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Genetics professor turns accidental discovery into a way to study TBI

Faced with news of suicides and brain damage in former professional football players, geneticist Barry Ganetzky bemoaned the lack of model systems for studying the insidious and often delayed consequences linked to head injuries.

16 Oct 2013

Findings shed light on the role of environmental event in development of neural circuits in newborns

Neurons that process sensory information such as touch and vision are arranged in precise, well-characterized maps that are crucial for translating perception into understanding. A study published by Cell Press on October 14 in the journal Developmental Cell reveals that the actual act of birth in mice causes a reduction in a brain chemical called serotonin in the newborn mice, triggering sensory maps to form.

16 Oct 2013

Brain damage treatment could be as close as the wardrobe

For those with brain damage or neurological disorders - such as MS or Parkinson's - treatment could be as close as the wardrobe.

16 Oct 2013

State highlights: Insurer drop-out to affect 22,000 on N.Y. Medicaid managed care; Texas slow to recover misspent Medicaid funds

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield says it's dropping out of public health insurance programs for the poor and disabled. The insurer has notified doctors and other providers it's withdrawing from the Medicaid managed care and Family Health Plus programs because it expects to lose about $100 million on those programs this year. The move will affect more than 22,000 central New Yorkers (10/15).

16 Oct 2013

Common catalyst cerium oxide opens door to nanochemistry for medicine

Scientists at Rice University are enhancing the natural antioxidant properties of an element found in a car's catalytic converter to make it useful for medical applications.

16 Oct 2013

Mindfulness-based intervention leads to drop in blood pressure

Blood pressure is effectively lowered by mindfulness-based stress reduction for patients with borderline high blood pressure or "prehypertension." This finding is reported in the October issue of Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, the official journal of the American Psychosomatic Society.

16 Oct 2013

Shutdown commentaries: Compromise may take nick out of health law; 'The Party of Gimme'

But the tentative agreement includes two problematic provisions related to health care reform. One would require the Department of Health and Human Services to verify that people receiving subsidies for insurance have incomes low enough to qualify.

16 Oct 2013

Research shows inhibition of Rcan1 protein may reduce atherosclerosis in mice

Researchers of the Spanish research council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cient-ficas, CSIC) and the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) have discovered that inhibiting the protein Rcan1 in mice reduces the burden of atherosclerosis, one of the commonest cardiovascular diseases.

16 Oct 2013

Medicare open-enrollment begins: Seniors should carefully consider new options

Officials are cautioning seniors to stay away from the health law's new online marketplaces -- as open-enrollment season begins for Medicare managed care and prescription plans.

16 Oct 2013

Researchers test ATR-101 compound in clinical trial for adrenal cancer

One of the most challenging cancers to treat is also one of the rarest, which only adds to the challenge of finding potential new therapies.

16 Oct 2013

Family caregivers of chronically ill patients enjoy 18% survival advantage, says study

Contradicting long-standing conventional wisdom, results of a Johns Hopkins-led analysis of data previously gathered on more than 3,000 family caregivers suggests that those who assist a chronically ill or disabled family member enjoy an 18 percent survival advantage compared to statistically matched non-caregivers.

16 Oct 2013

Pieris, Zydus Cadila partner to develop and commercialize Anticalin-based protein therapeutics

Zydus Cadila, an innovative global pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of healthcare products, and Pieris AG, a next generation therapeutic protein R&D company, have entered into an alliance for development and commercialization of multiple novel Anticalin-based protein therapeutics, both companies announced today.

16 Oct 2013

Ohio board readies decision on state's Medicaid expansion

A seven-member state committee holds the fate of Ohio's Medicaid expansion in its hands as it prepares to vote on the proposal, and no one is talking about how they plan to vote.

16 Oct 2013

Results of Phase 3 clinical trial of contraceptive vaginal ring presented by Population Council

Today, the Population Council presented findings from a Phase 3 clinical trial that was designed to demonstrate the safety, efficacy, and acceptability of the Council's investigational one-year contraceptive vaginal ring (CVR).

16 Oct 2013

Less-healthy patients more prone to recovery room complications

Complications in the recovery room decreased by 58 percent between 1990 and 2010, according to a study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2013 annual meeting. In a previous study completed in the late 1980s, recovery room complications occurred in 23.7 percent of the patients.

16 Oct 2013

Pregnant women exposed to metoclopramide experience no increased risk of congenital malformations

In an analysis that included more than 40,000 women exposed to the nausea medication metoclopramide in pregnancy, use of this drug was not associated with significantly increased risk of major congenital malformations overall, spontaneous abortion, and stillbirth, according to a study in the October 16 issue of JAMA.

16 Oct 2013