Medical School News and Research

RSS

Reducing amyloid fibril levels in semen may help reduce transmission of HIV

There may be two new ways to fight AIDS -- using a heat shock protein or a small molecule - to attack fibrils in semen associated with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during the initial phases of infection, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

18 Aug 2015

Journal articles on yoga therapy increase 3-fold in last 10 years

During the last 10 years, the number of articles in peer-reviewed journals worldwide about clinical trials of yoga therapy to alleviate disease-related symptoms increased 3-fold. This large-scale analysis of published research studies spanning 46 years, 29 countries, and more than 28,000 study participants is published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

18 Aug 2015

U-M microbiome research may lead to new ways to prevent, fight lung infections in patients

With every breath you take, microbes have a chance of making it into your lungs. But what happens when they get there? And why do dangerous lung infections like pneumonia happen in some people, but not others? Researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School have started to answer these questions by studying the microbiome of the lungs - the community of microscopic organisms that are in constant contact with our respiratory system.

18 Aug 2015

MGH study reveals effects of combined radiation and chemotherapy on the brain tissue of glioblastoma patients

A study from Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center researchers - the first to examine the effects of combined radiation and chemotherapy on the healthy brain tissue of glioblastoma patients - reveals not only specific structural changes within patients' brains but also that the effect of cancer therapy on the normal brain appears to be progressive and continues even after radiation therapy has ceased.

18 Aug 2015

Tracking retinal changes may help doctors to adjust schizophrenia treatment in the future

Schizophrenia is associated with structural and functional alterations of the visual system, including specific structural changes in the eye. Tracking such changes may provide new measures of risk for, and progression of the disease, according to a literature review published online in the journal Schizophrenia Research: Cognition, authored by researchers at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai and Rutgers University.

18 Aug 2015

Kessler Foundation researcher confirms link between sleep disturbances and MS-related fatigue

Kessler Foundation's Lauren Strober, PhD, explores the association of secondary fatigue and sleep disturbances in multiple sclerosis (MS). "Fatigue in multiple sclerosis: a look at the role of poor sleep" was published in Frontiers in Neurology.

18 Aug 2015

Women's Medicine Collaborative awarded NIH grant to study link between placenta and sleep abnormalities

The National Institutes of Health has awarded $2.7 million to the Women's Medicine Collaborative to study the placenta and its function to determine whether changes in the placenta are linked to sleep abnormalities.

14 Aug 2015

Risk for endophthalmitis no higher with Avastin, finds study

Eye injections of the drug Avastin, used to treat retinal diseases, bring no greater risk of endophthalmitis, a potentially blinding eye infection, than injections with the much more expensive drug Lucentis made by the same company, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Their findings are published today in JAMA Ophthalmology.

14 Aug 2015

‘Medical foods’ for patients with rare IEMs may cause harm when not carefully managed

Many "medical foods" are designed to help manage patients with rare inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs), and can help prevent serious and life-threatening complications. However, such special foods may cause harm in some patients when their use is not carefully monitored and managed, according to a research team led by scientists at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health.

14 Aug 2015

Anti-smoking laws lead to decrease in stillbirths

Stillbirths have dropped by almost eight per cent in England since the smoking ban was introduced, research shows.

14 Aug 2015

MGH papers reveal the way anesthetics affect brains of older patients and children

Recent Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigations into the neurobiology underlying the effects of general anesthesia have begun to reveal the ways different anesthetic agents alter specific aspects of the brain's electrical signals, reflected by EEG (electroencephalogram) signatures. While those studies have provided information that may lead to improved techniques for monitoring the consciousness of patients receiving general anesthesia, until now they have been conducted in relatively young adult patients.

14 Aug 2015

UCLA wins $2.5 million grant to enhance geriatric care in Riverside County

The UCLA division of geriatrics has received a three-year, $2.5 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to enhance geriatric education, training and workforce development in Riverside County. The grant will fund a new partnership between UCLA, UC Riverside School of Medicine, Riverside County Regional Medical Center and the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services.

