A protein called HIPK2 is essential for the survival of dopamine neurons, the cells lost in Parkinson’s disease, according to a study in mice. The results suggest that the molecular pathway in which the protein functions could be a possible new target for therapy, the study authors say.
Adults living with children eat more saturated fat — the equivalent of nearly an entire frozen pepperoni pizza each week — than do adults who do not live with children, according to a University of Iowa and University of Michigan Health System study.
The Institute of Medicine estimates that medical errors are the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, and poor communication can be a major source of those errors. Now the Clinical Simulation Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis hopes to improve patient safety by using clinical simulators to find the source of miscommunications during medical treatments.
The surge of baby boomers now entering their 60s means more drivers on the road who may be impaired by dementia or other cognitive impairments linked to aging. Researchers at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere have developed a three-hour workshop that trains health care providers to identify potentially unsafe drivers with dementia and to encourage appropriate retirement from driving.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved Invega (paliperidone) extended-release tablets for the treatment of schizophrenia. Paliperidone is a new molecular entity, which means this medication contains an active substance that has never before been approved for marketing in any form in the United States.
Engineers are designing new high-tech medical tools to equip the operating room of the future, in an effort to help doctors treat patients more safely and effectively and allow them to perform surgical tasks that are nearly impossible today.
Melanomas (skin cancers) are more likely to grow rapidly if they are thicker, symmetrical, elevated, have regular borders or have symptoms, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In addition, rapidly progressing melanoma is more likely to occur in elderly men and individuals with fewer moles and freckles, and its cells tend to divide more quickly and have fewer pigments than those of slower-growing cancers.
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY), vigorously objects to the characterization of company practices in a New York Times article based upon selective documents illegally leaked by plaintiffs’ lawyers.
Biophan Technologies, Inc., a developer of next-generation medical technology, in conjunction with MYOTECH, LLC, recently presented results of animal studies that indicate the potential of the MYO-VAD, a cardiac support system to significantly improve the treatment of heart failure. The MYO-VAD restores cardiac output on an arrested or weak heart. The device can be implanted in approximately three minutes.
Scientific, technological and medical advances made in the past two decades are leading to more definitive diagnoses, earlier and more effective treatment options and better outcomes for patients suffering from a condition called acromegaly, according to an article published in today’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine and authored by a specialist in endocrinology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.