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Caesarean delivery provides cost-effective measure to improve health in developing world, study shows

"A new study suggests that at least one surgical procedure, caesarean delivery, is a highly effective way of improving health at a reasonable cost in developing countries," VOA News reports (Chimes, 4/27).

30 Apr 2012

Only few clinical trials are being conducted to test drugs in pediatric patients

Although children are more likely than adults to suffer from many diseases, few clinical trials are being conducted to test drugs in pediatric patients, according to a study to be presented Saturday, April 28, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Boston.

30 Apr 2012

HMS researcher receives $130,000 to conduct epilepsy study

A researcher from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School is receiving $130,000 to conduct further research on memory dysfunction in epilepsy patients through the Susan S. Spencer Clinical Research Training Fellowship.

27 Apr 2012

Aspirin reduces bowel cancer death and lung cancer incidence: Research suggests

There is previous evidence suggesting aspirin might prevent certain cancers from developing in the first place. And more recent work suggests it might also work as a cancer therapy - slowing down or preventing a cancer's spread. But the drug can also have unpleasant and dangerous side effects, causing irritation of the stomach lining and internal bleeds in a very small minority of patients.

26 Apr 2012

Physicians, med schools fret about future, but some see signs of hope

One survey reveals that doctors fear some of the changes due to the health law, while primary care physicians say the law may spur needed change.

26 Apr 2012

U-M’s second human embryonic stem cell line now available for federally-funded research

The University of Michigan's second human embryonic stem cell line has just been placed on the U.S. National Institutes of Health's registry, making the cells available for federally-funded research. It is the second of the stem cell lines derived at U-M to be placed on the registry.

26 Apr 2012

Case study in the Journal of AAPOS highlights need for vigilance

It has been estimated that roughly 4% to 6% of child abuse victims present first to an ophthalmologist. In a case study in the April issue of the Journal of American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, doctors at the University of Washington and the Seattle Children's Hospital describe a case of a 13-month-old girl who was initially diagnosed with corneal abrasion and a mild infection. She was eventually identified as a victim of child abuse.

26 Apr 2012

Commonwealth Fund Commission unveils community-based health plan

Noting the "unprecedented opportunity" provided under the Affordable Care Act, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, and other recently enacted federal laws, the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System today unveiled a community-based plan to enhance health and reduce spending by improving care for chronically ill patients and targeting quality improvement efforts to conditions that can yield the greatest benefit in a relatively short time.

26 Apr 2012

Strong light can treat myocardial infarction

There are lots of ways to treat a heart attack - CPR, aspirin, clot-busters and more. Now CU medical school researchers have found a new candidate: Intense light.

26 Apr 2012

Body’s own DNA can cause inflammation in the heart

DNA from the heart's own cells plays a role in heart failure by mistakenly activating the body's immune system, according to a study by British and Japanese researchers, co-funded by the British Heart Foundation.

26 Apr 2012

New microfluidic device can harvest rare circulating tumor cells from blood

A research collaboration between the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Children's Hospital Boston has created a microfluidic device that can harvest rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood to enable their expansion in culture for analysis.

25 Apr 2012

CAM therapies plus usual care can improve outcomes in low back pain patients

Nearly 8 of 10 Americans will experience lower back pain at some time in their lives. Persistent low back pain is a common, incapacitating, costly, and difficult to treat condition. Many patients might benefit significantly from an individualized, multidisciplinary, team-based model of care that includes access to licensed complementary care practitioners addition to conventional care providers, as demonstrated in a study published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

25 Apr 2012

Women & Infants named lead center in 14-site study of cytomegalovirus

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, through its participation in the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network, has been named the lead center in a 14-site, $25 million study of cytomegalovirus (CMV), the most common infection during pregnancy.

24 Apr 2012

‘Brain freeze’ provides clue to migraine cause and therapy

According to latest reports by researchers the headache that is caused by eating something cold like an ice cream, may be caused by a sudden change in brain blood flow. The U.S. team of researchers add that this study may show targets to treat other, more troubling forms of headache such as migraine.

23 Apr 2012

Brain freeze may share common mechanism with other types of headaches

'Brain freeze' is a nearly universal experience—almost everyone has felt the near-instantaneous headache brought on by a bite of ice cream or slurp of ice-cold soda on the upper palate. However, scientists are still at a loss to explain this phenomenon. Since migraine sufferers are more likely to experience brain freeze than people who don't have this often-debilitating condition, brain freeze may share a common mechanism with other types of headaches, including those brought on by the trauma of blast-related combat injuries in soldiers.

23 Apr 2012

SUMO protein regulates transfer of information between nerve cells in the brain

A key protein, which may be activated to protect nerve cells from damage during heart failure or epileptic seizure, has been found to regulate the transfer of information between nerve cells in the brain. The discovery, made by neuroscientists at the University of Bristol and published in Nature Neuroscience and PNAS, could lead to novel new therapies for stroke and epilepsy.

23 Apr 2012

U-M Medical School to renovate Taubman Health Sciences Library

The University of Michigan Medical School will greatly expand and improve its space and technology for training future physicians, with a $55 million project approved by the U-M Board of Regents today.

21 Apr 2012

Study pinpoints mechanism by which spindle checkpoint proteins bind chromosomes

The development of more effective cancer drugs could be a step nearer thanks to the discovery, by scientists at Warwick Medical School, of how an inbuilt 'security check' operates to guarantee cells divide with the correct number of chromosomes.

21 Apr 2012

Researchers uncover 22 new genes linked with autism, other neurodevelopmental disorders

When chromosomes replicate, sometimes there is an exchange of genetic material within a chromosome or between two or more chromosomes without a significant loss of genetic material. This exchange, known as a balanced chromosomal abnormality (BCA), can cause rearrangements in the genetic code.

21 Apr 2012

SEBM announces 2012 winners of Young Investigator Award

The Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine is pleased to announce the 2012 winners of the Young Investigator Award. This is a $500 travel grant for undergraduate/ graduate students and/or individuals within 5 years of receiving doctoral degrees who are members of the Society to attend the Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego this month.

21 Apr 2012