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Improving The Biomarker Pipeline For Early Cancer Detection
Several statistical and biological issues need to be addressed in order to improve biomarker identification for early detection of cancer, according to a commentary published online July 2 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

$29.4 Million Grant Establishes CTSI At NYU In Partnership With Health And Hospitals Corporation
NYU and NYU School of Medicine received a $29.4 million, five-year Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a University-wide Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI) in partnership with the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC). The funding is designed to train medical researchers, more rapidly advance science from the lab to the patient to the community and to allow researchers to explore mechanisms of health disparities and develop evidence-based approaches targeted at their reduction. With this grant, NYU, the NYU School of Medicine and HHC will become part of a network of 46 existing Clinical and Translational Science centers based at academic medical centers around the country.
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Insmed Announces Results Of IPLEX(TM) Phase II Trial In Myotonic Muscular Dystrophy
Insmed Inc. (Nasdaq: INSM), a biopharmaceutical company, announced results from its exploratory U.S. Phase II clinical trial evaluating IPLEX(TM) (mecasermin rinfabate) in patients with myotonic muscular dystrophy ("MMD"). The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase II trial conducted in 13 centers across the U.S. enrolled 69 patients with MMD, for a six-month period. As this was an exploratory trial, a primary endpoint was not pre-defined. The trial explored measures of endurance, using the six-minute walk test, muscle function and strength, cognitive function, gastrointestinal function, pain, quality of life, insulin sensitivity, lipid metabolism, and safety and tolerability of IPLEX(TM).
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Mayo Clinic Proceedings Reviews Deep Brain Stimulation To Treat Psychiatric Diseases

Pioneering therapeutic trials to investigate the effectiveness of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in hard-to-treat depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette"s syndrome are underway at multiple medical centers around the world, according to a review in the June 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. "Deep brain stimulation has long been seen as valuable for controlling movement disorders," according to the review, written by Susannah Tye, Ph.D., Mark Frye, M.D., from the Mayo Clinic Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, and Kendall Lee, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic Department of Neurosurgery. "It now is being investigated for hard-to-treat psychiatric disorders," according to the authors. "Early results indicate the effect on depression and obsessive compulsive disorder is beneficial, but the therapy needs further study," Dr. Lee says. The potential for this breakthrough treatment is enormous in reducing the toll of mental illness on patients, their families and society, according to the review. Unlike electroshock therapy (ECT), which stimulates the entire brain, DBS stimulates specific parts of the brain. DBS is thought to be functionally equivalent to creating a lesion on the brain, but with the advantage of being adjustable and reversible. "It is like implanting a pacemaker for the brain," says Dr. Lee. The patient is awake during deep brain stimulation surgery while a neurosurgeon implants the electrodes. Patients are able to give immediate feedback. Additionally, patients do not feel any pain during the implantation procedure since the brain is without pain receptors. In the developed world, major depression is second only to cardiovascular disease in premature mortality and time lived with disability according to the review. In persons aged 15 to 44 years, depression is the most disabling medical illness in the United States. The prevalence of major depression, known to be a chronic and relapsing illness, is approximately 17 percent, affecting almost 1 in 5 persons. Medications and psychiatric therapy can effectively treat many patients with major depression; however, up to 20 percent of these patients fail to respond to these non-surgical therapeutic interventions. "DBS is not a miracle cure and should not be used to treat all depression," says Dr. Lee. "It should be reserved for those patients who have treatment-resistant depression and approved by a multi-disciplinary team." Ongoing advances in DBS technologies represent an important new field that could greatly advance the understanding of psychiatric neurobiology, according to the review. A peer-review journal, Mayo Clinic Proceedings publishes original articles and reviews dealing with clinical and laboratory medicine, clinical research, basic science research and clinical epidemiology. Mayo Clinic Proceedings is published monthly by Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research as part of its commitment to the medical education of physicians. The journal has been published for more than 80 years and has a circulation of 130,000 nationally and internationally. About Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy that "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers and 46,000 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, the three locations treat more than half a million people each year. Mayo Clinic


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