Muscle News and Research

RSS

Electroconvulsive therapy and how it works in severe depression: Study

Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, has been used in severely and persistently depressed patients from their disabling mood state for more than seven decades. Researchers have searched for the reason why this technique sometimes works in these patients.

20 Mar 2012

Smoking may restore self-control

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., have found that when they deplete a smoker's self control, smoking a cigarette may restore self-control.

20 Mar 2012

New three-step process for DMD newborn screening

Investigators at Nationwide Children's Hospital, working with the DNA Sequencing Core Facility at the University of Utah, have developed an approach to newborn screening (NBS) for the life-threatening genetic disorder, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and potentially other muscular dystrophies.

20 Mar 2012

Gilenya - pill for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis recommended by NICE

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) issued new draft guidance recommending fingolimod (brand name Gilenya) on the NHS for some patients with a form of MS. The new drug can help reduce the number of relapses in adults with highly active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), which is characterized by periods when symptoms worsen and then improve.

19 Mar 2012

Boston Scientific lauds private insurance reimbursement coverage for bronchial thermoplasty

Boston Scientific Corporation welcomes a milestone in private insurance reimbursement coverage for bronchial thermoplasty (BT) performed using the Alair Bronchial Thermoplasty System. Minnesota-based HealthPartners and Michigan-based Priority Health recently issued the first public postings of positive insurance coverage policies providing their respective memberships with reimbursement for this novel procedure to treat severe asthma.

19 Mar 2012

Soy-based S-equol lowers HbA1c, LDL cholesterol and improves vascular stiffness

A 12-week treatment of the fermented soy germ-based nutritional supplement containing S-equol significantly lowered hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), LDL cholesterol and improved vascular stiffness, all factors that occur as part of metabolic syndrome, according to a first-of-its-kind peer-reviewed study reported in a poster at the Women's Health 2012 annual meeting.

19 Mar 2012

Study confirms value of Cambridge Heart's MTWA test for SCA

Cambridge Heart, Inc., a developer of non-invasive diagnostic tests for cardiac disease, today announced that a new study published on-line in the Heart Rhythm Journal confirms the value of Microvolt T-Wave Alternans (MTWA) testing for identifying patients at risk of sudden cardiac arrest.

19 Mar 2012

Westmead Hospital endorse a new medical device designed to increase blood circulation and prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis

A new medical device, the geko™, designed to increase blood circulation through neuromuscular electro–stimulation to the common peroneal nerve, has received the positive endorsement of Westmead Hospital, New South Wales, as an important new development in the prevention of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT).

18 Mar 2012

UM, Shock Trauma partner to train dental students, residents

The University of Maryland's (UM) School of Dentistry has teamed up with the UM School of Medicine's R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center for training future dentists to respond efficiently and effectively to life threatening medical emergencies in a dental setting.

16 Mar 2012

GABA neurons could help restore muscle coordination deficits of Huntington's

Huntington's disease, the debilitating congenital neurological disorder that progressively robs patients of muscle coordination and cognitive ability, is a condition without effective treatment, a slow death sentence. But if researchers can build on new research reported this week in the journal Cell Stem Cell, a special type of brain cell forged from stem cells could help restore the muscle coordination deficits that cause the uncontrollable spasms characteristic of the disease.

16 Mar 2012

Back pain and school children's backpacks

Significant numbers of teens regularly carry rucksacks for school which top 10 to 15 per cent of their body weight and risk back pain and other related disorders, finds research published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

15 Mar 2012

Scientists discover direct biomarker of Chikungunya fever

Recent breakthroughs in Chikungunya research spearheaded by scientists at A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) have made great strides in the battle against the infectious disease.

15 Mar 2012

Researchers observe membrane repair in real-time in a living organism

Every cell is enclosed by a thin double layer of lipids that separates the distinct internal environment of the cell from the extracellular space. Damage to this lipid bilayer, also referred to as plasma membrane, disturbs the cellular functions and may lead to the death of the cell. For example, downhill walking tears many little holes into the plasma membranes of the muscle cells in our legs.

15 Mar 2012

GWU honors Gladstone investigator with Abraham White Scientific Achievement Award

Gladstone Institutes Senior Investigator Deepak Srivastava, MD has won the prestigious 2012 Abraham White Scientific Achievement Award from The George Washington University. Dr. Srivastava, who directs cardiac and stem cell research at Gladstone will share the award with Dr. Luigina Romani, professor of microbiology at the University of Perugia.

15 Mar 2012

FDA approves Botox injections for overactive bladder

When you think of Botox injections, you probably think of getting rid of unwanted wrinkles around the eyes or forehead, but recently the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved using the injections to help patients with neurological conditions who suffer from incontinence, or an overactive bladder.

14 Mar 2012

Scientists gain insight into why lithium salts are effective at treating bipolar disorder

Scientists have gained insight into why lithium salts are effective at treating bipolar disorder in what could lead to more targeted therapies with fewer side-effects.

14 Mar 2012

Botox - a potential for therapy of weak bladders in women

The study, published in the journal European Urology, was carried out at eight uro-gynecology centers in the UK from 2006 to 2009 by researchers from the University of Leicester. A total of 240 women were split into two groups, with 122 women given Botox and 118 receiving a dummy treatment. Researchers found improvements across a range of symptoms, including wetting oneself and feeling a need to rush to the toilet, and how often the women 'leaked' urine.

13 Mar 2012

New recovery protocol treats heart failure patients with LVADs

Some patients with advanced heart failure caused by cardiomyopathy, the deterioration of function of the heart muscle, are benefitting from a new recovery protocol at the University of Louisville and Jewish Hospital, a part of KentuckyOne Health.

13 Mar 2012

MRI reveals microgravity-induced intracranial hypertension in astronauts

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the eyes and brains of 27 astronauts who have spent prolonged periods of time in space revealed optical abnormalities similar to those that can occur in intracranial hypertension of unknown cause, a potentially serious condition in which pressure builds within the skull.

13 Mar 2012

Scientists develop realistic model to explain cellular signal processing

Scientists at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed a realistic model for explaining cellular signal processing.

13 Mar 2012