Clinical Research

Norma Wooley checked into Loyola University Hospital on a recent Monday morning for brain surgery to repair a life-threatening aneurism (also: aneurysm).  She went home on Tuesday, cured of the slurred speech, drooping face and worst headache of her life. Wooley had a cerebral aneurism, a weak spot in a blood vessel that balloons out and fills with blood. About six million Americans -- 1 in 50 people -- have brain aneurisms that could rupture. Each year, aneurisms burst in about 25,000 people, and most die or suffer permanent disabilities, according to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. Dr.…

If you are one of the many millions that suffer from unexplained abdominal cramps, bloating, constipation and diarrhea, you are not alone. According to the NIH, 1 in 5 Americans suffer from similar symptoms. The cause? Physicians have placed all of the unexplained and irregular symptoms into the catch-all disorder irritable bowel syndrome. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), despite being one of the most commonly diagnosed disorders, is one of the least known. Patients who suffer from IBS can manage their symptoms through change in diet, stress control and medication for anxiety and depression…

New data published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggest that relatively healthy women with severe depression are at increased risk of cardiac events, including sudden cardiac death (SCD) and fatal coronary heart disease (CHD). Researchers found that much of the relationship between depressive symptoms and cardiac events was mediated by cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.  The researchers prospectively studied 63,469 women from the Nurses Health Study who had no evidence of prior heart disease or stroke…

The floodgates have opened, and through it rushes advances in stem cell research. It seems that every day, another effort makes a push forward for medical stem cell therapy. Earlier this week, a team of research scientists published a study evaluating long term clinical results of treating patients with Parkinson’s disease with autologous neural stem cells. The results of the study demonstrated that stem cells from cerebral tissue could form differentiated neurons and could produce dopamine and reverse symptoms of Parkinson’s.  Restored GABA and dopamine signals can restore and provide…

Make of it what you will but a study released today says that breastfeeding may reduce multiple sclerosis(MS) relapses.   Sorry guys, this only helps women MS sufferers and only after pregnancy. For the study, researchers followed 32 pregnant women with MS and 29 pregnant women without MS during each trimester and up to a year after they gave birth. The women were interviewed about their breastfeeding and menstrual period history.  A total of 52 percent of the women with MS did not breastfeed or began supplemental formula feedings within two months of giving birth. Of those, 87…

A case report published in PLoS Medicine describes a rare side effect of human fetal stem cell therapy. Ninette Amariglio and Gideon Rechavi from the Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel, and colleagues report the case of a boy with a rare genetic disease, Ataxia Telangiectasia, who underwent human fetal stem cell therapy at an unrelated clinic in Moscow and who, four years after the therapy began, was shown to have abnormal growths in his brain and spinal cord. There have been reports in rodents of the development of tumors following the injection of pluripotential embryonic stem cells…

A net with large holes won't catch small fish. Likewise, the microscopic fibers in the protective mucus coatings of the eyes, lungs, stomach or reproductive system naturally bundle together and allow the tiniest disease-causing bugs, allergens or pollutants to slip by. But Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a way to chemically shrink the holes in the mucus layer's netting so that it will keep out more of the unwanted particles.  "The mucus layer is an outstanding barrier to most things, but not a perfect one for objects smaller than several hundred nanometers [about 1,000 times…

Physicians have known for years that there exists a link between cardiac surgery and a subsequent decline in cognitive function of patients.  According to recent research, “previous studies have reported an 11% to 75% incidence of postoperative cognitive decline among cardiac surgery patients” (Slater et. al). However, until recently, the cause for this link was largely unknown.  Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgery, continues to produce clinical results demonstrating cognitive decline in some patients despite improved surgery practices. Doctors performing a Coronary…

Oral medication is convenient, but its specificity is lousy.  Your stomach gets a concentrated dose of every pill you take, and the rest of it gets dispersed where your stomach sees fit.  Even the treatment of the subsequent organs in the digestive tract requires a means to sidestep the stomach.   A notable feature of the gastrointestinal tract is its well-defined acidity gradient, starting in the harsh stomach and steadily tapering toward neutral in the colon.   By creating a polymer that automatically responds to acidity, researchers are develop drug delivery…

First green tea may have anti-cancer properties. Now it turns out, according to a pre-pub in the ASH journal Blood, that polyphenols in green tea can interfere with cancer treatments. Researchers in California wanted to determine whether multiple myeloma patients taking Velcade (bortezomib, a proteasome inhibitor) and self-medicating with green tea to add to the anti-cancer fight would yield increased antitumor efficacy in MM and glioblastoma (of Ted Kennedy fame), or if it was just placebo. To their surprised, they discovered that various green tea constiuents - particularly EGCG and related…