News

Researchers created a virtual breast that can be used to practice elastography ultrasound skills and interpret the results.

A survey of more than 400 pediatricians and internists revealed a surprising lack of knowledge about current allergy treatment guidelines.

Teens who smoke tobacco through hookahs or use a trendy Swedish form of snuff called snus (rhymes with loose) are at higher risk of taking up smoking, according to a new study in JAMA Pediatrics. Hookahs have already been shown to deliver toxic substances like benzene, posing a direct threat to the health of users. But the new study by researchers at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH shows using the devices is associated with a greater likelihood the user will switch to cigarettes.

US airport screenings of international passengers arriving in the US have yet to turn up a single person infected with the Ebola virus, according to the US Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC). But from a public health standpoint, they have been worthwhile, the CDC said today in a special report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review

In an effort to speed development of promising Ebola vaccines, US Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell today invoked the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act. The law protects drug developers from legal claims related to the manufacture, testing, development, distribution and administration of 3 vaccine candidates.

A Stanford University research team has developed mobile hepatitis B testing that can be conducted at home or in remote locations.

Incentivizing the smoking cessation process increases the adherence rates, according to findings published in the American Journal of Public Health.

New research casts doubt upon the fear that testosterone replacement therapy increases the risk that men will develop prostate cancer, even if men use such therapy for years.

Gastric bypass surgery has been shown to improve quality of life for overweight and obese patients in a number of ways, including improving insulin sensitivity. Surgery combined with exercise has been shown to produce even greater benefits. A recent study evaluated the link between the two approaches and their effect on overall insulin sensitivity.

Ron Klain, who was appointed "Ebola czar" on Oct. 17, will head back to his private sector work as president of Case Holdings and general counsel for Case's Revolution LLC no later than March 1.

Sublingual immunotherapy was developed nearly 30 years ago as an alternative to subcutaneous immunotherapy, an alternative that might trigger fewer systematic reactions such as anaphylaxis.

Thymoma is rare and most known for its presence in 15% of patients who have myasthenia gravis. Thymoma tumors can be quite large. Surgery is the mainstay of treatment for thymoma, but when thymoma recurs (as it does in 10% to 30% of patients), the best course of action is often unclear.

Cardiologists have discussed the pros and cons of drug-eluting stents (DES) for several years. Some evidence seems to indicate that DES reduce risk of restenosis or ischemia-driven target vessel revascularization. They may, however, be more prone than bare metal stents to late (beyond 1 year) and sudden coronary artery occlusion.

US health care workers' concern over protecting themselves from Ebola infection may have compromised the care of some patients who turned out not to have Ebola, but whose care was delayed until Ebola test results were done. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Dec. 5 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, at least 2 patients who tested negative for Ebola died from other causes.

Women with rheumatoid arthritis are at greater risk for respiratory-related death than women without the disease, according to data presented at the 2014 American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting.

Results from a study published in the International Journal of MS Care suggest that magnetic resonance imaging may be used to identify asymptomatic patients who are at higher risk for developing multiple sclerosis.

A committee for the European Medicines Agency has recommended approval for a hepatitis C drug combination, a key step to winning European marketing authorization for the drug maker AbbVie. The recommendation for marketing authorization is for AbbVie's investigational drug named Exviera (dasabuvir) and Viekirax (ombitasvir, paritaprevir and ritonavir) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in combination with other medicine.

A study with rats appears to show promise for a drug that could help axons crushed in spinal cord injuries regenerate. Reporting in Nature Bradley Lang PhD, lead author of the study and a graduate student in the Lab of Jerry Silver, PhD, a professor of neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University School Medicine, say they found a way to design a drug that would help axons grow without having to touch the healing spinal cord.

The US Food and Drug Administration recently rejected a bid by Bristol-Myers Squibb to win regulatory approval for its hepatitis C drug daclatasvir, pending further information requested in a Complete Response Letter issued by the agency.

Could multiple sclerosis be caused by a "rogue protein" that attacks the central nervous system? That's the hypothesis of a research team from the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK and researchers at the University of Texas Houston Medical School's Mitchell Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Brain Disorders.

Genetic mutations likely case more cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) than previously thought, according to a new study in Annals of Neurology.

Results from a recent study show that weak bile acid absorption leads to chronic diarrhea among cancer patients.

Surgery to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which entails tonsil and adenoid removal, also improved asthma in affected children, research suggested.

Chikungunya (CHIKV) virus infection can be hard to distinguish from dengue. Both of these mosquito-borne, acute febrile illnesses have become endemic in the Caribbean and the Americas, with locally acquired cases also starting to turn up in Florida. A new proactive household CHIKV surveillance program begun in January 2014 in Puerto Rico found that cross-testing for dengue and CHIKV found that the actual incidence of CHIKV is higher than thought. By visiting households in addition to getting reports from public health agencies, the CDC found 282 cases per 100,000 residents.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today the approval of a new use for Jakafi (ruxolitinib) to treat patients afflicted with polycythemia vera, a chronic type of bone marrow disease associated with phlebitis, splenomegaly, and other potentially severe symptoms.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) investigators had identified Carbon Monoxide (CO) as a viable agent in fighting off bacterial infections.

University of Michigan (UM) C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health found a large majority of parents – 74% – would remove their child from a daycare where other kids are unvaccinated.

Individuals with airway diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are more likely to be diagnosed with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, a new study published in the European Respiratory Journal suggested.

ZMapp, an experimental antibiotic, pinpointed weak spots on the Ebola virus (EBOV)'s surface, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) discovered.

A study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene found the common bed bug could transmit Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), a parasite, which causes Chagas disease.