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Scientists Discover Genetic Switch That Increases Muscle Blood Supply
Many people suffer from a devastating condition known as critical limb ischemia (CLI) that can lead to muscle wasting and even amputation. The disease is linked to the blockage of blood flow to the skeletal muscle and current treatment options include rehabilitative exercise and surgical bypass of blood vessels. New preclinical research suggests there may be a way to restore blood supply in skeletal muscle without traditional intervention.  Media embedded: Image(s) (Embargoed until 01-Mar-2011, 12:00 ET)
Cell Metabolism
—Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Simple Blood Test at Discharge Could Help Reduce Hospital Readmissions for Heart Failure Patients
An inexpensive, routine blood test could hold the key to why some patients with congestive heart failure do well after being discharged from the hospital and why others risk relapse, costly readmission or death within a year, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.
American Journal of Cardiology
—Johns Hopkins Medicine

Stem Cells May Provide New Treatment for Children with Severe Brain Injuries
For children with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), transplantation of stem cells derived from the patients' own bone marrow is a "logistically feasible and safe" treatment procedure, reports the March issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.
Neurosurgery
—Wolters Kluwer Health: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Researchers Looking at a Rare Disease Make Breakthrough That Could Benefit Everyone
By working with Canadians of French ancestry who suffer a rare genetic disease, researchers have discovered how three genes contribute to abnormal growth, making a breakthrough that will improve our understanding of many disorders such as foetal and childhood growth retardation, abnormal development of body parts and cancer.
Nature Genetics
—Université de Montreal

How Long Do Stem Cells Live?
Unique computer model calculates how long a blood stem cell will live, information that could predict the outcome of bone marrow transplants.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
—Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute

For Hitters on Deck, Warm-Up Devices Don't Increase Bat Speed
Donuts, bat wraps, weighted gloves…a wide array of devices are available to help baseball players warm up while waiting to go to bat. But a new study finds that none of ten commonly used warm-up devices has a significant effect on bat speed, reports the February issue of The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, official research journal of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
—Wolters Kluwer Health: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

More Tests Needed for Oesophageal Cancer Patients
A University of Adelaide medical researcher says current treatment for people diagnosed with oesophageal cancer could be improved with additional pathology tests.
Annals of Surgery
—University of Adelaide

Society for Vascular Medicine Features Case Study, Special Section on Deep Vein Thrombosis during DVT Awareness Month
SVM features case study and special section on Deep Vein Thrombosis for DVT Awareness Month.
—Society for Vascular Medicine

Scientists Target Aggressive Prostate Cancer
Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a potential target to treat an aggressive type of prostate cancer. The target, a gene called SPINK1, could be to prostate cancer what HER2 has become for breast cancer. Media embedded: Image(s) (Embargoed until 02-Mar-2011, 14:00 ET)
Science Translational Medicine, Vol. 3, No. 72, March 2, 2011
—University of Michigan Health System

Mutations Found In Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Ordinary human cells reprogrammed as induced pluripotent stem cells may revolutionize personalized medicine by creating new and diverse therapies unique to individual patients. But important and unanswered questions have persisted about the safety of these cells, in particular whether their genetic material is altered during the reprogramming process. A new study finds that the genetic material of reprogrammed cells may in fact be compromised, and suggests that extensive genetic screening of hiPSCs become standard practice. Media embedded: Image(s) (Embargoed until 02-Mar-2011, 13:00 ET)
Nature, 03/03/11
—University of California, San Diego Health Sciences

Not Everyone Treated Equally When it Comes to Kidney Transplantation
Not all racial and ethnic groups have equal access to kidney transplantation, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The results indicate that the reasons for these disparities are varied and that more focused efforts are needed to address them. (Embargoed until 03-Mar-2011, 17:00 ET)
Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
—American Society of Nephrology (ASN)

Research Raises Hope for Solving Parkinson’s Disease Puzzle
Anumantha Kanthasamy of ISU's College of Veterinary Medicine has discovered a protein pathway that may hold the secret to understanding Parkinson's disease. He has been working to understand the complex mechanisms of the disease for more than a decade and believes this recent discovery offers hope for the cure. Media embedded: Image(s)
Journal of Neuroscience
—Iowa State University

Lead Contamination in Philadelphia’s Chinatown Discovered by Jefferson Emergency Medicine Team
Recently, a research team from the Department of Emergency Medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University discovered an alarming amount of lead contamination in ceramic cooking and eating utensils sold in Philadelphia’s Chinatown.
—Thomas Jefferson University

New Marker Found for Sanfilippo Disease
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, led by Jeffrey D. Esko, PhD, professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, describe the build-up of a novel secondary metabolite in Sanfilippo disease, a discovery that could improve understanding of the pathology of Sanfilippo disease and refine diagnostic techniques. Media embedded: Image(s)
Journal of Biological Chemistry, 03/04/11
—University of California, San Diego Health Sciences

