(Philadelphia, PA) - Using gene editing technology, researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University have, for the first time, successfully excised a segment of HIV-1 DNA - the virus responsible for AIDS - from the genomes of living animals. The breakthrough, described online this month in the journal Gene Therapy, is a critical step in the development of a potentially curative strategy for HIV infection.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- They may be in small towns. They may only have a couple of surgeons. But for common operations, they may be safer and less expensive than their larger cousins, a new study finds.
"They" are critical access hospitals - a special class of hospital that's the closest option for tens of millions of Americans living in rural areas. And according to new findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, having surgery at one of them may be a better bet for most relatively healthy patients than traveling to a suburban or city hospital.
Over the last decade, repair of the mitral valve (MV) has become widely favored over its replacement. Data available from such sources as the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Adult Cardiac Surgery Database (STS ACSD) have documented this trend at non-governmental hospitals, but there is little known about mitral surgery practice in the largest federal health system in the US - the Veterans Affairs (VA) Health System. In a presentation at the 96th AATS Annual Meeting, Faisal G.
Several pediatric medical conditions, such as congenital heart disease, vascular compression, and congenital softening of the cartilage lining the trachea or bronchi, can compromise the airway and cause breathing difficulty. No matter the cause, airway obstruction in children can be life-threatening, requiring immediate attention. Corrective options such as reconstructive surgery or endoscopic stent placement are limited because of the potential for granulation formation within the lumen or increased risk of wound rupture.
Using projections based on data from the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, investigators from The Ohio State University are issuing a warning to thoracic surgeons and public health officials that we are heading toward a crisis in being able to provide adequate cardiothoracic surgical services to meet future demand. In a presentation at the 96th AATS Annual Meeting, investigators argue that the crisis stems from both a shortage of trained professionals and rising demand from an aging population.
Current cardiovascular valve or blood vessel implants are generally associated with a number of complications, have limited efficacy over time, and may necessitate repeated interventions over a patient's lifetime, especially when implanted in a young child. In a presentation at the 96th AATS Annual Meeting, a team of surgeons from the Bakoulev Center for Cardiovascular Surgery, Moscow report their success with implantation of bioabsorbable vascular grafts used to correct a congenital cardiac malformation.
In a study appearing in the May 17 issue of JAMA, Reshma Jagsi, M.D., D.Phil., of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues conducted a survey of clinician-researchers on career and personal experiences, including questions on gender bias and sexual harassment.
Study identifies an association between eating four or more servings a week of boiled, baked, mashed potatoes or French fries and an increase in the risk of high blood pressure
Boston, MA - In a new study, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have found that a higher intake of potatoes and French fries may be associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure (hypertension) in adults.
The findings are published online in the British Medical Journal on May 17, 2016.
London, UK (May 18, 2016). Following the decision by NHS England to not make pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) available to HIV-negative persons in England at risk of acquiring HIV, Dr Michael Brady, Medical Director of the Terrence Higgins Trust, in an editorial published today in the SAGE journal Therapeutic Advances in Chronic Disease responds and outlines how:
"PrEP is undoubtedly an essential addition to our approach to combination HIV prevention and needs to be available now."
For the first time, scientists have identified how differences in individuals' immune responses might be linked to the effectiveness of the seasonal influenza vaccination programme. The findings are published in the journal, Immunology.
For the first time, the genomes of the giraffe and its closest living relative, the reclusive okapi of the African rainforest, have been sequenced -- revealing the first clues about the genetic changes that led to the evolution of the giraffe's exceptionally long neck and its record-holding ranking as the world's tallest land species. The research will be published in the scientific journal Nature Communications on May 17, 2016.
Researchers at King's College London have found no significant link between eating the evening meal after 8pm and excess weight in children, according to a paper published this month in the British Journal of Nutrition.
Previous evidence suggested that the timing of food intake can have a significant impact on circadian rhythms (i.e. the body's internal daily clock) and therefore on metabolic processes within the body, potentially leading to an increased risk of being overweight or obese.
Female cancer patients of reproductive age could preserve their fertility during radiation and chemotherapy through treatments that target the DNA damage response in oocytes (the cells that develop into eggs), an approach that works in animal models.
Jackson Laboratory Assistant Professor Ewelina Bolcun-Filas, Ph.D., and Terri L. Woodward, M.D., assistant professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, describe the method in "Prolonging Reproductive Life after Cancer: The Need for Fertoprotective Therapies," an opinion article in Cell Press Trends in Cancer.
Researchers from New Zealand's University of Otago have undertaken the first-ever study looking at what infants eat when they follow baby-led weaning and found that they have a lot of healthy eating habits, but also some less healthy ones.
Study co-author and co-Principal Investigator, Dr Anne-Louise Heath, says that baby-led weaning (BLW) is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to spoon-feeding. BLW involves allowing infants from around six months of age to feed themselves all their foods as finger foods, preferably during family meals.
Gene thought active only in embryos and permanently silenced in adults is actually critical in preventing heart attacks and strokes
Manipulating expression of this gene might help block age-related decline in the body's ability to carry out repairs and heal wounds
This is an atherosclerotic lesion. Such lesions can rupture and cause heart attacks and strokes. Credit: UVA School of Medicine