14 Aug 2015

Rice and UTHealth scientists awarded $1.02 million NSF grant to examine how the brain processes language

The National Science Foundation has awarded a $1.02 million grant to scientists at Rice University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Medical School to study how the brain processes language. The joint research may one day help people who lose the ability to communicate.

14 Aug 2015

Combination of chemotherapy and immune-blocking drug could prevent cancer recurrence

Giving patients a drug that blocks part of the immune system from going into overdrive might help prevent cancer coming back in some people, according to research published today in Cancer Research.

13 Aug 2015

Tumor cells associated with pancreatic cancer work with each other to increase tumor spread

Tumor cells associated with pancreatic cancer often behave like communities by working with each other to increase tumor spread and growth to different organs. Groups of these cancer cells are better than single cancer cells in driving tumor spread, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published in Cancer Discovery online in advance of the print issue.

13 Aug 2015

Penn Medicine experts say that health care innovation is about testing new ideas to promote better patient care

Health care has much to learn from innovative high-tech companies, but not in the way most people think, according to a Perspective published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and authored by innovation experts from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Innovation, they say, can most effectively achieve meaningful outcomes by testing many new ideas quickly, cheaply, and contextually.

13 Aug 2015

BIDMC researchers examine impact of note sharing on patient safety, quality of care

Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are homing in on the potential benefits of allowing patients access to the notes their clinicians write after a visit. An article published in the August edition of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety suggests that this kind of patient engagement has the power to improve safety and quality of care.

13 Aug 2015

Researchers analyze inclusion/exclusion criteria used in antidepressant efficacy studies

Mark Zimmerman, M.D., a clinical researcher at Rhode Island Hospital, and his team analyzed the criteria used in antidepressant efficacy studies (AETs) and learned that the inclusion/exclusion criteria for AETs have narrowed over the past five years so that the most patients are excluded. The research was published today in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

13 Aug 2015

New research could help develop precision medicine for primary aldosteronism

Each of your kidneys wears a little yellow cap that helps keep your blood pressure in check, and much more. But in some people, it starts running amok, pumping out a hormone that sends blood pressure sky-high.

13 Aug 2015

Adult IQ of children with very low birth weight can be predicted by age two

Research from the University of Warwick indicates that the IQ of adults born very premature or of very low birth weight can be predicted when they are just a toddler.

13 Aug 2015

Medical School News and Research

Reducing amyloid fibril levels in semen may help reduce transmission of HIV

Journal articles on yoga therapy increase 3-fold in last 10 years

U-M microbiome research may lead to new ways to prevent, fight lung infections in patients

MGH study reveals effects of combined radiation and chemotherapy on the brain tissue of glioblastoma patients

Tracking retinal changes may help doctors to adjust schizophrenia treatment in the future

Kessler Foundation researcher confirms link between sleep disturbances and MS-related fatigue

Women's Medicine Collaborative awarded NIH grant to study link between placenta and sleep abnormalities

Risk for endophthalmitis no higher with Avastin, finds study

‘Medical foods’ for patients with rare IEMs may cause harm when not carefully managed

Anti-smoking laws lead to decrease in stillbirths

MGH papers reveal the way anesthetics affect brains of older patients and children

UCLA wins $2.5 million grant to enhance geriatric care in Riverside County

Rice and UTHealth scientists awarded $1.02 million NSF grant to examine how the brain processes language

Combination of chemotherapy and immune-blocking drug could prevent cancer recurrence

Tumor cells associated with pancreatic cancer work with each other to increase tumor spread

Penn Medicine experts say that health care innovation is about testing new ideas to promote better patient care

BIDMC researchers examine impact of note sharing on patient safety, quality of care

Researchers analyze inclusion/exclusion criteria used in antidepressant efficacy studies

New research could help develop precision medicine for primary aldosteronism

Adult IQ of children with very low birth weight can be predicted by age two

Improving healthcare sustainability through carbon data

A New Approach to Preventing Bladder Cancer Recurrence

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Latest News