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State Senator honors UCLA lung transplant doctors during special ceremony

Dr. Abbas Ardehali, professor of cardiothoracic surgery and director of the UCLA Heart and Lung Transplant program, and Dr. David Ross, professor of pulmonology and medical director of the UCLA Lung Transplant program, were honored by State Senator Sharon Runner (R-Antelope Valley) during a special ceremony at the State Senate Chamber in Sacramento on Aug. 21.

24 Aug 2012

Quantitative look at the whole experience of patients with pancreatic cancer

Every year, nearly 45,000 Americans are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The odds against those stricken by the disease are truly dismal; pancreatic cancer almost always kills within two years after diagnosis, no matter how it is treated. Even aggressive intervention with chemotherapy, radiation or surgery rarely yields more than an extra month to a year of survival, depending on the stage of the disease.

24 Aug 2012

Aetna sponsorship provides support for children's activities at the US Open

For the second year, Aetna is sponsoring children's activities at the US Open and is determined to deliver twice the fun as part of its three-year sponsorship agreement with the United States Tennis Association (USTA).

24 Aug 2012

Dartmouth’s professor shares news of DAR-901 TB vaccine development

Tuberculosis (TB) is second only to HIV/AIDS as the greatest killer worldwide attributable to a single infectious agent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). With 8.8 million cases in 2010 and 95 percent of TB deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries, the disease continues to be a major public health problem in the developing world. In a July address to the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Dartmouth's C. Fordham (Ford) von Reyn shared news of a promising vaccine in the works.

24 Aug 2012

Pre-emptive therapy better than valacyclovir prophylaxis in treating CMV in transplant recipients

Waiting to treat the commonest viral infections in transplant recipients until they reach a certain threshold is better than prophylactically treating all recipients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

24 Aug 2012

Guidelines for parents to beat back-to-school bugs

School bells are beginning to sound again across the country, so it will only be a matter of time until every parent comes face-to-face with a child who wakes up with a cold, fever or upset stomach.

24 Aug 2012

Diabetes journal reports results from novel experimental therapy

Results from a novel experimental therapy for Type 1 diabetes that boosts parts of the healthy immune system are reported today in the scientific journal Diabetes.

24 Aug 2012

Study highlights importance of using appropriately treated water for sinus irrigation

When water containing the Naegleria fowleri ameba, a single-celled organism, enters the nose, the organisms may migrate to the brain, causing primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a very rare-but usually fatal-disease. A new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases describes the first reported cases in the United States implicating nasal irrigation using disinfected tap water in these infections.

24 Aug 2012

McGill University experts to present at World Cancer Congress

The following list includes some of the McGill University experts who will be attending or presenting at the World Cancer Congress (WCC), the largest gathering of international leaders in the field of cancer, taking place in Montreal from August 27 to 30, 2012.

24 Aug 2012

Researchers discover new way to disarm harmful bacteria

Rather than trying to kill bacteria outright with drugs, Université de Montréal researchers have discovered a way to disarm bacteria that may allow the body's own defense mechanisms to destroy them. "To understand this strategy one could imagine harmful bacteria being like Darth Vader, and the anti-virulence drug would take away his armor and lightsaber," explained Dr. Christian Baron, the study's lead author and Professor at the Department of Biochemistry.

24 Aug 2012

ALDH enzyme marks melanoma stem cells

Cancer stem cells are defined by three abilities: differentiation, self-renewal and their ability to seed a tumor. These stem cells resist chemotherapy and many researchers posit their role in relapse. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study recently published in the journal Stem Cells, shows that melanoma cells with these abilities are marked by the enzyme ALDH, and imagines new therapies to target high-ALDH cells, potentially weeding the body of these most dangerous cancer creators.

24 Aug 2012

Fit Brains achieves 75 million brain scores milestone

Fit Brains, a top online brain fitness platform, announces its 75 millionth brain game score achieved. And, in celebration, challenges users to play more mind strengthening games this September - it being Back-to-School and Healthy Aging Month - with a charitable incentive.

24 Aug 2012

Abortion issues continue to stir political pot

Although GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's campaign advisers say they don't anticipate the need to adjust their strategy to respond to the latest fracas over reproductive rights, news outlets analyze the possible repercussions of the dust-up regarding Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin's statements about "legitimate" rape and pregnancy.

24 Aug 2012

Loyola University Chicago MNSON receives $279,571 from HRSA

Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing (MNSON) recently received $279,571 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Advanced Education Nursing Program.

24 Aug 2012

WHO releases 2012 verbal autopsy instrument

"In today's world, the majority of deaths go unregistered," but "the information that comes from accurate and complete records of deaths -- who died, and why -- constitutes a huge resource for evidence-based health planning and development," Peter Byass, a professor of global health at Umea University in Sweden and director of the Umea Centre for Global Health Research, writes in this post in the PLoS "Speaking of Medicine" blog.

24 Aug 2012

Abnormalities in mitochondrial length promote development of neurodegenerative diseases

Goldilocks was on to something when she preferred everything "just right." Harvard Medical School researchers have found that when it comes to the length of mitochondria, the power-producing organelles, applying the fairy tale's mantra is crucial to the health of a cell. More specifically, abnormalities in mitochondrial length promote the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

24 Aug 2012

ISSA questions IRS on health law insurance subsidies

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has raised questions about the implementation of a key part of the health law -- the tax treatment of subsidies for low-income people to purchase health insurance.

24 Aug 2012

Survival rate for African-American men with prostate cancer now comparable to Caucasians

The routine use of prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing for screening and monitoring prostate cancer has led to early and more sensitive detection of the disease. A new study published in The Journal of Urology- reports that in the "PSA era," survival has improved for patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer that has spread to the bones or other parts of the body and the disparity between African American and Caucasian men has been resolved.

24 Aug 2012

Confocal light sheet microscopy yields high-resolution views of brain’s neural pathways

Shortly after the Hubble Space Telescope went into orbit in 1990 it was discovered that the craft had blurred vision. Fortunately, Space Shuttle astronauts were able to remedy the problem a few years later with supplemental optics. Now, a team of Italian researchers has performed a similar sight-correcting feat for a microscope imaging technique designed to explore a universe seemingly as vast as Hubble's but at the opposite end of the size spectrum—the neural pathways of the brain.

24 Aug 2012

CBO: Medicare spending growth slower than expected

The Congressional Budget Office released new projections for the country's economic outlook Wednesday, forecasting that despite slower-than-anticipated spending growth, Medicare will account for an even larger share of the economy in the next decade.

24 Aug 2012