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Smoking increases risk of developing frailty in older adults

A recent paper published in Age & Ageing, the scientific journal of the British Geriatrics Society, finds that current smoking in older people increases the risk of developing frailty, though former smokers did not appear to be at higher risk.

17 Aug 2017

Study: Telemedicine may be as effective as in-person care for people with Parkinson's disease

For people with Parkinson's disease, seeing a neurologist by video conference from their homes may be as effective as their usual in-person care with their local physician, according to a new study published in the August 16, 2017, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

17 Aug 2017

Families incur largest financial burden linked to dementia care

A new study on the lifetime cost of dementia indicates that families of people living with the disease incur the largest financial burden.

17 Aug 2017

Depression casts long shadow over people’s past memories, research shows

Depressed people have a peculiar view of the past – rather than glorifying the ‘good old days’, they project their generally bleak outlook on to past events, according to new research.

17 Aug 2017

Novel blood test identifies tumor-derived DNA in early-stage cancer patients

In a bid to detect cancers early and in a noninvasive way, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center report they have developed a test that spots tiny amounts of cancer-specific DNA in blood and have used it to accurately identify more than half of 138 people with relatively early-stage colorectal, breast, lung and ovarian cancers.

17 Aug 2017

Smoking linked to increased risk of aneurysm recurrence after endovascular treatment

In a new study, researchers report people who have experienced an aneurysm have another reason to quit smoking.

17 Aug 2017

Impaired DNA replication may lead to trans-generational inheritance of epigenetic changes

Scientists reveal that a fault in the process that copies DNA during cell division can cause epigenetic changes that may be inherited for up-to five generations.

17 Aug 2017

Sanford Health launches solid tumor oncolytic virus clinical trial

Sanford Health is the first site in the United States to launch a clinical trial using a genetically-engineered virus that aims to destroy therapy-resistant tumors.

17 Aug 2017

New multicolor MRI approach could aid disease diagnosis

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have developed a method that could make magnetic resonance imaging--MRI--multicolor.

17 Aug 2017

Scientists discover novel therapeutic strategy to treat aggressive subgroup of lung cancer

Research conducted by a team of Norton Thoracic Institute scientists on a novel therapeutic avenue for an aggressive and difficult to treat subgroup of lung cancer was published in the August 15, 2017 issue of Cancer Research.

17 Aug 2017

Researchers discover synthetic compound effective at relieving neuropathic pain

A team of scientists led by chemists Stephen Martin and James Sahn at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered what they say is a powerful pain reliever that acts on a previously unknown pain pathway.

17 Aug 2017

Research highlights need for expert treatment to manage subarachnoid hemorrhages

Research led by the head of the Barrow Neurological Institute and published in the July 20, 2017 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine reveals that subarachnoid hemorrhages, which are caused by ruptured brain aneurysms, account for 5-10 percent of all strokes and are best managed by experienced and dedicated experts at high-volume centers with neurosurgeons, endovascular surgeons and stroke neurologists.

17 Aug 2017

Immunotherapy drug shows favorable safety profile in patients with advanced small cell lung cancer

The immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab has demonstrated a favorable safety profile and "promising durable clinical activity" in pretreated patients who exhibit high levels of the PD-L1 protein in advanced stages of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) – an aggressive form of the disease

16 Aug 2017

Eye surgeon offers tips for safe viewing of solar eclipse

On Monday, Aug. 21, a total solar eclipse will offer a rare - although brief - sight to millions when the sun disappears fully behind the moon. An otherwise bright summer sky will give way to total darkness.

16 Aug 2017

Researchers discover new brain area involved in spatial memory and navigation

Navigation in mammals including humans and rodents depends on specialized neural networks that encode the animal's location and trajectory in the environment, serving essentially as a GPS, findings that led to the 2014 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

16 Aug 2017

Liquid biopsies show potential use for cancer screening

A new study has shown the potential of analyzing cell-free DNA (cfDNA) present in patients’ blood for cancer markers in early cancer detection. This technique was used in some instances for patients who already were diagnosed with a cancer as reported by some studies.

16 Aug 2017

Insurers can bend out-of-network rules for patients who need specific doctors

The Affordable Care Act has so far survived Republican attempts to replace it, but many people still face insurance concerns. Below, I answer three questions from readers.

16 Aug 2017

Online education enhances administration of blood clot-preventing medications

Results of a yearlong study funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) with more than 900 nurses at The Johns Hopkins Hospital suggest that well-designed online education can decrease the rate of nonadministration of prescribed and necessary doses of blood thinners to prevent potentially lethal blood clots in hospitalized patients.

16 Aug 2017

UC Irvine pharmacology researchers unearth potential roots of schizophrenia

An abundance of an amino acid called methionine, which is common in meat, cheese and beans, may provide new clues to the fetal brain development that can manifest in schizophrenia, University of California, Irvine pharmacology researchers report in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

16 Aug 2017

Scientists identify basic biological mechanism that kills neurons in ALS

A team led by scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Mayo Clinic has identified a basic biological mechanism that kills neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and in a related genetic disorder, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), found in some ALS patients.

16 Aug 2017