Transplant News and Research

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Surgeons remodel and replace man's jaw bone allowing him to eat first dinner in 9 years

“By the 4th week post-transplantation the patient enjoyed his first dinner in 9 years (bread and sausages); before reconstruction he had only been able to eat soft food and soup”.

26 Aug 2004

Artificial heart can keep patients awaiting heart transplant alive

The results of the nine-year study of the CardioWest Total Artificial Heart have concluded that the device prevents death in critically ill patients suffering from irreversible failure of both sides of the heart who are candidates for heart transplantation.

26 Aug 2004

Researchers have identified multiple changes in the gene-expression patterns of cells involved with tumor progression in liver cancer patients

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have identified multiple changes in the gene-expression patterns of cells involved with tumor progression in liver cancer patients and in those with cirrhosis, which may help scientists predict a person’s risk of developing primary liver cancer.

25 Aug 2004

Research offers hope for the millions of diabetics worldwide who take insulin injections

University of Toronto researchers have identified individual cells in the adult mouse pancreas capable of generating insulin-producing beta cells.

22 Aug 2004

Stem cell research may one day help cerebral palsy

Natural chemicals that assist healing may one day help transplanted adult stem cells integrate into an injured brain, helping children with cerebral palsy recover lost function, according to researchers at the Medical College of Georgia.

18 Aug 2004

Organ transplant recipients infected with West Nile virus develop more severe neurological illness

West Nile virus is an infection which in the last three years has had a significant impact in the United States. The virus is spread from birds to humans via mosquito bites. Symptoms include headache, fever and disorientation, and the disease can cause serious illness in a small percentage of infected people.

18 Aug 2004

Heart pump improves quality of life in congestive heart failure patients

The most seriously ill congestive heart failure patients live longer and have a better quality of life if implanted with a heart pump, researchers report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

17 Aug 2004

Investigation into mTOR protein function is far from over

Discovery of the mTOR protein and the role it plays in cell growth, a process often linked to diseases such as cancer, was part serendipity and part good detective work. And like any good whodunit, the mTOR story wouldn’t be complete without an unexpected twist.

12 Aug 2004

Liver transplantation outcomes have significantly improved for patients with hepatitis B

Since the early 1990s, therapeutic options for patients undergoing liver transplantation for hepatitis B have evolved to include HBV immune globulin (HBIG) and lamivudine.

9 Aug 2004

Possible role for BK virus in development of prostate cancer

Now, new research by scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School suggests the intriguing possibility that this common virus also may play a role in prostate cancer – the second-leading cause of deaths from cancer in American men.

9 Aug 2004

The Woods Technique of Follicular Relocation - single hair follicle transplant micro-surgery

The doctors who first researched, developed and perfected single hair follicle transplant micro-surgery announced today that they are bringing their remarkable technique to the United States. And they are backing it up with a published "Declaration of Patient's Rights."

2 Aug 2004

Drug to fight virus from the herpes family in transplant patients moves forward in trials

A drug once considered for cancer chemotherapy is advancing in clinical trials to test its effectiveness in fighting a virus from the herpes family that threatens transplant patients.

29 Jul 2004

Transplanted cells are capable of surviving in the brain of immunosuppressed stroked rats

Human neural stem cells proprietary to StemCells, Inc. have been used in a Stanford University study in a preclinical stroke model.

29 Jul 2004

Illinois bill that allows people with HIV to donate organs to other people who are HIV-positive

The bill was written by state representative Larry McKeon, who has HIV, and signed by Governor Rod R. Blagojevich. In the past, people with HIV were not considered good candidates for transplantation because of a reduced life expectancy. Drug treatments are now more advanced, and people with HIV are living longer.

21 Jul 2004

European funding to study how yeasts such as Candida cause infections among hospital patients

Dr Fritz Mühlschlegel, Reader in Medical Microbiology in the Biosciences Department at Kent and Consultant Medical Microbiologist in the East Kent NHS Trust, and Dr Daniel Poullain from Lille’s Medical School have been awarded 315,106 euros under the EU’s Interreg Programme to study the mechanisms by which fungal pathogens cause disease.

21 Jul 2004

Blacks receive transplants at disproportionately low rates

Black people in the United States have reduced access to many medical therapies and liver transplantation is one area where such disparity is suspected to exist.

15 Jul 2004

147 people in Texas will need to receive post-exposure rabies prevention treatment

The Texas Department of Health has reported that so far 147 people in Texas will need to receive post-exposure rabies prevention treatment as a precaution after possibly being exposed to rabies in connection with the transplant of organs from a donor who was later confirmed to have been infected with the rabies virus.

9 Jul 2004

Type of cellular stress called osmotic stress is critical to cell growth and the body’s immune response against infection

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have determined that a particular type of cellular stress called osmotic stress is of critical importance to cell growth and the body’s immune response against infection.

7 Jul 2004

A new protocol for bone marrow transplants

A new protocol for bone marrow transplants, which does not require the destruction of the recipient’s immune system before transfer of the new bone marrow, is described by a group of Oxford scientists

5 Jul 2004

100 people in Texas will need to receive post-exposure rabies prevention treatment

The number, which TDH said is preliminary, includes 61 health care workers at four Texas hospitals and 29 family members and other close contacts of two transplant recipients from Texas.

4 Jul 2004