The report "Sequestration: Health Research at the Breaking Point," released today by Research!America, demonstrates the damaging consequences of potential automatic spending cuts, or sequestration, to the nation's medical research enterprise and public health, and offers examples on how these cuts would delay scientific discoveries that could lead to new treatments and cures for deadly diseases.
This report provides:
HOUSTON – (May 9, 2012) – With the aid of multiple force sensors and a digital dinosaur, a team of Rice University seniors known as Helping Hands hopes to restore strength and flexibility to the hands and wrists of children with cerebral palsy.
"These kids have a real problem with their hands," said Jenna Desmarais, a senior at Rice majoring in mechanical engineering. "The fingers and wrists are locked into a sort of claw-like position. Even after surgery to correct it, they need physical therapy to get stronger."
SAN ANTONIO (May 10, 2012) — A review of 30 years of life-threatening asthma cases in a San Antonio intensive care unit found that annual ICU admissions for the condition have dropped 74 percent. The study, by UT Medicine San Antonio physicians who reviewed cases at University Hospital between 1980 and 2010, also showed intubation in the emergency department to help patients breathe did not result in longer hospital stays.
UT Medicine is the clinical practice of the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio.
Heart attack patients in North Carolina who were rushed directly to hospitals equipped to do percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) received treatment significantly faster than patients first taken to hospitals unequipped to perform PCI and then later transferred for treatment, according to research reported at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research 2012 Scientific Sessions.
The creation of a social media videoconferencing platform geared towards healthcare might pave the way for enhanced use of social media in the world of healthcare according to a study published this month in the International Journal of Electronic Finance.
A health nutrition education program to fight childhood obesity in America is a possible outcome of a study by a University of Oklahoma researcher and a colleague. The study looked at factors affecting a child's decision when choosing healthy or unhealthy snacks.
Paul Branscum, assistant professor, OU Department of Health and Exercise Science, College of Arts and Sciences, surveyed 167 fourth- and fifth-grade students in the Midwest to find out what snacks the students were eating between meals. Branscum asked the students to record their choices over a 24-hour-period.
The link between psoriasis and cardiovascular events has been observed for years, however the mechanics were unknown. For the first time, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researchers have discovered preclinical evidence demonstrating that the inflammatory skin disease leads to cardiovascular disease. Further, the research demonstrated that aggressive reversal of psoriasis reduces the cardiovascular risk as well. Psoriasis is a chronic disease of the immune system that appears as raised, inflamed, scaly red patches of skin and is often associated with intense itch.
Actor George Clooney is planning a fundraising dinner to raise $10 million for President Barack Obama. Comedian Chelsea Handler and actor Tom Hanks are also Obama supporters.
Comedian Jeff Foxworthy, rocker Ted Nugent and country singer Trace Adkins have said they back the likely Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.
Star-studded endorsements may be attention grabbing, but does it influence voters?
Yes, it does, according to research recently published by a political scientist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
OAK BROOK, Ill. – May 10, 2012 – Researchers report that unsedated transnasal endoscopy is a feasible, safe, and well-tolerated method to screen for esophageal disease in a primary care population. This study is the largest reported experience with transnasal endoscopy in the United States. The study appears in the May issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE).
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- New research from the University at Buffalo suggests that cardiologists may have a new way to identify patients who are at the highest risk of sudden cardiac arrest, and the most likely to benefit from receiving an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD).
ICDs are used to prevent sudden cardiac arrest in patients with advanced heart disease, but many patients' devices are never triggered. New research suggests that imaging the loss of nerve function in the heart may identify those patients at greatest risk of developing a life-threatening arrhythmia.
Hospitals that perform expensive, invasive cardiovascular procedures on a disproportionate number of patients are more costly for all heart failure patients, including those treated with noninvasive methods, according to a new Yale study.
WASHINGTON, May 9, 2012 – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today that physicians should reassess patients with osteoporosis who are being treated with a class of drugs called bisphosphonates after three to five years of therapy to determine whether they should continue treatment. Bisphosphonates are a widely prescribed class of drugs that are proven to be effective in reducing common bone fractures in people with osteoporosis and at high risk of fractures.
Continuing a popular but controversial treatment for osteoporosis could reduce spine fracture risk for a particular group of patients, but others could see little to no change if they discontinue it. Based on available evidence, a UCSF researcher reevaluated his 2006 finding from a randomized 10-year study of alendronate, a type of bisphosphonate – a class of drugs that prevent loss of bone mass.
DETROIT – A traditional treatment for heart failure appears to be equally protective in preventing death or hospitalization among African-American patients, as compared to white patients, according to a study at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
Musicians execute their performances better when the non-verbal sensorimotor communication between conductor and musician is maximized, according to research published May 9 in the open access journal PLoS ONE.