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Nat'l Health Services Corps spending more to increase primary care docs in underserved areas

The Washington Post reports on the Obama administration's efforts "to bring thousands of young primary care doctors to underserved areas … and keep them there. The administration recently invested more than $1 billion from the stimulus and the health-care law into the National Health Services Corps to beef up doctor recruitment.

10 Aug 2010

Ratios between males and females affect human longevity: Study

"Love stinks!" the J. Geils band told the world in 1980, and while you can certainly argue whether or not this tender and ineffable spirit of affection has a downside, working hard to find it does. It may even shorten your life.

10 Aug 2010

Sound sleepers show distinct pattern of spontaneous brain rhythms: Research

Ever wonder why some people can sleep through just about anything, while others get startled awake at each and every bump in the night? A new report in the August 10th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, offers some insight: sound sleepers show a distinct pattern of spontaneous brain rhythms.We found that by measuring brain waves during sleep, we could learn a lot about how well a person's brain can block the negative effects of sounds; the more sleep spindles your brain produces, the more likely you'll stay asleep, even when confronted with noise, said Jeffrey Ellenbogen of Harvard Medical School.

10 Aug 2010

Scientist to research on molecular machinery of breast cancer

Someone in the world is diagnosed with breast cancer every 23 seconds. It is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide among women and approximately 456,000 die from the disease each year. At The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), a scientist is taking aim at the molecular machinery behind this disease.

10 Aug 2010

Scientists work towards creating a vaccine for Parkinson's disease

Nina Brown, 68, and millions of others with a debilitating neurological condition called Parkinson's disease are counting on researchers for a cure. At The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), protein chemists are working to develop a therapeutic vaccine.

10 Aug 2010

Researchers recommends robotic prostatectomy over traditional open surgery method

While sharp debate continues among medical professionals as to whether a radical prostatectomy performed with the assistance of a robotic device is more beneficial than the traditional open surgery method, research just published by investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) shows new evidence supporting the safety of the robotic procedure - including what is believed to be one of the lowest complication rates to date. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

6 Aug 2010

Study identifies options for restoring knee cartilage lubrication to prevent OA

An injury to the anterior cruciate ligament is fairly common, especially among young athletes. While it can often be corrected through surgery, the injury can lead to increased risk of developing degenerative joint diseases, including osteoarthritis. The problem is that fluid in the knee joint, which lubricates the cartilage, is impacted by the trauma of the injury and begins to deteriorate.

6 Aug 2010

UCI School of Medicine's incoming students to receive iPad tablet computer as part of iMedEd Initiative

Traditionally, first-year medical students are awarded white coats to signify their entry into the medical community. But at an Aug. 6 ceremony, each member of the UC Irvine School of Medicine's incoming class of 2014 will find a surprise tucked into the coat's pocket: an iPad tablet computer pre-loaded with everything necessary for the first year of course work.

5 Aug 2010

Study finds proximal prayer may help another person's healing

Findings reported today from a new international study of healing prayer suggest that prayer for another person's healing just might help especially if the one praying is physically near the person being prayed for.Candy Gunther Brown, an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University Bloomington, led the study of "proximal intercessory prayer" for healing. It is available online today and will be published in the September 2010 issue of the Southern Medical Journal.

5 Aug 2010

University of Pennsylvania announces recipients of 2010 Templeton Positive Neuroscience Awards

The Positive Psychology Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the John Templeton Foundation have announced the recipients of the 2010 Templeton Positive Neuroscience Awards, $2.9 million given to 15 new research projects at the intersection of neuroscience and positive psychology.

5 Aug 2010

Amputation can be prevented when patients are treated by podiatric physicians: Study

Amputation, one of the most devastating and costly consequences of diabetes, can be prevented when patients are treated by podiatric physicians. That's the finding of a national, large-scale study co-authored by Dr. James Wrobel, DPM, MS, Associate Professor of Medicine at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.

5 Aug 2010

Scientists identify tiny RNA molecule that increases blood stem cells

Investigators have identified a new mechanism that controls the number of hematopoietic stem cells - cells that give rise to all blood and immune system cells. In a report in the online Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute identify a tiny RNA molecule that increases the number of these blood stem cells, an advance that may improve treatment of blood system cancers.

5 Aug 2010

Pregnancy weight gain liked to childhood obesity: Study

Women who gain excessive weight during pregnancy have a greater chance their babies will be born too big. Scientists are trying to find whether this relationship of gaining too much weight by mother and baby is genetic and can predispose the child to be obese later in life.

4 Aug 2010

Foreign doctors provide care as good as that of Americans, study finds

Physicians trained in other countries provide care just as good as -- and perhaps better than some U.S. doctors, a report published in the journal Health Affairs found.

4 Aug 2010

One-on-one talk with therapist reduces peer aggression

A brief, motivational talk in the emergency room reduced by half the chances that teenagers would experience peer violence or problems due to drinking, according to a study published Aug. 4 in a theme issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

4 Aug 2010

Researchers call for more public disclosure about clinical drug trials

When published results are systematically tracked for drug trials registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, those from industry-funded trials are the likeliest to be favorable to the drug in question, report researchers at Children's Hospital Boston. Publishing in the August 3 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, the researchers call for more public disclosure about clinical drug trials at their outset to reduce the possibility of bias in the findings.

3 Aug 2010

Study shows prevalence, severity of dyspnea in long-term lung cancer survivors

With the growing number of long-term lung cancer survivors, research is needed to identify and address cancer survivorship issues. One of the most common and debilitating symptoms among lung cancer patients is dyspnea, or shortness of breath. As most studies of dyspnea have reviewed patients with active lung cancer or immediately after treatment, the prevalence of dyspnea over the long-term once treatment has been completed is not well characterized.

3 Aug 2010

$International study of more than 60,000 women highlights additional risk associated with fractures$

International study of more than 60,000 women highlights additional risk associated with fractures

Researchers seeking to understand the impact of osteoporosis and fractures on various aspects of health have found that women who had previous fractures experienced a significant reduction in health-related quality of life similar to or worse than that experienced by patients with diabetes, arthritis, lung disease and other chronic illnesses. This latest study from the Global Longitudinal Study of Osteoporosis in Women (GLOW), which is based at the Center for Outcomes Research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, was published online.

3 Aug 2010

HuMed program at Mount Sinai provides various educational experiences before medical school

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that students enrolled in the Humanities and Medicine (HuMed) program are as successful in medical school as students who fulfill the traditional pre-med requirements. HuMed students are accepted in their sophomore year of college and complete their studies in the humanities or social sciences before matriculating at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. They are not required to take the traditional pre-med science courses and do not have to take the MCAT. These results indicate that a liberal arts undergraduate preparation for medical school is as beneficial as the traditional science preparation. The research is published in the August issue of Academic Medicine.

31 Jul 2010

Researchers discover tumor suppressor lincRNAs

The recent discovery of more than a thousand genes known as large intergenic non-coding RNAs (or "lincRNAs") opened up a new approach to understanding the function and organization of the genome. That surprising breakthrough is now made even more compelling with the finding that dozens of these lincRNAs are induced by p53 (the most commonly mutated gene in cancer), suggesting that this class of genes plays a critical role in cell development and regulation. Furthermore, the researchers identify one lincRNA in particular (lincRNA-p21), and demonstrate its critical role in suppressing the reading of many genes across the genome following p53 activation.

30 Jul 2010