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KF's TBI research director to speak at Washington conference

Jordan Grafman, PhD, director of Traumatic Brain Injury Research at Kessler Foundation, is an invited speaker at The 2nd Annual Traumatic Brain Injury Conference on March 6, 2012, in Washington, DC. Dr. Grafman will describe the long-term cognitive and social consequences of traumatic brain injury.

1 Mar 2012

States should consider highest-cost patients when developing essential benefits package

That recommendation comes from a report issued Tuesday by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, which concluded that those under age 65 have very different health spending habits than Medicare beneficiaries. Meanwhile, experts offer advice to states regarding development of essential benefits packages.

1 Mar 2012

Pregnant women and oral health

Oral health doesn't always top the list of concerns that expectant mothers may have, but it certainly should. Proper dental health and control of oral disease can safeguard a mother's health before and during pregnancy and reduces the transmission of bacteria from women to their children.

1 Mar 2012

New maternal health clinic targets women at increased risk of heart disease

A Queen's obstetrics professor has founded one of the first clinics in the world to use pregnancy and the postpartum as a key opportunity in a woman's life to focus on disease prevention.

1 Mar 2012

UnitedHealth acquisitions draw scrutiny, Maine's high court sides with regulators on insurance rate hikes

UnitedHealth Group's acquisition of a Calif. physician group and two Florida health plans are making news, and Maine's top court sides with regulators' authority to reject one Anthem's rate increases there.

1 Mar 2012

Ruxolitinib boosts QOL and survival for patients with myelofibrosis

A drug that relieves the severe symptoms of a life-threatening bone marrow cancer called myelofibrosis also improves the survival of patients with the disease, according to a phase III clinical trial published in the March 1 edition of New England Journal of Medicine.

1 Mar 2012

Aging does not appear to be a factor in poor sleep

Aging does not appear to be a factor in poor sleep, a new survey of more than 150,000 Americans shows. In fact, subjective sleep quality seems to improve over a lifetime, with the fewest complaints coming from people in their 80s.

1 Mar 2012

Digital exercises improve brain function, behavior in people with schizophrenia

People with schizophrenia who completed 80 hours of intensive, computerized cognitive training exercises were better able to perform complex tasks that required them to distinguish their internal thoughts from reality.

1 Mar 2012

Exercise interventions increase physical activity levels in minority adults

Many leading causes of death are linked to unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, including inadequate physical activity. Adults in minority populations have lower levels of physical activity and higher rates of preventable deaths, according to the Department of Health & Human Services. In a new study, University of Missouri researchers found that minority adults who received exercise interventions increased their physical activity levels.

1 Mar 2012

Majority of women reach highest-ever weight after onset of bulimia

Researchers at Drexel University have found that a majority of women with bulimia nervosa reach their highest-ever body weight after developing their eating disorder, despite the fact that the development of the illness is characterized by significant weight loss.

1 Mar 2012

Perception of epilepsy is not faring well in social media

A revealing study published in Epilepsy & Behavior provides evidence that the perception of epilepsy is not faring well in social media. Kate McNeil and colleagues from Dalhousie University in Canada analyzed data collected from Twitter to provide a snapshot of how epilepsy is portrayed within the twitter community.

1 Mar 2012

MU researcher to improve current rehabilitation strategies for amputees

When a limb is lost or absent from birth, patients have different strategies that can be used for rehabilitation. However, this rehabilitation can be mentally exhausting and extremely painful in some cases, and scientists are looking for ways to improve the rehabilitation experience.

1 Mar 2012

Aspirin may reduce risk of trans fat-related stroke in older women

Older women whose diets include a substantial amount of trans fats are more likely than their counterparts to suffer an ischemic stroke, a new study shows.

1 Mar 2012

Glucose meter could be adapted to monitor DNA

An inexpensive device used by millions of people with diabetes could be adapted into a home DNA detector that enables individuals to perform home tests for viruses and bacteria in human body fluids, in food and in other substances, scientists are reporting in a new study.

1 Mar 2012

Inhaled interferon-gamma may effectively treat IPF

Inhaled interferon-gamma may be an effective treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic and progressive form of lung disease caused by excessive formation of fibrotic, or scar tissue, in the lungs, according to an article published in Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

1 Mar 2012

WPI establishes Healthcare Delivery Institute

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has established the Healthcare Delivery Institute, (HDI), bringing together top faculty and students in engineering, science, and business with the aim to solve one of the nation's toughest problems-delivering high-quality healthcare for a growing, aging population.

1 Mar 2012

ACTB and ACTG1 actin genes cause Baraitser-Winter syndrome

Scientists from Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington, in collaboration with the Genomic Disorders Group Nijmegen in the Netherlands, have identified two new genes that cause Baraitser-Winter syndrome, a rare brain malformation that is characterized by droopy eyelids and intellectual disabilities.

1 Mar 2012

RMC offers groundbreaking new procedure for LSS patients

More than one million people are diagnosed and treated each year in the United States for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), a condition that occurs from the narrowing of the spinal canal. Peter Staats, M.D., in conjunction with Riverview Medical Center, is offering LSS patients a groundbreaking new procedure, mild (minimally invasive spinal decompression) that safely and therapeutically reduces pain and improves mobility.

1 Mar 2012

HDAC2 enzyme could be a potential target for new Alzheimer's drugs

MIT neuroscientists have shown that an enzyme overproduced in the brains of Alzheimer's patients creates a blockade that shuts off genes necessary to form new memories. Furthermore, by inhibiting that enzyme in mice, the researchers were able to reverse Alzheimer's symptoms.

1 Mar 2012

Scientists develop safer and more accurate way to administer warfarin

A team of global scientists, led by researchers at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City, has developed a safer and more accurate way to administer warfarin, one of the most commonly prescribed but also potentially dangerous medications in the United States.

1 Mar 2012