response, stimulating both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells.

28 Jul 2010

Scientists unveil new biomarkers for stroke, coronary heart disease

Analysis of blood protein data from the Women's Health Initiative cohorts has revealed new biomarkers for stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD). Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Medicine found that beta-2 microglobulin (B2M) levels were significantly elevated in postmenopausal women with CHD, and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 4 (IGFBP4) was strongly associated with stroke.

28 Jul 2010

Process improvement program improves adherence to evidence-based CRT, ICD and drug therapy

Results of the largest U.S. outpatient heart failure clinical study show that implementation of a process improvement program significantly improved adherence to evidence-based, guideline-recommended cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and drug therapy.

27 Jul 2010

Studies that compare treatment options for carotid artery disease provide no clear answer, physician reports

A review of scientific studies that compares two treatments for preventing strokes due carotid artery disease provides no clear answer on which treatment is better, a UT Southwestern Medical Center physician reports in an editorial in today's issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

27 Jul 2010

Kinetic Concepts second-quarter global revenue increases 1% to $497.8 million

Kinetic Concepts, Inc. today reported second quarter 2010 total revenue of $497.8 million, an increase of 1% from the second quarter of 2009 and up 2% from the first quarter of 2010. Total revenue for the first half of 2010 was $983.6 million, a 2% increase from the prior-year period. Unfavorable foreign currency exchange movements reduced total revenue for the second quarter of 2010 by less than 1%, while favorably impacting total revenue for the first six months of 2010 by 1% compared to the corresponding periods of the prior year.

27 Jul 2010

Journal of Mental Health features special issue on diagnosing mental illness

This month Journal of Mental Health features a special issue on diagnosing mental illness. The issue - which comes out just weeks after the eagerly-awaited new draft of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the global diagnostic 'bible' for the field of mental health medicine - includes a series of articles written by high profile mainstream personalities on what a diagnosis of mental illness has meant to them.

27 Jul 2010

Rockport adds 25,000 OptumHealth physical medicine specialists to workers' compensation PPO network

Rockport Healthcare Group announced it is adding more than 25,000 OptumHealth physical medicine specialists to its workers' compensation Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) network. The PPO program launched May 1, 2010.

27 Jul 2010

Haiti: might the earthquake worsen TB rates?

Prior to the earthquake of January 12th 2010, Haiti had experienced the highest TB notification rate in the Latin America and Caribbean region. In a forthcoming editorial in Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine, Kevin Schwartzman and colleagues from the McGill University Health Centre (Montreal, Canada) discuss whether the devastation of Haiti six months ago will lead to an unavoidable increase in the incidence of TB.

27 Jul 2010

New partnership brings latest stem cell discoveries from laboratory to patient

A major research company affiliated with the University of Colorado with expertise in managing clinical trials is partnering with the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus to more efficiently bring the latest stem cell discoveries from the laboratory to the patient.

27 Jul 2010

New York Times article highlights potential value of early cancer detection technology

Manhattan Scientifics, Inc. said today that a July 20th New York Times article titled "Prone to Error: Earliest Steps to Find Cancer" highlights the potential value of the early cancer detection technology developed by Senior Scientific, LLC and licensed by Manhattan Scientifics. The story focused on widespread problems associated with incorrect diagnosis of breast cancer, and cited one study in which 90,000 women either did not have the disease or their pathologist made an error that resulted in incorrect treatment.

27 Jul 2010

Study tests new performance intervention to improve heart failure patients in outpatient setting

A study led by UCLA tested a new performance intervention to help improve adherence to national guideline-recommended therapies for heart failure patients in an outpatient setting.

27 Jul 2010

Physicians often guess wrong about patients' beliefs about health

US physicians are often poor judges of their patients' health beliefs, according to a new study by Dr. Richard Street from Texas A&M University and Paul Haidet from The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, USA. However, physicians' understanding is better the more patients are involved by asking questions, expressing concerns, and stating their beliefs and preferences for care. Their analysis of how patients' health beliefs differ from their physicians' perception of these beliefs was just published online by Springer in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

27 Jul 2010

Report shows most men with low PSA undergo aggressive therapy

Most men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer appear to under undergo aggressive therapy, even if they have a low prostate-specific antigen level and low-risk disease, according to a report in the July 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

27 Jul 2010

20% of patients demonstrate decrease in body weight, BMI after knee or hip replacement

A Mount Sinai School of Medicine study has found that patients often exhibit a significant decrease in weight and body mass index (BMI) after undergoing knee or hip replacement surgery (arthroplasty). The study is the first of its type to correct for the annual increase in BMI typically found in North Americans between the ages of 29 to 73 years. The study was recently published in Orthopedics.

27 Jul 2010

Need for better understanding of appropriate treatment choices for children with insomnia: Study

A new survey of child psychiatrists indicates that insomnia is a major problem among children in mental health treatment and at least a quarter of these patients are given sleep medication. The results of the survey, conducted by Judith Owens, MD, a sleep expert with Hasbro Children's Hospital, and colleagues, suggests that management of insomnia in this population is a common practice, although the clinical approach varies widely. The study is published in the August 2010 edition of Sleep Medicine.

27 Jul 2010

EFINTD awards 850,000 Euros for medical research on neglected tropical diseases in Africa

More than one billion people all over the world suffer from tropical diseases which are mostly unknown to the wider public and have also been neglected economically. In a joint effort with four other European foundations, the Volkswagen Foundation has opened a second round of funding for African scientists conducting research on these neglected diseases.

27 Jul 2010

Circle Biologics introduces single device Autologous Platelet Concentrator Platform

Circle Biologics, Inc. has announced a technological break-through in regenerative medicine – its Autologous Platelet Concentrator Platform. This innovative single device platform is the first of its kind to incorporate both autologous cell concentration and protein concentration in one point-of-care device.

27 Jul 2010

Medicine News and Research

Dengue fever emerges as major health threat in Gulf coast cities

Analyzing PSA level not sufficient for treatment decisions: Report

Calcium transfer impacts fuel mechanism for normal cell metabolism

Antigenics announces positive results of AG-707 genital herpes vaccine

Scientists unveil new biomarkers for stroke, coronary heart disease

Process improvement program improves adherence to evidence-based CRT, ICD and drug therapy

Studies that compare treatment options for carotid artery disease provide no clear answer, physician reports

Kinetic Concepts second-quarter global revenue increases 1% to $497.8 million

Journal of Mental Health features special issue on diagnosing mental illness

Rockport adds 25,000 OptumHealth physical medicine specialists to workers' compensation PPO network

Haiti: might the earthquake worsen TB rates?

New partnership brings latest stem cell discoveries from laboratory to patient

New York Times article highlights potential value of early cancer detection technology

Study tests new performance intervention to improve heart failure patients in outpatient setting

Physicians often guess wrong about patients' beliefs about health

Report shows most men with low PSA undergo aggressive therapy

20% of patients demonstrate decrease in body weight, BMI after knee or hip replacement

Need for better understanding of appropriate treatment choices for children with insomnia: Study

EFINTD awards 850,000 Euros for medical research on neglected tropical diseases in Africa

Circle Biologics introduces single device Autologous Platelet Concentrator Platform

Industry Focus eBook - Cell & Gene Therapy (1st Edition) eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Latest News