medical research

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Surgical Patients Remain Subject to Complications, Errors

Many of the problems are preventable, researchers say

(Newser) - To assess the frequency of medical errors in surgery, researchers based at Harvard University decided to follow the meticulous methodology of a study conducted in the 1980s—one of the first to examine rates of patient harms during treatment. "We're trying to figure out, have things changed? Have...

For These 5, Alzheimer's Was Medically Acquired
Medical Miscue May Have
Given Patients Alzheimer's
NEW STUDY
Jan 30, 2024 11:49 AM CST

Medical Miscue May Have Given Patients Alzheimer's

Study suggests disease was triggered by human growth hormone shots derived from cadavers

(Newser) - Doctors once sought to make very short children taller by injecting them with growth hormone taken from the brains of dead people. The procedure was banned 40 years ago—and cadaver-derived pituitary growth hormone (c-hGH) replaced with a synthetic version—when scientists discovered patients had also received bits of protein...

Research Shows Why Some Colds Seem to Last Weeks
Research Shows
Why Some Colds
Seem to Last Weeks
new study
Oct 6, 2023 2:40 PM CDT

Research Shows Why Some Colds Seem to Last Weeks

Like COVID, other respiratory infections and their effects can linger

(Newser) - As far as acute respiratory infections go, lingering symptoms aren't just for COVID-19, researchers have found. "Long colds" and their symptoms can last more than four weeks, according to a study published Friday in the Lancet's EClinicalMedicine journal. "Our findings may chime with the experience of...

After Suicide, Regulators Stop Institute's Research on People

Professor running depression trials resigns from Columbia

(Newser) - After the suicide of a participant, the federal government has shut down research on human subjects at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, which is affiliated with Columbia University. The Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Human Research Protections has launched an investigation of the institute's safety...

After Settlement Over Henrietta Lacks' Cells, a New Complaint

Family of Black woman whose cells advanced science file another suit, now against Ultragenyx

(Newser) - Just over a week after Henrietta Lacks' descendants settled a lawsuit against a biotech company they accused of unjustly profiting off her cells for generations, the family's attorneys have filed another claim against a different corporation. The new lawsuit, which targets California-based biopharmaceutical company Ultragenyx, was filed Thursday in...

Scientists Begin to Understand Effect of Heat on Mental Health

Sound sleep is a crucial casualty, worsening certain conditions

(Newser) - There's plenty of reason to think hot weather takes a psychological toll as well as a physical one. Researchers have found suicides increase when it's hot, as does violent crime, trips to the emergency room, hospitalizations for mental problems, and deaths overall, the New York Times reports. But...

Henrietta Lacks' Family Finally Gets Its Due

Family of Black woman whose cells advanced medical science reaches settlement, 70 years later

(Newser) - More than 70 years after doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took Henrietta Lacks' cervical cells without her knowledge, the AP reports that a lawyer for her descendants said they've reached a settlement with a biotechnology company they sued in 2021, accusing its leaders of reaping billions of dollars from...

Researchers Call Misdiagnoses a Public Health Emergency

Hundreds of thousands in US die or are disabled each year because of errors, report says

(Newser) - Medical researchers who dug deeper into data have found that the number of misdiagnoses of patients and the harm done are greater than previously understood, rising now to the level of a public health emergency. "Diagnostic errors are, by a wide margin, the most under-resourced public health crisis we...

Research Finds Clues to Spread of Huntington's, Alzheimer's

Finding also could help combat Parkinson's

(Newser) - A finding about the progression of Huntington's disease might inform efforts to prevent its spread through the brain—and help the fight against Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, as well. Scientists know that neurodegenerative diseases occur when proteins in the brain fold into an abnormal shape and start to...

Hope on Horizon for Painful, Incurable Hand Disease

Known drug appears to reverse progress of early-stage Dupuytren's disease

(Newser) - You probably take for granted the ability to stick your hand in your pocket, use a keyboard, and grip a steering wheel. But all this can be challenging for sufferers of a painful and incurable disease that causes fibrotic scar tissue to develop at the base of the fingers. In...

