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Researchers explore new ways to treat, prevent Streptococcus pneumoniae

Scientists from Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology have used the power of new genomic technology to discover that microbes that commonly infect the eye have special, previously unknown properties. These properties are predicted to allow the bacterium -- Streptococcus pneumoniae -- to specifically stick to the surface of the eye, grow, and cause damage and inflammation.

13 Nov 2014

Scientists receive NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grants for mental health research

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation today announced the award of NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grants valued at $1.5 million to 15 scientists, who are full professors or the equivalent, conducting innovative projects in diverse areas of neurobiological and behavioral research.

13 Nov 2014

Effecting changes to FosB gene could help control addiction, depression

Regulation of a single, specific gene in a brain region related to drug addiction and depression is sufficient to reduce drug and stress responses, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published October 27 online in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

12 Nov 2014

Prescription opioids involved in 67.8% of nationwide ED visits in 2010, find researchers

Researchers from Rhode Island and The Miriam hospitals and the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that prescription opioids, including methadone, were involved in 67.8 percent of (or over 135,971 visits to) nationwide emergency department (ED) visits in 2010, with the highest proportion of opioid overdoses occurring in the South.

12 Nov 2014

CMS to cover low-dose CT screening for lung cancer

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services today recognized the importance of lung cancer screening, announcing today that it will cover low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening, or "CAT" scans , for high-risk current and former smokers. The decision validates Mount Sinai's longstanding commitment to providing access to this essential screening tool.

12 Nov 2014

Hospice care lowers hospitalization, ICU admissions and invasive procedures for Medicare patients

Medicare patients with poor prognosis cancers who received hospice care had significantly lower rates of hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and invasive procedures at the end of life, along with significantly lower health care expenditures during the last year of life, according to a study in the November 12 issue of JAMA.

12 Nov 2014

Study: Heart attack, stroke survivors' physical limitations rapidly increase over decade

A record number of people are surviving heart attacks and stroke but those who do may experience a sharp decline in physical abilities that steadily accelerates over time, according to a new nationally-representative study led by the University of Michigan.

12 Nov 2014

Experts review advances in understanding, treatment of bipolar disorder

Several lines of research have opened exciting new frontiers in scientific understanding and clinical management of bipolar disorder. Recent advances in bipolar disease research are described in this month's special issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry.

11 Nov 2014

Researchers refine diagnostic tools to predict treatment outcomes for children with neuroblastoma

Oncology researchers studying gene mutations in the childhood cancer neuroblastoma are refining their diagnostic tools to predict which patients are more likely to respond to drugs called ALK inhibitors that target such mutations. Removing some of the guesswork in diagnosis and treatment, the researchers say, may lead to more successful outcomes for children with this often-deadly cancer.

11 Nov 2014

New model explains how immune cells recognize, destroy bacteria

The innate immune system serves as the body's specialized armed forces division, comprised of a host of defense mechanisms used to battle bacterial infections. Among the system's warriors are white blood cells including the specialized macrophages, which maintain constant surveillance for foreign intruders or pathogens, functioning as the body's first line of defense, poised to attack at barrier sites including the skin, lungs and intestines.

11 Nov 2014

Researchers explain interaction between HNRNPA2B1 protein and pancreatic cancer development

Researchers from the University of Barcelona have described an interaction between the protein HNRNPA2B1 and pancreatic cancer development which remained unknown. The study, published in the journal Gastroenterology, has proved in human cancer cell lines that this protein is essential to the correct activity of the oncogenic protein KRAS, related to cancer start and development.

11 Nov 2014

Child-mortality gap narrows between the poorest and wealthiest families in developing countries

The child-mortality gap has narrowed between the poorest and wealthiest households in a majority of more than 50 developing countries, a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine has found.

11 Nov 2014

Internet based screening mammography training: an interview with Dr. Holzhauer

About half of Radiologists in the USA who participate in breast imaging are estimated to read less than 2,000 screening mammograms per year. This is a suboptimal number, given that only 3-5 cancers in average are seen among 1,000 screening mammograms.

10 Nov 2014

Obese children face increased risk of becoming obese in teen years

Children who are overweight or obese by fifth grade have a high risk of becoming or remaining obese in their teen years, according to a study by researchers from Boston Children's Hospital and elsewhere.

10 Nov 2014

UTHealth professor wins 2014 APGAR Award for contributions to perinatal medicine and education

Jon Tyson, M.D., M.P.H., the Michelle Bain Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Public Health at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Medical School, has won the 2014 APGAR Award for his lifelong contributions to perinatal medicine and education.

9 Nov 2014

Trover Campus wins 2014 Shining Star of Community Achievement award

The Trover Campus at Baptist Health Madisonville of the University of Louisville School of Medicine will receive the 2014 Shining Star of Community Achievement award from the Group on Regional Medical Campuses of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

9 Nov 2014

Researchers find way to defeat elusive target proteins in cancer cells

Researchers at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center have found a way to defeat one of the most tantalizing yet elusive target proteins in cancer cells - employing a strategy that turns the protein's own molecular machinations against it.

9 Nov 2014

McLean Hospital lab explores use of stem cell therapy to treat epilepsy

McLean Hospital and Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists have new evidence that stem cell transplantation could be a worthwhile strategy to help epileptics who do not respond to anti-seizure drugs.

7 Nov 2014

New algorithm could help determine how to treat patients having difficulty breathing

Paramedics respond to a 911 call to find an elderly patient who's having difficulty breathing. Anxious and disoriented, the patient has trouble remembering all the medications he's taking, and with his shortness of breath, speaking is difficult. Is he suffering from acute emphysema or heart failure? The symptoms look the same, but initiating the wrong treatment regimen will increase the patient's risk of severe complications.

7 Nov 2014

Olaparib shows promise for advanced cancers associated with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations

Olaparib, an experimental twice-daily oral cancer drug, produces an overall tumor response rate of 26 percent in several advanced cancers associated with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, according to new research co-led by the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

7 Nov 2014

Medical School News and Research

Researchers explore new ways to treat, prevent Streptococcus pneumoniae

Scientists receive NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grants for mental health research

Effecting changes to FosB gene could help control addiction, depression

Prescription opioids involved in 67.8% of nationwide ED visits in 2010, find researchers

CMS to cover low-dose CT screening for lung cancer

Hospice care lowers hospitalization, ICU admissions and invasive procedures for Medicare patients

Study: Heart attack, stroke survivors' physical limitations rapidly increase over decade

Experts review advances in understanding, treatment of bipolar disorder

Researchers refine diagnostic tools to predict treatment outcomes for children with neuroblastoma

New model explains how immune cells recognize, destroy bacteria

Researchers explain interaction between HNRNPA2B1 protein and pancreatic cancer development

Child-mortality gap narrows between the poorest and wealthiest families in developing countries

Internet based screening mammography training: an interview with Dr. Holzhauer

Obese children face increased risk of becoming obese in teen years

UTHealth professor wins 2014 APGAR Award for contributions to perinatal medicine and education

Trover Campus wins 2014 Shining Star of Community Achievement award

Researchers find way to defeat elusive target proteins in cancer cells

McLean Hospital lab explores use of stem cell therapy to treat epilepsy

New algorithm could help determine how to treat patients having difficulty breathing

Olaparib shows promise for advanced cancers associated with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations

Improving healthcare sustainability through carbon data

A New Approach to Preventing Bladder Cancer Recurrence

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

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