Wake Forest University
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - A new study by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine suggests that patients with high cholesterol receive better care when physicians use a variety of tools to learn and apply a clinical practice guideline for treating the condition.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Carrying extra weight earlier in life increases the risk of developing problems with mobility in old age, even if the weight is eventually lost, according to new research out of the Sticht Center on Aging at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - New research at Wake Forest University School of Medicine evaluated the link between a common class of drugs used to prevent bone fractures in osteoporosis patients and the development of irregular heartbeat.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - A recent discovery by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine could clear the way for a new drug that inhibits tumor growth in cancer patients and could potentially help in the healing of wounds.
BLACKSBURG, Va., March 30, 2009 -- Cancer and its therapies, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy, may directly alter and damage taste and odor perception, possibly leading to patient malnutrition, and in severe cases, significant morbidity, according to a Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University Comprehensive Cancer Center compilation of various existing studies.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - An X-ray-guided spinal tap procedure fails more than half of the time in young infants and should be used sparingly, if at all, for those patients, according to a new study done by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - A new study at Wake Forest University School of Medicine reveals that many N.C. high schools are not adequately prepared to handle the immediate medical needs of a student or employee who suffers a sudden cardiac arrest on campus. The findings were used to support a new statewide program to place automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in high schools.
New research out of Wake Forest University School of Medicine identifies the presence of cardiovascular risk factors as an indicator of how likely it is that elderly, hospitalized patients who receive intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) treatment will have a stroke or heart attack.
Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, and colleagues, have identified a gene that modifies the severity of lung disease in people with cystic fibrosis, a lethal genetic condition. The findings open the door to possible new targets for treatment, researchers say.
New findings from the nation's largest study of diabetes in youth paint an alarming picture of disease on the rise among every racial and ethnic group studied.
The same system that regulates blood pressure may also play a role in aging, according to new research from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Four separate studies point to the renin-angiotensin system, which helps regulate blood pressure, as also being important in body composition, mental function and how the body responds to exercise.
For elderly women, the location of body fat is more important than total fat amount in predicting future heart attacks, according to researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues. ''In the over-70 age group, overall obesity did not predict heart attack risk,'' said Barbara J. Nicklas, Ph.D., lead researcher. ''It didn't matter how much fat the older woman had -- what mattered was where that fat was stored.'' The researchers found that intra-abdominal fat, or fat stored in and around the internal organs, is most predictive of heart attack risk.
Better detection and treatment are helping to reduce death from breast cancer in America, but poor, rural and minority women -- especially Native Americans -- face barriers that keep them from taking advantage of cancer screenings that could potentially save their lives, researchers say. In trying to identify a way to increase use of mammography among poor, rural women over age 40, researchers surveyed 897 women (33 percent African American, 41 percent Native American, 25 percent white) about their knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding breast and cervical cancer screening. The women -- selected from patient records at a major area health care provider -- were all identified as needing a mammogram.
A gene involved in the action of insulin is associated with type 2 diabetes and the body's response to insulin, scientists report. The gene is called PTPN1 (Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase N1) and is found on the human chromosome 20, which has long been targeted by investigators as a likely site for diabetes genes. ''The protein that this gene makes represses the insulin response, so if you are making a lot of this protein, your ability to respond to insulin would be blunted, which would lead to higher glucose (sugar) in your bloodstream. If it is too high, that's diabetes.''
A drug that reduces symptoms of systemic lupus in mice may turn out to be effective against hardening of the arteries and thus prevent heart attacks. The drug, called Trichostatin A or TSA, ''may have a therapeutic benefit in atherosclerosis,'' which causes coronary artery disease by blocking key arteries, leading to death and disability. Researchers tested TSA on experimental mice that were bred to lack a significant natural protection against atherosclerosis. For 12 weeks, these mice were fed a diet that was both high in cholesterol and in which 10 percent of calories came from palm oil, one of the vegetable oils most likely to cause atherosclerosis. In addition to the coronary arteries, atherosclerosis also occurred in the aortic arch, part of one of the body's main blood vessels.
