Body

Adult living related liver donors play an essential role in filling the gap of transplants needed due to a heavy shortage of cadaveric donations. Considering that living related donors are healthy individuals at baseline, it is imperative to ensure good outcomes and return to quality of life.

The new global metabolic profiling techniques, like lipidomics as a branch of metabolomics, have made it possible to measure large numbers of different metabolites, and are currently being applied to increase our understanding of the health and disease continuum.

ALEXANDRIA, VA, September 17, 2008 — In response to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that pelvic floor disorders, such as urinary incontinence, affect up to one-quarter of American women, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) is urging women who suffer from this widespread disorder to consider treatment from a physical therapist.

DALLAS – Sept. 17, 2008 – Nearly one-quarter of all women suffer from pelvic-floor disorders, such as incontinence, at some point in their lives, a national study, including researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center, has found.

The study of nearly 2,000 women in seven U.S. cities found that 23.7 percent of participants had experienced at least one pelvic-floor disorder, and the risk increased with age.

INDIANAPOLIS – How frequently should symptom-free individuals at average risk for colon cancer undergo screening with colonoscopy? In a study published in the Sept. 18, 2008, New England Journal of Medicine, researchers led by Thomas F. Imperiale, M.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute, report that while there still is no definitive answer to the question, they now know the procedure need not be performed any sooner than every five years.

CHAPEL HILL – Among people who have had an initial colonoscopy that found no polyps, a possible sign of cancer, the risk of developing colorectal cancer within five years is extremely low, a new study has found.

Elevated uric acid levels in the blood indicate an increased risk of new-onset kidney disease, according to a study appearing in the December 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The results suggest that it may be appropriate to prescribe uric acid–lowering drugs, such as allopurinol and probenecid, to these otherwise healthy individuals.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — More patients stand to benefit from a comprehensive, less invasive method to accurately detect colorectal cancer and precancerous polyps, a multicenter study involving Brown University and institutions nationwide has found.

Bethesda, MD (Sept. 17, 2008) – Death from colorectal cancer is highly preventable with effective screening and early detection. Many screening options are available, each with advantages and disadvantages, but half of eligible patients still do not participate in colorectal cancer screening. For that reason, a goal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute is to increase colorectal cancer screening rates and improve public health.

NEW YORK (Sept. 17, 2008) -- A major study from a team of researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College and Massachusetts General Hospital has found that a recent change to HIV-treatment guidelines recommending genetic screening is cost-effective under certain conditions. The new recommendation suggests conducting a genetic screening test prior to prescribing the drug abacavir, one of the preferred first-line drugs for the treatment for HIV-infected adults.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — UC Davis researchers who studied hospital discharge records for nearly 650,000 California women over a 13-year period have found that complications from hysterectomies have significantly declined. The study appears in the September issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, published by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

CHAPEL HILL – Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have transformed cells from human skin into cells that produce insulin, the hormone used to treat diabetes.

The breakthrough may one day lead to new treatments or even a cure for the millions of people affected by the disease, researchers say.

STANFORD, Calif. - Cancer researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered a promising new chemotherapy target for a deadly form of leukemia. Their discovery hinges on a novel "double agent" role for a molecular signal that regulates cell growth.

STANFORD, Calif. - A single cell can repopulate damaged skeletal muscle in mice, say scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine, who devised a way to track the cell's fate in living animals. The research is the first to confirm that so-called satellite cells encircling muscle fibers harbor an elusive muscle stem cell.

Identifying and isolating such a cell in humans would have profound therapeutic implications for disorders such as muscular dystrophy, injury and muscle wasting due to aging, disuse or disease.

ARMONK, NY, and SINGAPORE – In a paper published today online in the journal Nature, IBM (NYSE: IBM) and the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) reported findings from a joint research study that provides new information on how stem cell differentiation is controlled by microRNAs.

The two teams have shown that microRNAs -- small molecules that are an important regulatory component in the machinery of living cells -- have roles that go well beyond what was previously thought.