Research Likens COVID's Effect on Brain to Aging From 50 to 70

Severity of the illness appears linked to degree of decline

(Newser) - Researchers have found that the effects of long COVID can include starting a cognitive decline comparable to the person aging mentally 20 years. The UK study 's senior author said the severity of the decline is tied to the seriousness of the person's illness, the Guardian reports. The...

Race to Develop Insulin Brought Out Worst in Some Scientists

A century later, some researchers are best remembered for their belligerent quest for glory

(Newser) - Of the roughly 420 million humans who live with diabetes, some 150 million rely on insulin "to live a full and healthy life," per Diabetes Canada. Few if any know names like Frederick Banting or John Macleod, though they were the two men who received the Nobel prize...

Scientists Announce Big Find on Multiple Sclerosis
Scientists Announce Big Find
on Multiple Sclerosis
NEW STUDY
Jan 14, 2022 7:35 AM CST

Scientists Announce Big Find on Multiple Sclerosis

Findings 'strongly suggest' Epstein-Barr virus is 'a cause and not a consequence of MS'

(Newser) - Researchers say more treatments for multiple sclerosis may be possible after finding a likely "initial trigger" of the auto immune disease. It's unknown what exactly causes MS, a condition affecting 2.8 million people in which immune system cells attack the protective coating on nerve fibers, though some...

Early Data Doesn't Back Hope That Omicron Will Be Milder

There's plenty of caution that it's too early to draw conclusions

(Newser) - UK researchers say they see no indication that omicron will be milder than the delta variant of the coronavirus. In fact, they found the new strain's reinfection rate to be more than five times as high as delta's, Reuters reports. The Imperial College London study, which has not...

Scientists Object After Paper Takes a Shot at Researchers

German tabloid placed blame for pandemic holiday restrictions, with photos

(Newser) - A group representing Germany's main scientific organizations has accused the country's biggest-selling newspaper of contributing to public hostility against scientists during the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement Monday, the Alliance of Scientific Organization criticized a recent report by the Bild tabloid for singling out three researchers who had...

Rise in Younger Colon Cancer Patients Is a New Worry

Patients under 50 are at least as likely to die from the disease as older people: study

(Newser) - This spring, the US Preventive Services Task Force lowered the recommended age at which Americans should begin colon cancer screening from 50 to 45, citing an increase in cases in younger adults. As HealthDay News reports, cases in Americans under the age of 50 rose from 6% in 1990 to...

2 Deadliest Infectious Diseases Have This in Common

Tuberculosis, COVID-19 spread in aerosol particles generated by breathing: study

(Newser) - Masks and better ventilation could be key in preventing the spread of the world's second-most deadly infectious disease , just as with the first. Coughing has long been thought to be the main way in which tuberculosis, which claimed 1.5 million lives in 2020, spreads from person to person....

Aspirin Advice for Seniors Is Changing

Suggestion to take daily dose to prevent first heart attack is getting shelved

(Newser) - Older adults without heart disease shouldn't take daily low-dose aspirin to prevent a first heart attack or stroke, an influential health guidelines group said in preliminary advice released Tuesday. Bleeding risks for adults in their 60s and up who haven't had a heart attack or stroke outweigh any...

Researchers Say a Shot Might Prevent Lyme Disease

Lyme PrEP is currently in clinical trials

(Newser) - Lyme disease is becoming more and more common. Once a rare affliction found in just a few parts of the US, mainly in the Northeast and Great Lakes, it has now turned up in all 50 states. The ticks that carry it have spread farther south and west. Scientists have...

One Vaccine Dose May Not Protect Against Delta—'at All'

But fully vaccinated people should be OK, say researchers

(Newser) - A single dose of the two-dose Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines is "poorly or not at all efficient" against the fast-spreading Delta variant, say French researchers in a peer-reviewed study published Thursday. The study identified mutations with the Delta and Beta variants of COVID that allow them to evade antibodies...

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