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Electrical device partly restores sense of balance in animals

Hearing and balance experts at Johns Hopkins report successful testing in animals of an electrical device that partly restores a damaged or impaired sense of balance.

7 Aug 2007

What causes rosacea?

Doctors can describe the symptoms of rosacea, a common inflammatory skin disease that causes facial redness and affects nearly 14 million Americans.

6 Aug 2007

Blood samples from more than 220 ALS patients at the Methodist Neurological Institute were used in research that revealed significant changes in or around 10 specific genes in sporadic ALS, the most common form of ALS.

6 Aug 2007

Promoting child safety with computers

Computer technology that provides parents with customized safety information can be an effective way to help their children avoid injury, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

6 Aug 2007

LKB1 gene - new lung tumor-suppressor

Collaborating scientists in Boston and North Carolina have found that a particular gene can block key steps of the lung cancer process in mice.

6 Aug 2007

Many heart attack patients still not getting emergency reperfusion

Far more of today's heart attack patients receive emergency angioplasty treatment or clot-busting drugs to re-open their clogged heart arteries than even a decade ago, a new study finds.

6 Aug 2007

Living with food allergies

Mealtime should be an enjoyable experience. Yet, for 12 million children with food allergies, eating a meal can be a frightening activity.

6 Aug 2007

Happier hospitals means healthier patients

The National Inquiry into Management and Medicine looked at hospitals across the UK, focussing on the often troubled relationships between doctors and NHS managers.

6 Aug 2007

Emergency angioplasty use rises, but some patients still miss out

Compared with their counterparts a decade ago, today's heart attack patients are receiving emergency angioplasty or clot-busting drugs to re-open clogged arteries at a far greater rate, but 10 percent of patients who could benefit from this life-saving treatment still do not receive it, according to a study published in The American Journal of Medicine by Yale and University of Michigan researchers.

6 Aug 2007

Tailor-made antidepressants

In spite that the causes of depression have not still been fully identified, scientists acknowledge that genetic and environmental factors play a common role in the onset of this disorder.

6 Aug 2007

Rosacea the result of a trifecta of unfortunate factors

Rosacea is a common inflammatory skin disease that causes facial redness which affects as many as 14 million Americans.

6 Aug 2007

Zinc lozenges are not effective in treating colds

Despite 20 years of research, the benefits of zinc lozenges as a therapy for the common cold have not been proven.

3 Aug 2007

New device to treat chronic congestive heart failure

As part of a 40-site national trial, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center are studying a new medical device designed to treat patients with chronic congestive heart failure.

3 Aug 2007

Money for medicine

Last week, it was announced that drug addicts in England are to be given shopping vouchers for complying with treatment programmes. In this week's British Medical Journal, two experts debate whether it is acceptable for people to be paid to adhere to medication.

3 Aug 2007

Headaches of computerized medicine

Clinical information technology systems especially those known in the health care industry as computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems promise to improve health outcomes, reduce medical errors and increase cost efficiency, but hospitals adopting them must plan for immense workflow issues and a host of other unanticipated consequences that come with them or face potentially crippling problems.

3 Aug 2007

Age is important in HRT use

Five years ago this summer the National Institutes of Health's stopped early a major portion of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), a large and ambitious study to address the most common causes of death, disability and impaired quality of life in postmenopausal women.

3 Aug 2007

Medical residents unclear about TB guidelines

US medical residents are not proficient at diagnosing and managing tuberculosis (TB), according to a report published in the online open access journal, BMC Infectious Diseases.

3 Aug 2007

Medical residents score poorly in diagnosing and managing tuberculosis

When quizzed about their knowledge in diagnosing tuberculosis and deciding on the best treatment, medical residents in Baltimore and Philadelphia get almost half the answers wrong, according to a survey by TB disease experts at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere.

3 Aug 2007

Integrated system, rapid transfer offers lifeline for heart attack victims

Heart attack patients received lifesaving treatment quickly when hospitals and communities used an integrated, rapid transfer system to get patients to a facility equipped to perform artery-opening procedures, according to a report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

3 Aug 2007

Immunity in social amoeba suggests ancient beginnings

Finding an immune system in the social amoeba (Dictyostelium discoideum) is not only surprising but it also may prove a clue as to what is necessary for an organism to become multicellular, said the Baylor College of Medicine researcher who led the research that appears in the journal Science.

3 Aug 2007