Health News

MINERVA trial shows Medtronic pacemakers reduce the progression of permanent AF by 61 percent

Date: Nov-20-2013
New research shows that Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) pacemakers with enhanced pacing features have the ability to slow the progression of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with bradycardia, or a slow heartbeat.

Valuable thyroid outcomes information provided by pre-op exam, nerve monitor

Date: Nov-20-2013
Intraoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) monitoring has gained popularity with approximately 53 percent of general surgeons and 65 percent of otolaryngologists using intraoperative nerve monitoring in select or all cases. The importance of laryngeal exam prior to thyroid surgery has also been increasingly recognized, but the relationship between surgical outcomes and these two parameters has not been studied.

Computer processes sound, filters out background noise for the hearing-impaired

Date: Nov-20-2013
Computer engineers and hearing scientists at The Ohio State University have made a potential breakthrough in solving a 50-year-old problem in hearing technology: how to help the hearing-impaired understand speech in the midst of background noise.In the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, they describe how they used the latest developments in neural networks to boost test subjects' recognition of spoken words from as low as 10 percent to as high as 90 percent.The researchers hope the technology will pave the way for next-generation digital hearing aids.

Support needed for community health centers to prevent 1 million patients being dropped

Date: Nov-20-2013
A new report by the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) examines the impact of federal and state policy decisions on community health centers (CHCs) and their ability to continue providing primary care to the nation's poorest residents.

Nutritional labeling helps consumers order a less unhealthy meal

Date: Nov-20-2013
An evaluation team led by the Drexel University School of Public Health has published a new study demonstrating that customers of full-service restaurants use nutritional labeling on menus to make healthier food choices.

Head and neck cancer may respond to bitter melon extract

Date: Nov-20-2013
Extract taken from an Asian vegetable may have therapeutic qualities to treat head and neck cancer, a Saint Louis University researcher has found.Preliminary findings of the research were published in the Public Library of Science One Journal by Ratna Ray, Ph.D. associate professor of pathology at Saint Louis University. Ray found that bitter melon extract, a vegetable commonly used in Indian and Chinese diets, reduces the head and neck cancer cell growth in the animal model.

Broken DNA recycled by bacteria

Date: Nov-20-2013
Bacteria put broken DNA on a scrapheap. Bacteria can then recycle small as well as large pieces of old DNA from this and include it in their own genome. This discovery may have major consequences - both in connection with resistance to antibiotics in hospitals and in our perception of the evolution of life itself.Our surroundings contain large amounts of strongly fragmented and damaged DNA, which is being degraded. Some of it may be thousands of years old.

Predicting where E. coli strains will thrive

Date: Nov-20-2013
Bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego have used the genomic sequences of 55 E. coli strains to reconstruct the metabolic repertoire for each strain. Surprisingly, these reconstructions do an excellent job of predicting the kind of environment where each strain will thrive, the researchers found.Their analysis, published in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could prove useful in developing ways to control deadly E. coli infections and to learn more about how certain strains of the bacteria become virulent.

Hope for development of heart drugs that improve contractility, prevent SCD

Date: Nov-20-2013
Drugs known as PDE3 inhibitors save many lives by helping failing hearts do a better job of pumping blood. But those same medications come with a sometimes deadly cost when taken for long periods: an increased risk for sudden cardiac death.The drugs work by inhibiting PDE3A, an enzyme that regulates how the heart pumps blood. When PDE3A is inhibited, the heart contracts more forcefully, pumping more blood.Developing a medication that has the benefits of current drugs but doesn't increase the risk for sudden cardiac death associated has eluded researchers.

Renal stenting does not improve outcomes for renal artery stenosis patients

Date: Nov-20-2013
According to the findings from a national research trial, people who suffer from a narrowing of the arteries that lead to the kidneys, or renal artery stenosis, do not experience better outcomes when renal stenting is used. Instead, a comprehensive regimen of drug and medical therapies works just as well. The national study, which was led by Rhode Island Hospital researchers Lance Dworkin, M.D., and Timothy Murphy, M.D., in collaboration with multiple investigators worldwide, is published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).