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DURHAM, NC -- A carefully administered daily dose of peanuts has been so successful as a therapy for peanut allergies that a select group of children is now off treatment and eating peanuts daily, report doctors at Duke University Medical Center and Arkansas Children's Hospital.
Finding molecules that block the activity of the oncogene Stat 3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription) required screening literally millions of compounds, using computers that compared the structure of the cancer-causing gene to those of the small molecules, said a Baylor College of Medicine researcher in a report that appears in the current online issue of the journal PLoS One
NEW YORK (March 10, 2009) -- Health information technology programs implemented in New York state are active and functioning a full two years after being established, and could serve as models for new federal initiatives, according to a study by investigators at Weill Cornell Medical College.
The powerful chemotherapy and radiation used to save cancer patients' lives can also destroy their fertility.
Measuring kidney function in children can be expensive, time-consuming for clinicians, and tedious for children, who may be exposed to radioactivity and subjected to a large number of blood draws. A new calculation eliminates many of these obstacles, relying instead on various blood tests that can be performed in a clinical setting to offer an accurate estimate of a child's kidney function.
In what is believed to be a first-ever procedure, surgeons at Johns Hopkins have successfully removed a healthy donor kidney through a small incision in the back of the donor’s vagina.
Researchers from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine appear to have reversed the neurological dysfunction of early-stage multiple sclerosis patients by transplanting their own immune stem cells into their bodies and thereby "resetting" their immune systems.
The team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit plans diagnostic tests this week after Spirit did not report some of its weekend activities, including a request to determine its orientation after an incomplete drive.
One in eight physicians have been inactive in the state where they are licensed for at least a year, and most states do not require them to undergo competency tests or retraining when they return to actively practicing medicine.
Scientists have discovered that people with chronic sinus inflammation have an exaggerated immune response to common airborne fungi. ''This study is the first to show a possible immunologic basis for chronic sinusitis, an important starting point to better understand the etiology of the illness,'' says Marshall Plaut, M.D., chief of NIAID's allergic mechanisms section. Despite the enormous health impact of chronic sinusitis--nearly 30 million people were diagnosed with sinusitis in 2002, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and direct costs of the illness exceed $5.6 billion per year--the condition is very poorly understood, he says.
Gordon Cooper Jr., the astronaut who piloted the sixth and last flight of the Mercury program and later commanded Gemini 5, died earlier today at his home in Ventura, Calif. He was 77 years old. ''Gordon Cooper was a pioneer of human space exploration,'' said President George W. Bush. ''He was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, logging more than 225 hours in space throughout his distinguished career. He also served his country in the United States Air Force and received numerous awards including the Distinguished Flying Cross. Laura joins me in sending our condolences to the entire Cooper family.''
Primary care clinicians who practice in areas where the water supply is deficient in fluoride should prescribe oral fluoride supplements to preschool children over the age of 6 months, according to a recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Dental cavities are a common childhood problem affecting as many as 19 percent of children between the ages of 2 and 5 years and more than half of children ages 5 to 9 years.
Angioplasty opened narrowed brain arteries, preventing strokes in patients for whom standard medication had failed, according to a new study. "Angioplasty improves the outcome over what we would expect to see with medication alone," said study author Michael P. Marks, M.D., associate professor of radiology and neurosurgery and chief of interventional neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif. Additionally, "Stent treatment may not be necessary."
A substantial increase in U.S. hospitalizations for atrial fibrillation, the most common sustained irregular heartbeat, will be a "staggering burden" on public health and patients' quality of life, researchers report in today's rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. Prevention and education efforts must be pursued to curb the trend, says senior author George A. Mensah, M.D., chief of the cardiovascular health programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and co-author of the study.
There is a growing disconnect between American children and marriage -- society's chief child-rearing institution -- according to the latest report by the National Marriage Project at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Fewer children are living in married-couple households and fewer married couples families have children compared to past decades, according to "Marriage and Children: Coming Together Again?" from "The State of Our Unions 2003," a report issued annually by the National Marriage Project.
