Endocrinology News and Research

Latest Endocrinology News and Research

New updated site shows how well UMHS provides care in clinical settings

Plenty of hospitals and medical providers claim they do a great job at caring for patients and protecting their safety during care. But very few actually publish the cold, hard numbers that could prove those claims. And even fewer do it like the University of Michigan Health System has: on a website open to anyone, with dozens of charts and graphs showing actual performance and comparisons to national averages and benchmarks.

7 Dec 2011

Scientists help uncover evolutionary history of TAS2R38 bitter taste receptor gene

Long the bane of picky eaters everywhere, broccoli's taste is not just a matter of having a cultured palate; some people can easily taste a bitter compound in the vegetable that others have difficulty detecting. Now a team of Penn researchers has helped uncover the evolutionary history of one of the genes responsible for this trait.

7 Dec 2011

New NHGRI funding plan sharpens focus of Genome Sequencing Program on medical apps

A new funding plan by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) sharpens the focus of its flagship Genome Sequencing Program on medical applications. In addition to continuing on-going studies, the four-year, $416 million plan launches new efforts to find causes of rare inherited diseases and accelerate the use of genome sequence information in the medical care of patients.

7 Dec 2011

Web-based video game players contribute to analysis of DNA sequences

Thousands of video game players have helped significantly advance our understanding of the genetic basis of diseases such as Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer over the past year. They are the users of a web-based video game developed by Dr. J-r-me Waldispuhl of the McGill School of Computer Science and collaborator Mathieu Blanchette.

7 Dec 2011

SG Austria, Nuvilex use live cell encapsulation technology and treat diabetes in animal model

Nuvilex, Inc. announced today their affiliate SG Austria and partners have successfully treated diabetes in an established, recognized animal model utilizing live encapsulated cells.

7 Dec 2011

Combination of cannabinoids and opiates could help reduce chronic pain

A UCSF study suggests patients with chronic pain may experience greater relief if their doctors add cannabinoids - the main ingredient in cannabis or medical marijuana - to an opiates-only treatment. The findings, from a small-scale study, also suggest that a combined therapy could result in reduced opiate dosages.

7 Dec 2011

Breast reconstruction after mastectomy safe for older women

Breast cancer is on the rise and 48 percent of all breast cancers occur in women older than 65, but very few of them choose to have breast reconstruction. A new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center sought to determine if breast reconstruction after mastectomy is safe for older women. The answer is yes.

7 Dec 2011

Hormone-blocking therapy for prostate cancer does not raise risk of heart attacks

Hormone-blocking therapy for prostate cancer doesn't raise the risk of fatal heart attacks - as some recent studies had suggested - according to a new report from Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center.

7 Dec 2011

INT-777 shows promise against metabolic syndrome

Heart disease is a major cause of death in industrialised countries, and is strongly associated with obesity and diabetes. Many scientists believe that what links these conditions is a chronic, low-grade inflammation.

7 Dec 2011

Mayo Clinic in Florida now offers kidney and pancreas transplants for HIV-positive patients

Mayo Clinic in Florida is now offering kidney and pancreas transplants to HIV positive patients with advanced kidney disease and diabetes. Evidence is now solid that HIV-positive patients have the same favorable outcome in terms of patient and allograft survival as non-HIV positive organ transplant recipients, says Mary Prendergast, M.D., a kidney specialist whose focus is the care of patients who receive kidney and pancreas transplants.

7 Dec 2011

$Study: Dental x-rays can investigate bone structure and predict fractures$

Study: Dental x-rays can investigate bone structure and predict fractures

It is now possible to use dental X-rays to predict who is at risk of fractures, reveals a new study from researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy reported in the journal Nature Reviews Endocrinology.

6 Dec 2011

Low vaccination rate for flu vaccines in diabetic patients

"The vaccination rate for flu vaccines in diabetic patients in Austria is unfortunately particularly low," says study leader Thomas Dorner from the Institute of Social Medicine (Public Health Centre) at the Medical University of Vienna. An "unsettling gender difference" has also been noted, with men in this case taking the lead: 39 per cent of male diabetics are vaccinated against flu, whereas only 30 per cent of female diabetics are.

6 Dec 2011

Some Mexican parents do not encourage their teens to be active

Imagine this scene: A teen who is about to enter college goes for a run or heads off for a game of soccer. But Mom and Dad complain about it, and the more physically active the teen is, the more the parents push back against it.

6 Dec 2011

Alzheimer's Australia, Bupa Health launch brain health app in the UK

The Bupa Health Foundation and Alzheimer's Australia have announced the UK launch of a world-first brain health app, the latest digital tool to help in the fight against dementia.

6 Dec 2011

Scientists identify a pattern that predicts which pregnant women likely to have complications

Poor mental health before pregnancy predicts which pregnant women are most likely to have a pregnancy complication and give birth to a low birth-weight baby, a new nationwide survey reveals.

6 Dec 2011

Endocrine Society supports policies that aim to combat pediatric obesity

Today, The Endocrine Society issued a Position Statement supporting policies that bring together doctors and other healthcare providers, family, schools and the community to combat pediatric obesity through education and encouragement of lifestyle modifications.

6 Dec 2011

Combination of metformin and exercise can prevent Type 2 diabetes

Kinesiology researcher Barry Braun of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and colleagues recently reported unexpected results of a study suggests that exercise and one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for diabetes, metformin, each improves insulin resistance when used alone, but when used together, metformin blunted the full effect of a 12-week exercise program in pre-diabetic men and women.

6 Dec 2011

Study identifies ways to differentiate types of diabetes in young Asian Americans

Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center have determined key differences between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in the Asian American population. This study, published today in PLoS ONE, identified ways to differentiate the types of diabetes, which can be clinically similar in young Asian Americans.

6 Dec 2011

Cayetano Heredia, UT Southwestern sign five-year affiliation agreement

UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru have signed a five-year affiliation agreement that establishes an exchange program for medical students and related educational opportunities.

6 Dec 2011

Bold move by Astra Zeneca to share 22 early stage potential drugs with MRC

Drug maker AstraZeneca will be sharing 22 of its early-stage research compounds with the Medical Research Council as part of a make over of life sciences research. This would speed up patients’ access to breakthrough drugs and arrest the decline of research and development in the UK.

6 Dec 2011