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AHRQ and American College Of Cardiology team up to study risks and benefits of ICDs

A $3.5 million research project that will study the long-term benefits and risks of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) in patients at risk of death from ventricular fibrillation will be supported by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the American College of Cardiology, the two groups announced today.

29 Jan 2010

HSF announces $1 million contribution by The Cowan Foundation to AED program

The Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) today announced a $1 million contribution by The Cowan Foundation to its national Heart&Stroke Restart a Heart, Restart a Life(TM) Automated External Defibrillator (AED) program.

14 Dec 2009

Amino acids can improve cognitive function in patients with severe brain injuries

Neurology researchers have shown that feeding amino acids to brain-injured animals restores their cognitive abilities and may set the stage for the first effective treatment for cognitive impairments suffered by people with traumatic brain injuries.

8 Dec 2009

Findings show the relationship between neurotransmitter dopamine and ADHD

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have uncovered evidence of a primitive emotion-like behavior in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster.

26 Nov 2009

Real-time CPR feedback effective in EMS systems with well-trained rescuers

Emergency medical service (EMS) providers in the United States assess an estimated 350,000 cardiac arrests each year. Only 5 to 10 percent of people who have sudden cardiac arrest survive. Better quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) provided by prehospital EMS providers may be associated with better patient outcome. The Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC) is the largest clinical research network to study prehospital treatments for cardiac arrest in the United States and Canada.

23 Nov 2009

Non-invasive test to determine risk of sudden cardiac arrest in heart bypass surgery patients

Years after heart bypass surgery, Jim Miller was symptom free. Several measures of his heart’s functioning did not show that he was in danger of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). But Miller’s doctor decided to make sure and the quick, non-invasive test he performed may have saved Miller’s life.

10 Nov 2009

NHLBI stops enrollment in study comparing resuscitation strategies

Enrollment has ended early in a large, multicenter clinical trial comparing two distinct resuscitation strategies delivered by emergency medical service (EMS) providers to increase blood flow during cardiac arrest. The study's independent monitoring board and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the lead sponsor of the study, stopped enrollment based on preliminary data suggesting that neither strategy significantly improved survival.

7 Nov 2009

Patients with post-traumatic stress disorder can benefit from synthetic marijuana

Use of cannabinoids (marijuana) could assist in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder patients. This is exposed in a recent study carried out at the Learning and Memory Lab in the University of Haifa's Department of Psychology.

5 Nov 2009

Cannabinoids play an important role in stress-related disorders: Study

Use of cannabinoids (marijuana) could assist in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder patients. This is exposed in a new study carried out at the Learning and Memory Lab in the University of Haifa's Department of Psychology. The study, carried out by research student Eti Ganon-Elazar under the supervision of Dr. Irit Akirav, was published in the prestigious Journal of Neuroscience.

4 Nov 2009

Changes in dopamine levels linked to infant learning patterns

When do you first leave the nest? Early in development infants of many species experience important transitions-such as learning when to leave the protective presence of their mother to start exploring the wider world. Neuroscientists have now pinpointed molecular events occurring in the brain during that turning point.

27 Oct 2009

Education and cardiac defibrillators can boost survival rates

More widespread availability of defibrillators and education of the general public could boost survival rates fourfold amongst athletes suffering cardiac arrest, a study has found. In less than half of cases, a bystander initiated cardiopulmonary reanimation. This is crucial as survival at hospital admission is 4 times higher when CPR is attempted and 10 times greater when an electric shock is delivered.

2 Sep 2009

Neuroscientists locate where fear is stored in the brain

Fear is a powerful emotion and neuroscientists have for the first time located the neurons responsible for fear conditioning in the mammalian brain. Fear conditioning is a form of Pavlovian, or associative, learning and is considered to be a model system for understanding human phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders.

6 Jul 2009

FDA approves Multaq tablets (dronedarone) to treat atrial fibrillation

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Multaq tablets (dronedarone) to help maintain normal heart rhythms in patients with a history of atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter (heart rhythm disorders). The drug is approved to be used in patients whose hearts have returned to normal rhythm or who will undergo drug or electric-shock treatment to restore a normal heart beat.

2 Jul 2009

Blocking the dual leucine zipper kinase gene may help ease painful nerve condition

Scientists have identified the first gene that pulls the plug on ailing nerve cell branches from within the nerve cell, possibly helping to trigger the painful condition known as neuropathy.

15 Mar 2009

New perspective on what part of the brain controls fear

Mice lose their fear of territorial rivals when a tiny piece of their brain is neutralized, a new study reports.

10 Mar 2009

Oxytocin may inhibit social phobia

Swedish and British scientists have shown using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that the hormone oxytocin can inhibit feelings of anxiety in specific individuals. Their discovery might lead to a better understanding and the improved treatment of psychiatric affections in which people feel distressed when meeting others, such as in cases of autism and social phobia.

20 Jul 2008

Costly placebo works better than cheap one

A 10-cent pill doesn't kill pain as well as a $2.50 pill, even when they are identical placebos, according to a provocative study by Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University.

6 Mar 2008

Trigeminal neuralgia

Trigeminal neuralgia or "tic douloureux" is characterized by stabbing, electric shock-like pain in the face. The most common cause is an enlarged artery or vein pressing on the trigeminal nerve at the base of the brain.

9 Jan 2008

A happy marriage bolsters a woman's physiological recovery from work

That's the suggestion from a new UCLA study that tracked levels of cortisol, a key stress hormone, among 30 Los Angeles married couples involved in one of our age's trickiest juggling acts - raising kids when both parents work full time.

2 Jan 2008

sLRP1-alpha provides relief from neuropathic pain

Injury to peripheral nerves (the causes of which include shingles, HIV-AIDS, toxins, alcoholism, repetitive motion disorders, surgery, and cancer) causes neuropathic pain, which differs from ordinary pain and is usually perceived as a steady burning, pins and needles, electric shock sensations, and/or tickling.

4 Dec 2007