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Implementing electronic prescribing in primary care practices

Primary care physicians provide essential health services to patients of all ages and while a family physician's office is a warm, comfortable environment, a physician's practice also is a business.

7 Oct 2011

Affymetrix commercializes 18 new array designs for whole-transcriptome analysis

Affymetrix, Inc. today announced commercialization of 18 new array designs for whole-transcriptome analysis of model and applied research organisms that will allow scientists to obtain a more complete gene expression view than traditional 3' biased arrays.

7 Oct 2011

NO could improve recovery of critically ill patients in intensive care

The latest results from an expedition to Mount Everest that looked at the body's response to low oxygen levels suggest that drugs or procedures that promote the body's production of a chemical compound called nitric oxide (NO) could improve the recovery of critically ill patients in intensive care.

7 Oct 2011

New WPI smart-phone app can measure heart rhythm, respiration and pulse rate

An iPhone app that measures the user's heart rate is not only a popular feature with consumers, but it sparked an idea for a Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) researcher who is now turning smart phones, and eventually tablet devices, into sophisticated medical monitors able to capture and transmit vital physiological data.

7 Oct 2011

Study shows Sox2 expression in many adult stem cells

Investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) have found that Sox2 - one of the transcription factors used in the conversion of adult stem cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) - is expressed in many adult tissues where it had not been previously observed.

7 Oct 2011

Measurable changes in brain function may be a consequence of early HIV infection

Measurable changes in brain function and communication between brain regions may be a consequence of virus-induced injury during the early stages of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.

7 Oct 2011

Strain echocardiography can help physicians detect early signs of cardiac toxicity in cancer patients

There is good news for cancer patients whose medical treatments put them at risk for future cardiac problems: using strain echocardiography can help physicians detect early signs of cardiac toxicity.

7 Oct 2011

Anesthesia in very small kids may raise risk of learning disabilities

According to the latest research very young children exposed to general anesthesia during surgical procedures may be at an increased risk for learning problems.

4 Oct 2011

Alzheimer's may originate in a form similar to that of infectious prion diseases

The brain damage that characterizes Alzheimer's disease may originate in a form similar to that of infectious prion diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob, according to newly published research by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

4 Oct 2011

Researchers identify specific molecule that alters how breast cancer cells move

Researchers from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a specific molecule that alters how breast cancer cells move. This affects the cells' ability to spread or metastasize to distant parts of the body, the hallmark of deadly, aggressive cancer.

4 Oct 2011

Viewpoints: Mixing Obama and Ryan's plans, cancer rationing and stalling federal aid

What has been revealed is that the systems set up during an industrial era to provide health care, retirement income and support during economic downturns are inadequate for and ill-suited to our post-industrial, globalized economy. ...one can imagine a system in which all workers and nonworkers are required to buy insurance from the government-regulated exchanges being set up in each region or state under the Obama health-care reform plan.

4 Oct 2011

CCP announces eight new cancer research projects at BWH

The Campaign for Cancer Prevention (CCP) began in 2007 with the single goal of uniting those across the globe who care about preventing cancer. It has now grown to a more than 6 million member movement, becoming a leading initiative on the social media platform, Causes.com.

4 Oct 2011

Mayo Clinic expands Medical School to Arizona

Mayo Clinic announced the expansion of Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minnesota, to Arizona, creating a branch to be called Mayo Medical School -- Arizona Campus.

3 Oct 2011

Scientists use Twitter to detect global mood changes

A novel study has used Twitter streams from 2.4 million people around the globe to take their emotional temperature found that people start the day in a good mood. But it decreases as work starts, then improves when work ends.

2 Oct 2011

Residential treatment may motivate young adults with addiction for recovery

Young adults undergoing addiction treatment arrive ready and willing to make the personal changes that bring about recovery, but it's the help and guidance received during treatment that build and sustain those changes, according to a longitudinal study published electronically and in press within the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

1 Oct 2011

Change in CT protocols could decrease radiation dose to the breast and lungs

Carefully consider the radiation dose to the breast and lungs before deciding which CT protocol to use for thoracic imaging of individual patients, a new study cautions.

1 Oct 2011

NIH's fourth Symposium on Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine to be held Oct. 4-5

Advances in tissue engineering and stem cell therapies will be among the research topics discussed during the National Institutes of Health's fourth Symposium on Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine, which will be held Oct. 4-5.

1 Oct 2011

Lifespan researcher receives Ig Nobel Prize at Harvard University

Peter J. Snyder, Ph.D., vice president of research for Lifespan, received one of 10 Ig Nobel Prize awards during the annual ceremony last night at Harvard University.

1 Oct 2011

Free radical peroyxnitrite linked to failure of cytotoxic T-cells to eliminate tumors

Researchers at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., and colleagues have found that tumor cell resistance to a specific cancer immunotherapy designed to kill cancer cells can be blamed on a mechanism that involves the production of a free radical peroxynitrite (PNT) that causes resistance to therapeutic cancer-killing cells.

30 Sep 2011

ALK gene discovered by St. Jude scientists associated with FDA approved adult cancer drug

A drug recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of an adult cancer targets a malfunctioning gene discovered more than a decade earlier at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The story highlights how scientific findings from St. Jude can be translated into therapies and tests that in addition to helping children, also help adults.

30 Sep 2011