As medical, economic, and policy trends converge to alter the way dialysis care is organized and financed, protecting the unique relationship between dialysis patients and the kidney specialists who direct their care is a top priority, according to a special feature in the July Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
The use of a particular contact lens solution has a strong association with Acanthamoeba keratitis, a rare severe eye infection, report researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago in a study published online this week by the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
An internationally known expert on what is perhaps the most amazing structure in the universe ? the human brain ? has been recognized by his peers for his contributions to our knowledge about the brain and the diseases that affect it.
Alzheimer’s disease researchers may be able to reduce the time and expense associated with clinical trials, according to early results from the Alzheimer?s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), a public-private research partnership organized by the National Institutes of Health. Preliminary results from ADNI show how it might yield improved methods and uniform standards for imaging and biomarker analysis, so these techniques can be employed in the fight against Alzheimer?s disease.
Peter K. Gregersen, MD, stares at x-rays of hands, searching out the telltale signs of inflamed joints and wrists from his research subjects with rheumatoid arthritis. With these clinical features at his side, he turns to the basic building blocks of life ? the human genome ? to figure out what makes these people susceptible to the disabling inflammatory condition.
More than three decades ago, scientists pursued the then-radical idea of implanting tiny electronic hearing devices in the inner ear to help profoundly deaf people. An even bolder alternative that promised superior results ? implanting a device directly in the auditory nerve ? was set aside as too difficult, given the technology of the day.
The UK Health Protection Agency contributed to the public health management of the recent avian influenza incident in Wales and the north west of England by providing expert support and advice to the National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS) and by coordinating the response within England.
“Have I been here before”? In today’s fast-moving world of look-alike hotel rooms and comparable corridors, it can take a bit of thinking to answer this simple question.
High doses of vitamin D can reduce the risk of developing some common cancers by as much as 50%, US scientists claim. This benefit of vitamin D is seen more in women.
Endocannabinoids seem to play an important role in regulating inflammation processes. Scientists from the University of Bonn have discovered this in experiments on mice.