New Peptide Could be Effective Treatment for Triple Negative Breast Cancer
A new peptide developed by researchers in Temple University’s College of Science and Technology has demonstrated efficacy against triple negative breast cancer, especially in the obese patient population.  Media embedded: Image(s)
European Journal of Cancer
—Temple University

Health Care Quality Still Improving Slowly, But Disparities Persist
The 2010 National Healthcare Quality Report and National Healthcare Disparities Report have just been released.
—Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Scientific Serendipity
Compound useful for studying birth defects may also have anti-tumor properties, according to researchers at North Carolina State University.
Chemistry & Biology, Feb. 24, 2011
—North Carolina State University

Neighborhood Barbers Can Influence Black Men to Seek Blood-Pressure Treatment
UT Southwestern investigators found that patrons of black-owned barbershops who had their blood pressure regularly measured there and who were encouraged to follow up with their physicians were nearly nine times more likely to see a physician than patrons who were simply given hypertension literature.
Archives of Internal Medicine, Feb. 28, 2011
—UT Southwestern Medical Center

When the Food Labels Says “Free” It Might Not Necessarily Mean “Free”
Many people get fooled into thinking a package that has the label "free" is completely free of fat, sodium, etc. when it is not.
—Methodist Hospital, Houston

Facebook Linked To One In Five Divorces in the United States
Loyola psychologist says some simple steps can prevent online relationships from blossoming from friendly talk into full-fledged affairs.
—Loyola University Health System

Tanning Addiction Expert Available
Dermatologist at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center who has done tanning research is available to comment about the American Academy of Pediatrics support of legislation to ban tanning by minors.
Expert(s) available
—Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center

Anesthesia & Analgesia Announces Retractions of Additional Manuscripts by Dr. Joachim Boldt
The peer-reviewed medical journal Anesthesia & Analgesia received notification from Landesärztekammer Rheinland-Pfalz (“LÄK”), the Rheinland State Medical Board, that there was no IRB approval for 89 articles published Dr. Joachim Boldt, including 22 published by A&A from 1999-2009. All 22 articles have now been retraced by Anesthesia & Analgesia. This announcement follows the December 2010 retraction of another article by Dr. Boldt, “Cardiopulmonary Bypass Priming Using a High Dose of a Balanced Hydroxyethyl Starch Versus an Albumin-Based Priming Strategy” (Anesthesia & Analgesia 2009; 109: 1752-1762).
—International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS)

AMGA Comments on Preliminary Meaningful Use Stage Two Objectives
The American Medical Group Association (AMGA), a trade association representing multispecialty medical groups and other organized systems of care, today released its comments on a request for information from the Health Information Technology Policy Committee (HITPC) on its preliminary proposals for Stage 2 Meaningful Use objectives. “Meaningful use” is the term of art used to describe the actions necessary to allow participants to receive incentive payments for implementation of electronic medical records, as stipulated in the “stimulus” law, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The comments were due February 25, and submitted the day before.
—American Medical Group Association (AMGA)

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Launches Orthopaedics Network
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW), part of Wolters Kluwer Health, today announced the launch of Orthopaedics Network (www.orthopaedicsnetwork.com), a single source solution that provides orthopaedists quick access to all the current articles from the collection of LWW-published orthopaedics journals. Orthopaedics Network aggregates, tags, and sorts articles from contributing journals into subspecialty channels, giving orthopaedists a quick, complete view into the published literature specific to their practice needs. The Network interface is loaded with personalization features so users can view only the channels relevant to their practice, saved searches, and other information that they need most—just a click away.
—Wolters Kluwer Health: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

FREE Registration Now Open for Brain Health Fair in Honolulu
The American Academy of Neurology Foundation is hosting the first Brain Health Fair on Saturday, April 9, 2011, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Free registration is open to the public now at http://www.brainhealthfair.com.
—American Academy of Neurology (AAN)

NIH Launches Largest Oil Spill Health Study
A new study that will look at possible health effects of the Gulf of Mexico’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill on 55,000 cleanup workers and volunteers begins today in towns across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
—National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

Charlene Awadjie-Ihedioha to Manage FSMB Foundation Programs
New program manager to lead various education and research initiatives, along with fundraising, at Federation of State Medical Boards Foundation.
—Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB)

Apple’s iPad Debuts at NJ Cancer Center Library
To better serve patients and the greater community, the Resource and Learning Center at New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center is incorporating the Apple iPad and Barnes & Noble NOOK electronic reader into its information arsenal. As a result, traditional media focused on cancer-related topics can be accessed by users in a more portable fashion.
—Cancer Institute of New Jersey

Tufts Receives Patent for Antibody Treatment Against Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome
Researchers at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine have received U.S. patent approval for an antibody-based treatment for Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), a potentially fatal outcome of E. coli poisoning and the leading cause of kidney failure in children.
—Tufts University

Clinic Addresses Long-Term Issues of Childhood Cancer Treatment
To help adult survivors of childhood cancer manage the unique long-term consequences of their treatment, Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah has created the Pediatric Cancer Late Effects Clinic.
—University of Utah Health Sciences