Infants and adults who are blind due to a cloudy or damaged cornea are seeing some remarkable results thanks to a new version of an artificial implant that takes the place of the cornea, the clear covering of the eye that serves as our window on the world.
A new combination of a potent anticoagulant and an antidote that stops its action, has proved to be safe in its first clinical trial in humans, according to the team conducting the trial.
Working with dogs and using the latest in imaging software and machinery, also known as a 64-slice CT scanner, Johns Hopkins heart specialists have developed a fast and accurate means of tracking blood that has been slowed down by narrowing of the coronary arteries. Researchers say it took them less than half the time of exercise stress tests and echocardiograms currently used to find early warning of vessels more likely to become blocked and cause heart attack.
The science of cancer prevention has advanced to the point where researchers now say they can detect ?cancer genes? in the breath of smokers, and can test the presence of two proteins in men they say will predict development of prostate cancer a decade in advance. All of these novel findings need much more examination, of course, but scientists at the American Association for Cancer Research?s Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting, say these examples illustrate how it is becoming increasingly possible to use genes and their protein products to help predict and diagnose cancer, as well as choose therapy that offers the most potential for a good result. These researchers will also discuss a test that can pick out patients who have pancreatic cancer – an advance that offers hope the disease can be treated at earlier stages than it is now – and how several unique genes can predict which prostate cancer or lung cancer patients will develop aggressive tumors that need additional treatment. Cancer is a disease of genes, they say, so genes can be employed as a crystal ball to thwart the disease.
Loren F. Hiratzka, M.D., Cincinnati, received the American Heart Association?s 2006 Chairman?s Award, which honors excellence in volunteer service, at Sunday?s Opening Session.
That women with heart disease generally have worse outcomes than men is well known, but recent research is turning up some unusual and possibly very important new risk factors. Low testosterone levels, ?on-pump? bypass grafts, increased anxiety and under-treatment in secondary prevention may each have an independent, negative impact on women?s outcomes.
In-hospital bariatric surgery complication rates vary dramatically among the nation’s hospitals, according to a study released today by HealthGrades, the leading healthcare ratings company. The study of 86,520 bariatric-surgery procedures performed over the years 2002 through 2004 finds that a typical patient receiving the procedure in a five-star rated hospital would have, on average, a 66 percent lower chance of developing one or more major inhospital complications compared with a one-star rated hospital.
Researchers are taking cardiac devices already in the operating room and using them in radically different applications as extracorporeal life support systems in cardiac arrest or traumatic hemorrhage.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) today announced that two-year data from three Phase III pivotal trials demonstrate the long-term efficacy of ORENCIA? (abatacept) in adult patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have had an inadequate response to one or more disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) such as methotrexate and TNF antagonists. The data also demonstrate that ORENCIA provided clinically meaningful improvements in multiple aspects of health-related quality of life and physical function, sustained improvements in pain and had a consistent safety and tolerability profile through two years of treatment. These data will be presented at the upcoming 2006 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Annual Scientific Meeting.
A study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis showed that in women whose initial breast biopsies revealed certain rare, yet benign breast conditions, more extensive follow-up surgical biopsies found cancer up to 25 percent of the time. Most of the cancers were invasive, meaning the tumors had penetrated normal breast tissue and would require treatment.