Middle East Virus Spreads Between Hospitalized Patients

Richard Knox — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:06:00 +0000

It's been eight months since a Saudi Arabian doctor described a previously unknown virus related to SARS.

Officials Prepare For Another Flu Pandemic — Just In Case

Richard Knox — Wed, 08 May 2013 06:49:00 +0000

There's been a buzz of activity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta since scientists got their first samples of a new bird flu virus from China four weeks ago.

Already they've prepared "seed strains" of the virus, called H7N9, and distributed them to vaccine manufacturers so the companies can grow them up and make them into experimental flu vaccine.

They've also come up

Recovery Begins For Mother, Daughter Injured In Boston

Richard Knox — Thu, 02 May 2013 07:03:00 +0000

The number of Boston bombing victims still in the hospital dropped to 19 as of Wednesday evening.

Mother And Daughter Injured In Boston Bombing Face New Future

Richard Knox — Wed, 01 May 2013 07:17:00 +0000

Forty-seven-year-old Celeste Corcoran is propped up in her hospital bed. In a nearby window is a forest of blooming white orchids from well-wishers. On the opposite wall, a big banner proclaims "Corcoran Strong."

She's recalling how thrilled she was to be near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, waiting for her sister Carmen Accabo to run by. "I just remember standing there, wanting to be as close as I could to catch her," Corcoran says. "I really just needed to see her face."

And then the first of the two bombs went off, throwing Celeste Corcoran off her feet.

Failure Of Latest HIV Vaccine Test: A 'Huge Disappointment'

Richard Knox — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:27:00 +0000

The largest current study of an AIDS vaccine, involving 2,500 people, is being stopped.

After an oversight committee took a preliminary peek at the results this past Monday, they concluded there was no way the study would show that the vaccine prevents HIV infection.

Nor would the vaccine suppress the wily virus among people who get infected despite being vaccinated.

So they pulled the plug on HVTN-505, as the study is called.

Researchers Find Hormone That Grows Insulin-Producing Cells

Richard Knox — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:04:00 +0000

The work is only in mice so far, but it sure is intriguing.

A newly found hormone revs up production of cells that make insulin — the very kind that people with advanced diabetes lack.

Harvard scientists, reporting the discovery Thursday in Cell, call the hormone betatrophin because it stimulates the production of beta cells in the pancreas. These cells make insulin, which the body needs to control blood sugar.

With Bird Flu, "Right Now, Anything Is Possible"

Richard Knox — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:42:00 +0000

An international dream team of flu experts assembled in China today.

Underscoring the urgency that public health agencies feel about the emergence of a new kind of bird flu, the team is headed by Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the World Health Organization's top influenza scientist.

Before he left Geneva, Fukuda explained the wide-open nature of the investigation in an interview with NPR.

"The biggest question is just what's going to happen," he told Shots. "We've had a lot of experience in the last decade with new animal influenza viruses. But ...

Boston Doctors Compare Marathon Bomb Injuries To War Wounds

Richard Knox — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:23:00 +0000

Boston hospitals always staff up their emergency rooms on Marathon Day to care for runners with cramps, dehydration and the occasional heart attack.

But Monday, those hospitals suddenly found themselves with more than 100 traumatized patients — many of them with the kinds of injuries seen more often on a battlefield than a marathon.

Like most big-city hospitals these days, Tufts Medical Center runs regular disaster drills, featuring simulated patients smeared with fake blood.

So when word came Monday afternoon that there had been died last Tuesday of respiratory and kidney failure.

The package was addressed to the CDC's top flu virologist, Nancy Cox.

Feds Fault Preemie Researchers For Ethical Lapses

Richard Knox — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:15:00 +0000

Federal officials say a large study of premature infants was ethically flawed because doctors didn't inform the babies' parents about increased risks of blindness, brain damage and death.

The study involved more than 1,300 severely premature infants at nearly two dozen medical institutions between 2004 and 2009.

Human Cases Of Bird Flu In China Draw Scrutiny

Richard Knox — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 22:04:00 +0000

Sixteen cases of a new flu around Shanghai have touched off a major effort to determine what kind of threat this new bug might be.

The victims range in age from 4 to 87 years old. Six have died. It is a tragedy for them and their families, but is it a global crisis?

