Culture

(Boston) – A recent study led by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) shows that "practice may make perfect" when it comes to caring for patients with severe sepsis. The study showed that patients admitted to academic medical centers that care for more patients with severe sepsis have significantly lower mortality rates than patients cared for at academic medical centers with lower volumes of sepsis patients. Additionally, the superior outcomes at high volume centers were achieved at similar costs compared to the lower volume medical centers.

Boston, MA—In 2009, the first face transplant was performed at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), and lead surgeon, Dr. Bohdan Pomahac has been pioneering the procedure since. However, understanding the technical challenges, particularly around how the recipient accepts or rejects the donated face, is just beginning. Following any transplant, including facial transplant, T cells in the recipient mount an immune response to the donated tissue, threatening rejection.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A new study led by University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers is the first large prospective study to evaluate musculoskeletal pain outcomes after motor vehicle collision in the U.S.

Even "minimally buzzed" drivers are more often to blame for fatal car crashes than the sober drivers they collide with, reports a University of California, San Diego study of accidents in the United States .

Led by UC San Diego sociologist David Phillips and published in the British Medical Journal group's Injury Prevention, the study examined 570,731 fatal collisions, from 1994 to 2011.

Daejeon, Republic of Korea, January 17, 2014 -- The 2014 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), known as the Davos Forum, will kick off on January 22-25 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, under the theme of "The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics, and Business." Each year, the Forum attracts about 2,500 distinguished leaders from all around the world and provides an open platform to identify the current and emerging challenges facing the global community and to develop ideas and actions necessary to respond to such challenges.

Philadelphia, January 17, 2014 – Patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) typically have widespread chronic pain and fatigue. For those with low vitamin D levels, vitamin D supplements can reduce pain and may be a cost-effective alternative or adjunct to other treatment, say researchers in the current issue of PAIN®.

New research from Queen Mary University of London has revealed – for the first time – how the condition Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) may be caused by a certain group of white blood cells called 'neutrophils'. GCA (also known as temporal arteritis) is a condition which causes severe inflammation in the blood vessels and primarily affects the elderly.

Archaeologists working at the southern Egyptian site of Abydos have discovered the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh: Woseribre Senebkay—and the first material proof of a forgotten Abydos Dynasty, ca. 1650-1600 BC. Working in cooperation with Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, a team from the Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania, discovered king Senebkay's tomb close to a larger royal tomb, recently identified as belonging to a king Sobekhotep (probably Sobekhotep I, ca. 1780 BC) of the 13th Dynasty.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Police officers working the night shift are significantly more likely to suffer long-term on-the-job injuries than officers on day and afternoon shifts, according to new research conducted at the University at Buffalo.

The study found that, independent of age and gender, urban officers working nights were three times more likely than those on the day shift, and 2.2 times more likely than those on the afternoon shift, to suffer injuries resulting in leaves of more than 90 days.

(Boston) – A study led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) provides new insight into the impact that pro-inflammatory molecules have on early death in HIV patients who abuse alcohol. The findings, published online in the journal AIDS, pinpoint the inflammatory markers most associated with early death and may help explain why some patients die earlier than others even when all of these patients are on antiretroviral therapy.

Chevy Chase, MD—Celiac disease patients who experience chronic damage in the small intestine may be more likely to break a hip than those whose intestinal tissues have begun healing, according to new research accepted for publication in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

Poorer Americans: depleted food budgets can mean higher risk of hypoglycemia.

For generations, economists have noted that low-income households spend much of their earnings as soon as their paychecks arrive. Since a large proportion of Americans are paid at the beginning of the month, many low-income households exhaust food budgets by month's end.

Rosemont, Ill.─A single stem cell injection following meniscus knee surgery may provide pain relief and aid in meniscus regrowth, according to a novel study appearing in the January issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS).

More than one million knee arthroscopy procedures are performed each year in the U.S. primarily for the treatment of tears to the meniscus – the wedge-shaped pieces of cartilage that act as "shock absorbers" between the thighbone and shinbone in the knee joint.

This news release is available in German.

The survivors of a stroke often struggle with persistent loss of function of the central nervous system. Around the world strokes are one of the most frequent causes of paresis. Physiotherapy or occupational therapy can restore a certain degree of mobility. However, a patient with severe paresis, for instance of an arm, can only recover limited function through these therapeutic exercises.

Even "minimally buzzed" drivers are more often to blame for fatal car crashes than the sober drivers they collide with, reports a University of California, San Diego study of accidents in the United States .

Led by UC San Diego sociologist David Phillips and published in the British Medical Journal group's Injury Prevention, the study examined 570,731 fatal collisions, from 1994 to 2011.