British hospitals need clinical ethicists
...icists in hospitals in the United Kingdom," says a researcher in medical ethics in this week's BMJ. A sound knowledge of medical ethics is essential to the good practice of medicine, yet conclusive evidence exists that doctors need help with ethical problems, writes Daniel Sokol of Imperial College London. Abou...Study shows promise in identifying kidney failure
CINCINNATI A researcher at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has identified a protein that allows for earlier and quicker diagnosis of kidney failure - a diagnosis that now often occurs too late to treat kidney failure effectively. The research, which is publish...Chronic pain treatments more effective when taken together, new study shows
...n relief, with comparable side effects," says lead researcher Dr. Ian Gilron, Director of Clinical Pain Research for Queen's Departments of Anesthesiology, and Pharmacology & Toxicology, and an anesthesiologist at Kingston General Hospital. "This new treatment approach has the potential to dramatically improve ...New study in 'Nature' demonstrates protection against cell death during heart attack
... would work, according to Jeff Molkentin, Ph.D., a researcher at Cincinnati Children's and the study's senior author. Cyclophilin D resides within the mitochondria of a cell. The mitochondria are the power plants of a cell and are responsible for the majority of energy production. When mitochondria do not fun...Pitt marks 50th anniversary of its Salk polio vaccine with reunion, scientific symposium
...y Albright, M.D., a Harvard University surgeon and researcher who, despite a childhood bout with polio, went on to become a champion figure skater and, in the 1956 Olympics, the first American woman to win a gold medal in her sport; Peter L. Salk, M.D., vice president and scientific director of the Jonas Salk F...Fat may promote inflammation, new study suggests
...eart disease," said Barbara Nicklas, Ph.D., senior researcher and an associate professor of internal medicine. "The findings point to a possible treatment target for new drugs. Our goal is to learn more about how these proteins are produced and how levels can be changed." Nicklas and colleagues have already beg...New evaluation tool reliably predicts recovery from coma
...nt of Veterans Affairs and Northwestern University researcher has developed the first reliable measure of neurobehavioral functioning that will help physicians predict the likelihood of a patient recovering consciousness during coma from severe brain injury within the first year of injury--with up to 86 percent...Researchers search for first sign of congestive heart failure
...ng," says Dr. Gaston Kakota Kapuku, cardiovascular researcher at the Medical College of Georgia. "If we can identify those changes, we may be able to stop the progression before the heart becomes dysfunctional." Dr. Kapuku recently received a four-year Scientific Development Grant from the American Heart Associ...Opponents of needle-exchange programs should think about their message to drug users
...with clean needles sends the wrong message. But a researcher at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy advises that they should be concerned about the message they're actually sending.Despite the overwhelming evidence that needle-exchange programs (NEPs) can help reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and ...Infant vernier acuity is comparable to that of adults
... the laboratory and the clinic. Angela Brown, lead researcher of the study, says the data suggest that vernier acuity of human infants and adults is quite similar, contrary to past studies conducted in this area. The similarity of infant and adult vernier acuity suggests that vernier acuity might be a sensitive...New self-help technology set to combat eating disorders
...nosed with eating disorders developed by a medical researcher at the University of Glasgow is now set to be delivered over the internet to adolescent sufferers. The package, initially developed as a CD-ROM cognitive-behavioural self-help tool for the treatment of the eating disorder bulimia nervosa (BN), is se...Scientist works on innovative treatments for brain tumors
...e, a Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center researcher will continue his quest to offer new treatments for one of the deadliest types of brain tumors. Waldemar Debinski, M.D., Ph.D., a nationally recognized physician-scientist who pioneered a method to destroy malignant brain tumor cells without damaging...Storage time and temperature effects nutrients in spinach
...ater to fluff it up to look nice." The Penn State researcher noted this action is not effective because the nutrient loss is irreversible. With such a high demand for fresh foods, many people do not give a second thought to alternatives, thinking that fresh food is always more beneficial than canned or frozen ...Chemical decoy shows promise for slowing Alzheimer's by acting as decoy
...and removed by specialized cells in the brain, the researcher theorizes. Because the decoy molecules look like components of normal human brain cells, they will hopefully be less likely to cause side effects, which have plagued many promising Alzheimer's drug candidates, Good says. She notes, for instance, that...Genes for alcohol consumption identified
...be related to differences in genetic make-up. Lead researcher Dr Marcus Munaf, at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, said: "Our study suggests that there's a genetic basis to certain kinds of behaviour, including alcohol consumption, which may be important in influencing whether p...... the heart, according to a Yale School of Medicine researcher in the Journal of American College of Surgeons. "The current consensus is that it is not just the alcohol, but something else," said Bauer Sumpio, M.D., professor and section chief of vascular surgery in the Department of Surgery. "There are probabl...Employees with diabetes are not more tired
... a combination of work and illness. However, Dutch researcher Iris Weijman found that employees with diabetes who have several chronic conditions and those who experience inconvenience from their illness do have a higher risk of fatigue. Employees with diabetes become tired more frequently because their energy...Explosion of child obesity predicted to shorten us life expectancy
...ty, especially among children. A review by obesity researcher David Ludwig of Children's Hospital Boston, epidemiologist S. Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and colleagues concludes that obesity now reduces average life expectancy by about 4 to 9 months, a conservative estimate. More omin...Compound may help prevent diabetes in fast-food fans
...ts at higher amounts. Based on animal studies, the researcher estimates that only a few grams (approximately 5 grams) would be needed to have a positive impact on health. But further studies are needed to determine effective doses, Yokoyama says. In addition to Yokoyama, other researchers in this study include ...Community-based care beats standard clinic in lowering heart
...k," said lead author Diane Becker, Sc.D., a health researcher in the division of general internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore. "A mainstream model of medical care may not be the answer for eliminating disparities in this population," she said. The study included 364 people who ...