To understand why so few cases are generating so much concern, the first thing to know is that no flu virus like this one — called H7N9 — has ever been known to infect humans before.

That immediately grabs the attention of flu pros.

As Stroke Risk Rises Among Younger Adults, So Does Early Death

Richard Knox — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 07:21:00 +0000

Most people (including a lot of doctors) think of a stroke as something that happens to old people. But the rate is increasing among those in their 50s, 40s and even younger.

In one recent 10-year period, the rate of strokes in Americans younger than 55 went up 84 percent among whites and 54 percent among blacks.

Catalogue Of Gene Markers For Some Cancers Doubles In Size

Richard Knox — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 17:20:00 +0000

The largest gene-probing study ever done has fished out dozens of new genetic markers that flag a person's susceptibility to breast, ovarian and prostate cancer.

The 74 newly discovered genetic variants double the previously known number for these malignancies, all of which are driven by sex hormones.

Underscoring the sheer magnitude of the findings, they're contained in 15 scientific papers published simultaneously by five different journals.

Sorting Out The Mammogram Debate: Who Should Get Screened When?

Richard Knox — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:39:00 +0000

Mammography outcomes from nearly a million U.S.

To Control Asthma, Start With The Home Instead Of The Child

Richard Knox — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 07:22:00 +0000

Nothing sends more kids to the hospital than asthma.

So when doctors at Children's Hospital in Boston noticed they kept seeing an unusually high number of asthmatic kids from certain low-income neighborhoods, they wondered if they could do something about the environment these kids were living in.

It's well-known that asthma attacks are triggered by dust,

More Patients Keep HIV At Bay Without Antiviral Drugs

Richard Knox — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:57:00 +0000

Just last week AIDS researchers were excited about a Mississippi toddler whose blood has remained free of HIV many months after she stopped getting antiviral drugs – what doctors call a "functional cure."

Now French researchers confirm they've found 14 adults whose immune systems are apparently controlling HIV without medication.

Cardiac Arrest Survivors Have Better Outlook Than Doctors Think

Richard Knox — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:04:00 +0000

Every day something like 550 hospitalized Americans suffer cardiac arrest. That's bad news. Only about one in five will live to leave the hospital.

But for the lucky 44,000 a year who are resuscitated and survive, the outlook is much better than expected, authors of a new study say.

A year later, 60 percent of these survivors will still be alive, the study finds – substantially more than most doctors probably think.

Why Relatives Should Be Allowed To Watch CPR On Loved Ones

Richard Knox — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:24:00 +0000

Picture this: Your spouse or child has collapsed and isn't breathing. You call 911, and the paramedics rush in and take charge. But you are banished to another room while the medical people try to bring your loved one back to life.

It's about the most stressful scene imaginable. And it's what usually happens.

But now comes the most rigorous study so far on allowing family members to witness CPR — its impact on them, on the medical team, on the CPR itself.

Aspirin Vs. Melanoma: Study Suggests Headache Pill Prevents Deadly Skin Cancer

Richard Knox — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 09:10:00 +0000

It's not the first study that finds the lowly aspirin may protect against the deadliest kind of skin cancer, but it is one of the largest.

And it adds to a mounting pile of studies suggesting that cheap, common aspirin lowers the risk of many cancers — of the colon, breast, esophagus, stomach, prostate, bladder and ovary.

The new study, in the journal Cancer, looked at melanoma in 60,000 post-menopausal Caucasian women.

A Man's Journey From Nepal To Texas Triggers Global TB Scramble

Richard Knox — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:15:00 +0000

We don't know too much about a Nepalese man who's in medical isolation in Texas while being treated for extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB, the most difficult-to-treat kind. Health authorities are keen to protect his privacy.

But we do know that he traveled through 13 countries — from South Asia to somewhere in the Persian Gulf to Latin America — before he entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico in late November.

Scientists Report First Cure of HIV In A Child, Say It's A Game-Changer

Richard Knox — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 21:41:00 +0000

Scientists believe a little girl born with HIV has been cured of the infection.

She's the first child and only the second person in the world known to have been cured since the virus touched off a global pandemic nearly 32 years ago.

