Clinical Research

Scientists revealed mayor players in the severe muscle damage caused by sepsis, or septicemia, which explains why many patients suffer debilitating muscle impairment long-term after recovery. They propose a therapeutic approach based on mesenchymal stem cell transplantation, which has produced encouraging results and has proved successful in restoring muscle capacity in animals. Sepsis is an inflammatory response by the entire body to severe infection. This disease, although poorly known by the general public, is actually quite common, affecting some 28 million people and claiming 8 million…

The acromio-clavicular joint is located at the top of the shoulder, between the collarbone and top of the shoulder blade. The AC joint is most commonly injured during sports, but can also be caused by motor vehicle accidents or falls. This dislocation is one of the most common shoulder injuries orthopedic surgeons treat. For minor AC joint dislocations, surgeons often suggest patients wear a sling for a few weeks and undergo physiotherapy rather than undergo surgery using a plate and screws. Severe dislocations are often treated with surgery but new research finds that patients who opt for…

Children with the genetic disorder tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) often need epilepsy surgery for severe, uncontrollable seizures and a new study finds that seizure control is improved for patients undergoing more extensive surgery. Seizures occurring in TSC are related to development of brain tumors, known as "tubers," that develop in this disorder. But the new study by Dr. Aria Fallah of Miami Children's Hospital and colleagues finds better outcomes when surgery includes the entire "epileptogenic zone" from which seizures are originating--not just the tuber itself. Epilepsy Surgery for…

Mesoamerican Nephropathy, a mysterious kidney disease that has killed over 20,000 people in Central America, most of them sugar cane workers, may be caused by chronic, severe dehydration linked to global climate change, according to a new study by Richard J. Johnson, MD, of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. The Mesoamerican Nephropathy epidemic was first described in 2002. It's most prevalent among manual laborers on sugar cane plantations in the hotter, lower altitudes of Central America's Pacific coast. The disease has also been reported among farmworkers, miners,…

In this age of the 24-hour news cycle, instant access to all information everywhere, PubMed, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and hundreds of other ways to glean and share knowledge beyond the traditional stack of printed journals delivered to their door, physicians continue to struggle to arm themselves with the most effective therapies. Fast access to information may result in practice change; however, subsequent data may disprove effectiveness and require even more practice change. The cycle may continue over several years and several studies, with the potential for missed information growing…

Since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cautioned against using a minimally invasive method to treat fibroid tumors called power morcellation, there was a nearly quarter increase in hospital readmissions and 27 percent increase in major postoperative complications after hysterectomies in Michigan, a new University of Michigan study says. After the first FDA safety communication in April 2014, the percent of women receiving minimally invasive hysterectomies in a large Michigan database also went down by an absolute 1.7 percent decrease. The findings appear in the American Journal of…

When a jogger sets out on his evening run, the active movements of his arms and legs are accompanied by involuntary changes in the position of the head relative to the rest of the body. Yet the jogger does not experience feelings of dizziness like those induced in the passive riders of a rollercoaster, who have no control over the abrupt dips and swoops to which they are exposed. The reason for the difference lies in the vestibular organ (VO) located in the inner ear, which controls balance and posture. The VO senses ongoing self-motion and ensures that, while running, the jogger…

The incidence of serious strep infections has risen dramatically in the last three decades, and this increase is largely attributed to the spread around the globe of a single strain of strep known as the invasive M1T1 clone. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine and the University of Wollongong in Australia have discovered that, 30 years ago, a virus infected the strep bacteria – creating a deadly strain of “flesh-eating” bacteria that has evolved to produce serious human infections worldwide. “Just like a computer virus might come in and reprogram…

It has been almost a century since scientists at Eli Lilly figured out how to make large quantities of pure insulin. This historical discovery made it possible for the first time to save the lives of diabetics (mostly children). But now, we are witnessing another breakthrough. Although perhaps not as dramatic as the development of insulin, for the first time a hypoglycemic drug has been found to increase life expectancy. Prior to insulin in the early 20th century, the life expectancy of a child diagnosed at age 10 was about one year. Even at that time, it was recognized that juvenile…

As more money has been spent on biomedical research in the United States over the past 50 years, there has been diminished return on investment in terms of life expectancy gains and new drug approvals, two Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers say. In a report published Aug. 17 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers found that while the number of scientists has increased more than nine-fold since 1965 and the National Institutes of Health's budget has increased four-fold, the number of new drugs approved by the Food and Drug…