Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles

Groundbreaking Artificial Heart Implanted At UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School And Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School jointly announce the successful implant of the AbioCor® Total Replacement Heart, the world"s first completely self-contained, fully implantable artificial heart, as well as the first internal artificial organ. The surgery was led by Mark Anderson, MD, associate professor of surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and chief of the section of cardiac surgery at both the medical school and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, and assisted by Juan Plate, MD, assistant professor of surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and an attending surgeon at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is one of only three centers nationwide approved to perform the surgery and the only one in the New York and Philadelphia areas. Dr. Anderson is one of a handful of physicians nationwide trained to perform this procedure. This is the first time the AbioCor has been implanted in a patient since the completion of clinical trials and approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

The Detection Of Metabolic Changes Several Years Prior To The Diagnosis Of Diabetes Could Help Screening And Prevention (WHITEHALL II Study)
The results of the WHITEHALL II study are published in an article Online First and in a future edition of The Lancet. The findings are presented at the same time at the American Association of Diabetes meeting in New Orleans, USA. The study was funded by the UK Medical Research Council, as well as other organisations. They indicate that insulin sensitivity and blood glucose trends are altered a few years before the start of type 2 diabetes. Onset could be considerably postponed if people could identify the early stages of disease progress.
News of the day
Shanghai To Relax One-Child Policy As China Faces Aging Population, Shrinking Work Force
Nearly three decades after China implemented its one-child policy, the city of Shanghai is planning to encourage young couples to have a second child in an effort to address the country"s aging population and shrinking work force, the New York Times reports. The city"s plan is the most public effort made by the government to counteract a program that is "considered both a tremendous success and a terrible failure," the Times reports. The policy has managed to keep population growth under control but also has led to forced abortions, according to the Times.The country is not abandoning the one-child policy, which applies mostly to residents in urban areas. Rather, the government is allowing more exceptions to the rule, with Shanghai -- where about 22% of its 20 million residents are older than age 60 -- leading the effort. China as a whole faces a similar problem seen in Shanghai, the Times reports. About 8% of the country"s population was older than age 65 in 2006. That figure is expected to increase threefold by 2050 to about 322 million people, or nearly 25% of the population, according to the United Nations.In Friday"s issue of China Daily, Xie Lingli, director of the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission, was quoted as saying, "We advocate eligible couples to have two kids because it can help reduce the proportion of the aging people and alleviate a work force shortage in the future." City officials plan to visit homes, pass out leaflets, and offer counseling and financial incentives, the Times reports. Current exceptions to the one-child policy are in place for ethnic minorities and rural residents, who can have a second child if the first child is a girl. Couples made up of two parents who have no siblings have always been allowed to have a second child and are now being encouraged to do so (Barboza, New York Times, 7/24).
Public Health

Study Of Infant Sleep Patterns And Parenting

Infants" sleep patterns and their parents" influence on it are the focus of the SIESTA II project, supported by a five-year, $2.67 million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to Douglas M. Teti, professor of human development and psychology, Penn State. SIESTA II -- Study of Infants" Emergent Sleep Trajectories, Phase II -- will study the role of parenting in the development of infant sleep patterns. Researchers will visit 150 homes in the Hershey, Harrisburg and State College areas to collect data and 25 percent of the homes will have minority families. Researchers will visit each home seven times in two years. Infrared cameras in participants" homes will document several aspects of bed time and night time rituals for infants including daily bed time routines, use of close contact, soothing vs. arousing behaviors, parental reactions to infant sleep disruptions, parental emotional availability and infant emotional reactions. Parents will also keep infant sleep diaries. "Most literature on infant sleep patterns comes from pediatric journals, but tends to ignore perspectives from developmental science -- we hope to change that," says Teti. "There"s probably not one universal formula that parents should use to promote sleep quality and well-being in infants. It"s more likely that how parents feel about their children"s sleep and how well they adapt emotionally plays just as large a role in the development of infant sleep as the parenting practices being used." The researchers will test whether consistent bed time rituals promote self-regulated sleep habits in infants; whether support from a partner enhances a mother"s ability to adapt to a temperamental infant; whether parents who do not adapt are less emotionally available to their infants and experience more stress, and whether parents" stress increases the number of infant sleep disruptions. They will also test the idea that cognitive functions in infants, such as the capacity for information processing, are sensitive to and influenced by sleep quality. As part of the project, the grant will be used to fund several graduate students who will work as researchers at the University Park or Harrisburg campuses. SIESTA I, which was funded by Penn State"s Children, Youth and Families Consortium, was a pilot study and laid the groundwork that makes SIESTA II possible. Researchers established that infrared cameras would provide clear video and audio and accurately capture the emotional quality of infant and parental behaviors in the middle of the night. SIESTA I also gave the investigative team the opportunity to pilot a number of different measures and procedures currently being used in SIESTA II. Co-investigators for SIESTA II include Pamela Cole, professor of psychology; Cindy Stifter, professor of human development and psychology; Mike Rovine, professor of human development, all from Penn State; Ian Paul, professor of pediatrics, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, and Thomas Anders, professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, University of California, Davis. A"ndrea Elyse Messer Penn State


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009