Doctors aren't releasing the child's name, but we know she was born in Mississippi and is now 2 1/2 years old — and healthy. Scientists presented details of the case Sunday at a scientific conference in Atlanta.

The case has big implications.

Strategy To Prevent HIV In Newborns Sparks Enthusiasm And Skepticism

Richard Knox — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:06:00 +0000

There's great enthusiasm among some global health leaders about a bold – some say radical — strategy to prevent pregnant women from transmitting HIV to their newborns.

But skeptics worry that the approach, dubbed Option B+, will pit pregnant women with HIV against others infected with the virus, diverting resources from the broader struggle against the pandemic.

The goal of Option B+ is to make serious inroads in reducing a stubborn and heart-breaking problem.

Younger Women Have Rising Rate Of Advanced Breast Cancer, Study Says

Richard Knox — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:35:00 +0000

Researchers say more young American women are being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.

It's a newly recognized trend. The numbers are small, but it's been going on for a generation. And the trend has accelerated in recent years.

The discovery had unusual origins in a Houston book group about seven years ago. Three of the women in the group were diagnosed with breast cancer.

Medical Waste: 90 More Don'ts For Your Doctor

Richard Knox — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:23:00 +0000

Doctors do stuff — tests, procedures, drug regimens and operations. It's what they're trained to do, what they're paid to do and often what they fear not doing.

So it's pretty significant that a broad array of medical specialty groups is issuing an expanding list of don'ts for physicians.

Don't induce labor or perform a cesarean section for a baby who's less than full term unless there's a valid medical reason, say the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Targeted Cancer Drugs Keep Myeloma Patients Up And Running

Richard Knox — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 08:34:00 +0000

Don Wright got diagnosed with multiple myeloma at what turned out to be the right time. It was 10 years ago, when he was 62.

That was at the beginning of a revolution in treating this once-fearsome blood cell cancer, which strikes around 20,000 Americans every year.

Report: Action Needed To Curb Fake And Substandard Drugs

Richard Knox — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 23:11:00 +0000

A blue-ribbon panel is urging stronger regulation of pharmaceuticals around the world to combat the growing problem of fake and poor-quality medicines.

The quality problems and fake medicines have affected Americans. Fungal contamination of steroids made by a Massachusetts pharmacy, which sickened more than 700 people and killed 46, is one recent example. Other U.S.

Widely Used Stroke Treatment Doesn't Help Patients

Richard Knox — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:44:00 +0000

It's another case of a beautiful idea colliding with some ugly facts.

The beautiful idea is the notion that clearing the blocked artery of a stroke patient with a device snaked right up to the blockage would salvage threatened brain cells and prevent a lot of disability.

A lot of stroke patients in the U.S. are already getting this endovascular (within-the-artery) treatment because the Food and Drug Administration approved the devices without clinical proof that they work.

Experimental Tuberculosis Vaccine Fails To Protect Infants

Richard Knox — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:37:00 +0000

Researchers are disappointed in the results of a long-awaited study of the leading candidate vaccine against tuberculosis, one of humankind's most elusive scourges.

But, pointing to more than a dozen other TB vaccines in the pipeline, they say they're not discouraged.

The results show that an experimental vaccine known as MVA85A didn't provide much protection for South African infants against either infection with TB or development of the disease.

Earlier,

Female Smokers Face Greater Risk Than Previously Thought

Richard Knox — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 08:40:00 +0000

There's still more to learn about the risks of smoking and the benefits of quitting.

Studies in this week's New England Journal of Medicine show that the risk for women has been under-appreciated for decades. New data also quantify the surprising payoffs of smoking cessation — especially under the age of 40.

Dr. Prabhat Jha of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, an author of one study, says before now it hasn't been possible to gauge female smokers' true risks.

Old Drug Extends Life For Pancreatic Cancer Patients

Richard Knox — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:55:00 +0000

A large study is providing a rare glimmer of hope for patients with pancreatic cancer, perhaps the deadliest of all malignancies.

By the time they're diagnosed, most patients with pancreatic cancer have advanced disease that's spread to the liver and lung. And the primary tumor may be inoperable because it's wrapped around vital blood vessels and nerves.

A two-drug combination extends life for such patients compared to standard chemotherapy.