December 6th, 2011 by MellanieTrueHills in Research
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At the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2011, Dr. John Mandrola presented a poster on gender-specific results of atrial fibrillation ablation in a private practice setting. In this video interview with him about the poster, he mentioned that in his experience women appear to be more challenging to treat with atrial fibrillation ablation and do not appear to fare as well as men from it. In addition, it appeared that women were referred more often for AV node ablations than men.
*This blog post was originally published at Atrial Fibrillation Blog*
December 4th, 2011 by Medgadget in Expert Interviews, Research
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Two months ago we reported on the first ovarian cancer surgeries performed with fluorescence guidance. As described in the Nature Medicine paper, the international team of researchers from The Netherlands, Germany, and Indiana used folate coupled to fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) to make ovarian cancer cells glow so they could be easily identified.
Now, in this week’s issue of Science Translational Medicine, another international team from Japan and Maryland reports their development of a spray-on probe that may provide even better sensitivity and fluorescent contrast than the folate-FITC counterpart. The editors of STM summarize this work well in the following note: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
December 3rd, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
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A simple optical illusion might encourage better eating habits, researchers found.
The Delboeuf illusion makes equal size circles appear to be different sizes by surrounding them with larger or smaller concentric rings. Applied to eating, smaller plates make the food servings appear larger.
One problem is that the size of commercially available dinnerware has increased from 9.6 inches to 11.8 inches in the past century. Eating only 50 calories a day more as a result equals enough calories to add five pounds of weight annually.
Practical implications of the research include encouraging people to replace larger plates and bowls with smaller ones, choose plates that contrast starkly with food, and even choose tablecloths that match their dinnerware, the researchers noted. Those with eating disorders or elderly people who need to eat more could follow the opposite advice to improve their intake.
Researchers Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
November 27th, 2011 by HarvardHealth in Health Tips, Research
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Good vibrations may work for dancing on the beach or for romance, but they don’t seem to do much to strengthen bones.
Results of a clinical trial published in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that older women who stood on a vibrating platform for 20 minutes a day experienced just as much bone loss over the course of the year-long trial as women who didn’t use the platform.
The results are a disappointment for older women and men looking to strengthen their bones without exercising, not to mention to the companies that have sprung up to sell whole-body vibration platforms as an easy way to halt osteoporosis, the age-related loss of bone.
The idea behind whole-body vibration makes sense. Like walking, running, and other weight-bearing physical activities, whole-body vibration Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Harvard Health Blog*
November 27th, 2011 by Medgadget in Research
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Embryonic stem cells have the potential to treat a range of diseases and conditions for which current treatment options are lacking. Capable of differentiating practically into all of the types of tissues in the human body, the cells could be used in therapies to treat conditions such as paralysis, brain damage, and Parkinson’s disease. Among the many challenges to be overcome before human embryonic stem cells live up to their promise is difficulty in proving whether transplanted stem cells can integrate successfully in vivo.
Researchers from University of Wisconsin-Madison have announced progress on that front. Having created Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
At the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2011, Dr. John Mandrola presented a poster on gender-specific results of atrial fibrillation ablation in a private practice setting. In this video interview with him about the poster, he mentioned that in his experience women appear to be more challenging to treat with atrial fibrillation ablation and do not appear to fare as well as men from it. In addition, it appeared that women were referred more often for AV node ablations than men.
