An experimental thyroid drug reduces cholesterol without the troublesome side effects experienced by some people on statins, according to a study published today in The New England Journal of Medicine. An international team of investigators at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the Karolinska University Hospital and Institute, and The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research tested a substance called Eprotirome in patients with high cholesterol. Continue Reading
In a pioneering new study published in the journal Translational Research, Dr. Jilpa Patel and her research group at Hektoen Institute of Medicine and Cook County Hospital in Chicago have isolated and characterized adult stem cells from granulation tissue in rats. A granulation tissue is a new regenerating tissue formed in response to an inert foreign body placed in the subcutaneous tissue. Continue Reading
The control of blood pressure is central to people’s wellbeing. One in three Australians suffer from high blood pressure (hypertension), a condition which can lead to coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke and kidney failure. Continue Reading
Entirely different signal paths and parts of the brain are involved when you try to remember something and when you just happen to remember something, prompted by a smell, a picture, or a word, for instance. This is shown by Kristiina Kompus in her dissertation at Umeå University in Sweden. Continue Reading
People whose “bad” cholesterol and risk of future heart disease stay too high despite cholesterol-lowering statin therapy can safely lower it by adding a drug that mimics the action of thyroid hormone. In a report published in the Mar. 11, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Johns Hopkins and Swedish researchers say an experimental drug called eprotirome lowered cholesterol up to 32 percent in those already on statins, an effect equal to that expected from doubling the statin drug doses, without harmful side effects. Continue Reading
Geisinger Health System and Yale School of Medicine investigators are researching how young people recover from heart attacks through VIRGO (Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes in Young AMI Patients), a research project funded by the National, Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Continue Reading
Three critical recommendations from a national workshop have been released to address deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), a growing public health problem estimated to affect nearly 1 million Americans each year. Continue Reading
Changes in patients’ self-rated quality of life after treatment for esophago-gastric cancer can predict the chances for long-term survival. This is the result researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet made, in a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Continue Reading
Breast cancer patients with early stage disease that has spread to only one lymph node may not benefit from radiation after mastectomy, because of the low present-day risk of recurrence following modern surgery and systemic therapy, a finding that could one day change the course of treatment for thousands of women diagnosed each year, according to researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer. Continue Reading
As you read this, you may notice that the word directly in front of you is clear, but all the surrounding words are hard to make out. For most people, this effect – known as ‘crowding’ – is not a problem. However, for the millions of people worldwide who have lost their central vision through eye disease such as macular degeneration, it can make everyday tasks such as reading or recognising friends a challenge. Continue Reading
