For Karen Pressley, Duke’s new Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Center revealed critical details of her heart that could enable her to have an angioplasty.
Physicians at her home medical center in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. were reluctant to perform a heart procedure on 55-year-old Pressley because conventional techniques could not determine the extent of possible heart muscle death from a recent silent heart attack. So Pressley was referred to Duke University Medical Center, where cardiologi
Investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered a mechanism that helps explain why healthy cells are not killed by DNA-damaging cancer chemotherapy drugs. The findings are published in the Oct. 4 issue of the journal Cell.
DNA-damaging agents are the most common kind of drugs used to treat cancer. Like most chemotherapy drugs, these are carried in the blood and travel throughout the body. They work by irreparably gumming up DNA in rapidly dividing tumo
Penn State mechanical engineers, working with medical and pharmaceutical researchers, have developed the first computer-generated “virtual stomach” to follow the path of extended-release tablets that are designed to remain in the stomach for hours while slowly releasing medicine.
The researchers note that, although many medications are prepared in extended-release form, the details of exactly how the pills break down and release medicine in the stomach are largely unknown. The new “virtual
Genital herpes due to HSV-1 – the herpes simplex virus primarily associated with cold sores on the mouth – is strongly associated with an early start to sex, suggests research in Sexually Transmitted Infections. And its prevalence is increasing, say the authors.
The findings are based on blood samples and details of sexual behaviour from 869 people attending a central London sexual health clinic and from 1494 blood donors.
Analysis of the samples showed that evidence of previous or
Suggests new route to treat anxiety without sedating or addicting side effects
The trouble with most anti-anxiety drugs is that they tend to sedate, not just relax. A research team led by scientists at UCSF’s Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center has shown that de-activating a common enzyme in neurons reduces anxiety without inducing sedation. The study in mice suggests a new route to treat anxiety while avoiding sedating and possibly addicting effects.
The research, p
Duke anesthesiologists have found that a “Doppler” technique of using reflected sound waves to measure the heart?s pumping action can better guide the administration of fluids and plasma during major surgery. They have found that the use of Doppler technology appears to reduce hospital stays and to speed patient recovery.
Additionally, according to Duke University Medical Center researchers, these patients experience less postoperative nausea and vomiting and are able to eat solid foods muc
Transplants in animal models could translate into therapy for humans
Neural stem cells, transplanted into injured brains, survive, proliferate, and improve brain function in laboratory models according to research based at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The findings, published in the October edition of the journal Neurosurgery, suggest that stem cells could provide the first clinical therapy to treat traumatic brain injuries. Traumatic brain injuries occur in two
Whether 240 miles above in the International Space Station or firmly grounded on Earth, medical testing without needles wins everyone’s vote.
Refinements under way to current near infrared (NIR) spectroscopic techniques will expand the range of non-invasive blood and tissue chemistry measurements. These changes also will provide accurate readings unaffected by skin color or body fat.
“Once complete, this device will allow chemical analysis and diagnosis without removing samples f
Lasker recipient James E. Darnell contends drug developers should focus more on ’transcription factor’ proteins
Researchers may be looking for novel cancer drugs in the wrong places, says Rockefeller University Professor James E. Darnell, Jr., M.D., in an article in this month’s Nature Reviews Cancer.
Darnell, who received the 2002 Albert Lasker Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science, argues that drug development research should focus more on a speci
Chinese herbal medicine combined with standard therapy may be more effective than standard therapy alone for treatment of chronic hepatitis B, according to an analysis of randomized, controlled trials led by University of California, Berkeley, researchers.
Researchers analyzed 27 clinical trials in which chronic hepatitis B patients using Chinese herbal medicine alone, or with interferon alfa, were compared with a control group of patients that were taking only interferon alfa. The protein
‘Chronic pain causes permanent alterations in the human primary somatosensory (SI) and motor (M1) cortices,’ says docent Nina Forss. ‘These alterations can be used as objective indicators of pain that shapes the human brain,’ she continues. Nina Forss works at the Helsinki University of Technology Low Temperature Laboratory: the laboratory’s Brain Research Unit was appointed a Centre of Excellence in Research in 1995.
Each body part has its representation area in the somatosensory cortex
Regular use of inhaled steroids cuts hospital admissions for severe asthma by almost a third, reveals research in Thorax.
Most previous research has looked at the short-term effects of inhalers to prevent asthma attacks, but this Canadian study analysed data for asthma patients over a period of 22 years.
The study included all asthma patients aged 5 to 44 years of age between 1975 and 1991, who were part of the health insurance scheme provided for all residents in the province of Sa
New research shows that a synthetic antioxidant can reduce brain damage by more than 40 percent in an animal model of stroke when given seven and a half hours after the stroke begins. Researchers at National Jewish Medical and Research Center and Duke University Medical Center will report their findings in the October issue of the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine.
“Because the onset of a stroke can be difficult to detect, many patients do not get treatment for several hours,” said
Using genetically altered mice, Yale researchers have generated a clearer picture of the origins of B cells and their involvement in autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes.
Published in the September 20 issue of Science, the study, led by Mark Shlomchik, M.D., associate professor of laboratory medicine at Yale School of Medicine, looked at B cells’ reactions to its own toxins, known as antigens. B lymphocyte cells normally produce antibodies to viruses and
For the first time, scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered similar gene activity profiles between a herpes virus that affects rhesus macaque monkeys and a human herpes virus linked to Kaposi’s sarcoma. This cancer is endemic among Mediterranean and sub-Sahara African populations. In the last 20 years, however, the disease has occurred most frequently in people with AIDS.
The study team, led by Dr. Blossom Damania, assistant professor of microbiolo
A novel form of vitamin D has been shown to grow bone in the lab and in experimental animals, a result that holds promise for the estimated 44 million Americans, mostly post-menopausal women, who suffer from or are at risk for the bone-wasting disease osteoporosis.
The research, conducted by a team of scientists led by biochemist Hector F. DeLuca at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was reported this week (Sept. 30) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a leading
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