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MGH researchers develop novel approach to analyze brainwave activity during sleep

Massachusetts General Hospital investigators have developed a novel approach to analyze brainwaves during sleep, which promises to give a more detailed and accurate depiction of neurophysiological changes than provided by a traditional sleep study.

8 Feb 2017

Sleep may be regulated by several brain-based immune proteins, study reveals

Sleep -- one of the most basic, yet most mystifying processes of the human body -- has confounded physicians, scientists and evolutionary biologists for centuries.

2 Feb 2017

Increased growth factor protects retinal blood vessels in animal models with diabetes

Researchers from the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear have shown that a slight increase in transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), which is present in preclinical animal models with diabetic eye disease, protects retinal blood vessels from damage that commonly occurs in the early stages of the disease.

2 Feb 2017

UAB researchers discover novel underlying mechanism involved in anxiety disorders, PTSD

University of Alabama at Birmingham neurobiologist Lynn Dobrunz, Ph.D., has discovered a novel mechanism for how stress-induced anxiety — the type of experience that can produce post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD — affects circuit function in the hippocampus, the area of the brain where aversive memories are formed.

24 Jan 2017

BUSM researchers move one step closer to understanding brain changes linked to PTSD

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine and the VA Boston Healthcare System are one step closer to understanding the specific nature of brain changes associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

23 Jan 2017

Mutations in gene that enables memories, sense of direction can contribute to schizophrenia symptoms

Mutations in a gene that should enable memories and a sense of direction instead can result in imprecise communication between neurons that contributes to symptoms of schizophrenia, scientists report.

19 Jan 2017

High-donor-volume hospitals more likely to have improved OTPD rate than low-volume medical centers

Hospitals that manage the highest volume of deceased organ donors are 52 percent more likely to recover an above-average number of transplantable organs per donor compared with low-volume hospitals, according to results from a new study conducted across three U.S. donation regions.

19 Jan 2017

UVC machines can cut transmission of four drug-resistant superbugs by 30%, study finds

A new tool -- a type of ultraviolet light called UVC -- could aid hospitals in the ongoing battle to keep drug-resistant bacteria from lingering in patient rooms and causing new infections.

17 Jan 2017

Alcohol strengthens emotional memories linked to fearful experiences, study shows

Experiments in mice by researchers at Johns Hopkins suggest that if the goal is to ease or extinguish fearful emotional memories like those associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol may make things worse, not better.

10 Jan 2017

Penn study finds evidence of AD neuropathology in post-mortem brains of LBD patients

Patients who had a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) with dementia (PDD) or dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and had higher levels of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology in their donated post-mortem brains also had more severe symptoms of these Lewy body diseases (LBD) during their lives, compared to those whose brains had less AD pathology, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

6 Jan 2017

New study from Veterans Health Administration finds significant decline in MRSA HAI rates

The Department of Veterans Affairs' Veterans Health Administration's campaign to limit healthcare facility-associated infections (HAIs) of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) continues to make significant progress, according to a study published in the January issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official journal of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology .

6 Jan 2017

Witnessing fear in others may change how information flows in the brain, study finds

Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have discovered that observing fear in others may change how information flows in the brain.

4 Jan 2017

Researchers uncover two factors that play crucial role in chronic autoimmune disorders

Researchers from Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear have uncovered two factors responsible for the chronic, lifelong nature of autoimmune disorders, which tend to "flare up" intermittently in affected patients.

4 Jan 2017

New research letter compares melanoma death and incidence by states and geographic regions

A new research letter published online by JAMA Dermatology compares melanoma death and incidence by states and in four geographic regions.

30 Dec 2016

OTC medical device receives CE Mark approval to treat pain linked to fibromyalgia

AVACEN Medical announced its AVACEN 100, Class-IIa, OTC medical device has received the CE Mark approval to treat widespread pain associated with fibromyalgia.

23 Dec 2016

Linking human genome sequences to EHR information could influence clinical medicine, says expert

The value of intersecting the sequencing of individuals' exomes or full genomes to find rare genetic variants -- on a large scale -- with their detailed electronic health record information has "myriad benefits, including the illumination of basic human biology, the early identification of preventable and treatable illnesses, and the identification and validation of new therapeutic targets," wrote Daniel J. Rader, MD, chair of the Department of Genetics, in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in Science this week, with Scott M. Damrauer, MD, an assistant professor of Surgery at Penn and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia.

23 Dec 2016

Vitamin D supplementation improves metabolic syndrome in mice

It is well known that a diet high in fat can trigger a metabolic syndrome, a group of symptoms that pose as risk factors for diabetes and heart disease.

22 Dec 2016

Hormone receptor could be potential biomarker for gastric cancer, research shows

Scientists at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Miami, and Shantou University Medical College in China, have shown that the hormone receptor GHRH-R could be a potential biomarker for gastric cancer, enabling earlier diagnoses and better staging.

21 Dec 2016

VA’s final rule leads to underutilization of CRNAs in VHA facilities

Despite documented evidence confirming that veterans are experiencing delays for essential healthcare services due to lack of anesthesia support in Veterans Health Administration facilities, the Department of Veterans Affairs has published its final rule granting full practice authority to all advanced practice registered nurses except Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists.

15 Dec 2016

Western diet during pregnancy may increase obesity risk in offspring

Diet composition around the time of pregnancy may influence whether offspring become obese, according to a new study using animal models at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI).