Feature Channels: Story Ideas: Medicine

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Lori Dunn, who received a transplanted liver, attends weekly support group meetings as often as possible to share her experiences and offer encouragement to other patients. But because distance and schedules don't always cooperate, she often turns to an online offshoot of the group, which enables everyone to participate, no matter how far away they live or what their physical limitations may be from week to week.

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Members or pledges of college fraternities and sororities are twice as likely as non-Greek students to get drunk at least weekly "“ and are at significantly higher risk of being injured or injuring someone else "“ according to new research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

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A researcher at the University of Virginia Health System and colleagues have uncovered the secret to the way that Helicobacter pylori infiltrate the stomach lining and cause ulcers.

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A protein long thought to provide only mechanical support for keeping cells and tissues from literally falling apart turns out to have much wider utility. In a pair of reports, the protein K17 has been found to also influence wound healing and maintain the structural integrity of hair follicles, according to Johns Hopkins researchers.

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More than 60 percent of women 50 and older who have participated in a medical research study would definitely or probably participate again if given the opportunity, according to a survey released today by the Society for Women's Health Research. The survey also found a growing percentage of women is not interested in research or does not believe in participating in it.

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Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development have learned that, contrary to popular belief, mild to moderate levels of maternal psychological stress during pregnancy may actually enhance fetal maturation.

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Louis Pasteur said that "chance favors the prepared mind." For Prof. Nava Dekel of the Weizmann Institute's Biological Regulation Department, some completely unexpected results of biopsies performed on women with fertility problems have led to a new path of scientific discovery that may hold hope for women trying to conceive.

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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists have used electrostatic attraction to layer reactive biological molecules lasagna-like around spaghetti-like carbon nanotubes.

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Researchers at SUNY Upstate Medical University have a new understanding of how cell cycle regulation is affected by RNA degrading enzymes. In this latest study, published in Journal of Cell Biology (April 2006), researchers have found that location of an RNA-degrading enzyme is key to its role in cell cycle regulation.

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Researchers simulating conditions of reduced cabin pressure and reduced oxygen levels, such as may be encountered during an 8 hour airplane flight, found no increase in the activation of the blood clotting system among healthy individuals, according to a study in the May 17 issue of JAMA.

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Cardiovascular clinical trials published between 2000 and 2005 were significantly more likely to report positive findings if they were funded by for-profit organizations than those funded by not-for-profit organizations, according to a study in the May 17 issue of JAMA.

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Research by neuroscientists at the University of Virginia Health System shows that oxygen free radicals are damaging proteins in mitochondria, the tiny cellular "˜batteries' of brain cells.

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Though it's the more common form of the disease, sporadic ALS, which affects roughly 90 percent of those living with the fatal neurodegenerative illness, has been the one less studied, simply because, unlike familial ALS, no genes have turned up.

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Holding down a job and being a mum in a steady relationship helps keep women healthy and in good shape over the long term, suggests research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

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Women who are tired of pregnancy and thinking of having labor induced probably need to think again, new Saint Louis University research finds.

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Joslin Diabetes Center-led study shows different insulin signaling components control glucose and lipid metabolism in the liver. New findings may one day advance treatments to prevent type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

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Almost 62 percent of sexual assaults were found to be drug facilitated, and almost 5 percent of the victims were given classic 'date-rape' drugs, according to a new study at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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The biggest obstacle to improving the organ donation rate in the United Kingdom is the number of relatives who refuse consent, say researchers in this week's BMJ.

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The first national sampling of children in the welfare system identified those in foster care most at risk for chronic health problems "” children under the age of two and those living in small families. Latino caregivers were least likely to report their child as having a chronic condition.

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Researchers have uncovered unexpected and fundamental problems in predicting case durations for MRI and CT scans done under anesthesia. The research team subsequently figured out the cause of this troublesome patient scheduling problem, and determined and implemented a solution that has improved delivery of health care for pediatric patients.

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Contrary to popular belief, experts are more effective than peers in successful HIV prevention campaigns, a University of Florida study found. However, the most effective resources are experts whose gender and ethnicity match the patients seeking guidance.

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Approximately 15% of Asians living in New York City are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus, according to a new study by New York University School of Medicine researchers and their colleagues. Chronic hepatitis B infection usually will lead to liver inflammation and can progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer. The reported infection rate is 35 times higher than the rate in the general U.S. population.

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A U-M new study suggests that providing parents with simple educational materials will not be enough to convince them to vaccinate their preteen against HPV once vaccines are available. Parents' beliefs and experiences with HPV were more likely to influence their decision to vaccinate their child.

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Heart attack patients are about 15 percent less likely to be treated with bypass surgery or angioplasty within the first days of incident in states with certificate of need regulations. However, they are no more likely to have adverse events than comparable patients treated in states without CON.

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Two surgeons at the same hospital could perform the same operations on patients with similar medical histories but their costs to the hospital could be difference as high as 45 percent. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis say the findings could address rising health care costs.

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Baylor Regional Transplant Institute recently performed Texas' first successful adult small bowel transplant, giving a 24-year-old Midland woman a second chance at life. Recent literature from the journal Gastroenterology suggests this type of surgery is the only standard of treatment that should be considered for those with intestinal failure and life-threatening complications from total parenteral nutrition.

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Brain tumor specialists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center are poised on the brink of a new era.

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For women who experience heavy periods, surgery is more effective than oral or intrauterine medication in reducing volume of bleeding at one year, according to a systematic review of studies.

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Antiseptic cleansing and body hair removal do not reduce surgical site infections, investigators report in two new reviews of studies of these common preoperative practices.

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A new way to preserve the cells that surround and protect nerves could lead to new treatments for demyelinating diseases such a multiple sclerosis.

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Few Maryland and Delaware primary care pediatricians screen patients regularly for autism and autism-spectrum disorders (ASD) as part of their overall look at possible developmental delays, according to results of a joint study from Johns Hopkins Children's Center and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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More than 90 percent of domestic violence victims suffer head, neck and facial injuries, placing dentists at the forefront of health care professionals positioned to recognize signs of abuse.

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A new report estimates that approximately 14 million people aged 12 years and older in the U.S. have vision impairment, of which more than 80 percent could be improved with the use of corrective lenses, according to a study in the May 10 issue of JAMA.

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Compared with usual care, patients with Alzheimer disease who were treated with collaborative care had fewer behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia after one year, and caregivers had lower levels of stress and depression, according to a study in the May 10 issue of JAMA.

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Researchers at Florida Atlantic University are studying the relationship between the changes in brain structure and deterioration of cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease using a novel method of PET neuroimaging. These researchers will also be looking at the similarity demonstrated between the progression of Alzheimer's disease and diabetes mellitus, both in memory impairments and the regions of the brain that are affected.

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Coma is often misrepresented in movies, which could skew public perception of coma and impact real-life decisions, according to a new study published in the May 9, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A study led by Mayo Clinic demonstrates that mild cognitive impairment, a memory disorder considered a strong early predictor of Alzheimer's disease, not only results in behavioral symptoms, but also structural changes that can be identified in the brain.

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A new study by a Mayo Clinic neurologist finds that, overall, motion pictures inaccurately represent the comatose state.

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A study of office-based physicians in the United States suggests that about one-fifth of medications are prescribed to treat conditions for which they are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and that nearly three-fourths of those uses lack strong scientific support, according to an article in the May 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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High doses of medications known as corticosteroids may be linked to an increased risk for atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm disorder characterized by an irregular heartbeat, according to an article in the May 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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The brains of patients with mild cognitive impairment display pathologic features that appear to place them at an intermediate stage between normal aging and Alzheimer's disease, although some patients with mild cognitive impairment develop other types of dementia, according to two studies in the May issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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Using novel 3-D mapping techniques to analyze MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) data from 20 patients with mild cognitive impairment, the researchers found that the patients with the smaller hippocampus face an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's dementia.

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New research shows that a novel secreted protein called stromal-derived factor 1 (SDF-1) helps build new blood vessels by encouraging the migration of cells from the marrow to tissues in need of new vasculature. Investigators say SDF-1 does so independently of VEGF-A, a well-studied growth factor already known to be involved in this process.

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A new study found a shortage exists in the number of adults (non-students) who volunteer in academic hospitals.

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According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), there are currently an estimated 70,000 Americans living with spina bifida. Although scientists believe that genetic and environmental factors may act together to cause spina bifida, 95 percent of babies with spina bifida are born to parents with no family history.

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A technical advance in laboratory techniques may provide biology researchers broader access to RNA interference, a process of blocking the activity of targeted genes. Combining lab technologies, a research team used RNAi to silence genes in human T cells, which were previously difficult to manipulate in this manner. T cells are important in autoimmune and infectious diseases, and some cancers.

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Childhood arthritis increases the risk of fractures, particularly during adolescence, according to a large study of British patient records. The researchers say that more targeted treatments promoting bone health would benefit patients with childhood-onset arthritis throughout their lifespan.

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Mutations in the NPHP6 gene produce a rare disorder called Joubert syndrome. Infants with this syndrome are born with kidney defects, severe mental retardation and retinitis pigmentosa. NPHP genes are expressed in hair-like projections on cells called cilia. Cilia could be the key to congenital diseases affecting the kidneys and many other organs.

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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a genetic cause for a form of pediatric brain malformation involving the cerebellum. Future research based on these findings could lead to ways of preventing or treating children with Joubert Syndrome Related Disorder (JSRD.)

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Study shows that immunizing swine with a purified hemoglobin receptor protected the animals from a challenge infection, even after multiple attempts at infection.