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Weight loss can improve outcomes in lung transplant patients

Obesity is a complicating factor for many surgical patients. In a recent study published in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, Mayo Clinic researchers have shown that losing weight can have a positive impact on outcomes for lung transplant patients.

18 May 2015

Chemical drug safely controls side effects associated with haploidentical stem cell transplantation

Researchers in the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist and Texas Children's Hospital have found that a single dose of an otherwise harmless drug can safely control the severe and often lethal side effects associated with haploidentical stem cell transplantation.

15 May 2015

Major breakthrough in understanding development of type 1 diabetes

Joslin researchers have uncovered the action of a gene that regulates the education of T cells, providing insight into how and why the immune system begins mistaking the body's own tissues for targets. The gene, Clec16a, is one of a suite of genes associated with multiple autoimmune disorders, suggesting it is fundamental to the development of autoimmunity.

13 May 2015

Immune system plays surprising role in the progression of Rett syndrome

New research by investigators at the University of Massachusetts Medical School suggests the immune system plays an unsuspected and surprising role in the progression of Rett syndrome, a severe neurological disorder affecting children. Immune cells known as macrophages are unable to perform their normal function and are instead amplifying the disease.

11 May 2015

Dana-Farber/Boston Children's joins immunotherapy clinical trial for children with ALL

Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center has joined a clinical trial of immunotherapy for children with relapsed or treatment-resistant acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the trial is one of several nationally that are evaluating cancer immunotherapy, a treatment approach -- hailed by Science magazine as their Breakthrough of the Year in 2013 -- that triggers a patient's immune system to attack his or her cancer cells.

11 May 2015

Conjoined twin boys undergo successful separation surgery

Carter and Conner, conjoined twin boys born Dec. 12, 2014, in Jacksonville, Fla., underwent a successful separation surgery on May 7, 2015. The 12-hour surgery was led by a team of highly skilled pediatric specialists that included Daniel Robie, MD, chief of pediatric general surgery, and Nicholas Poulos, MD, pediatric general surgeon, for Nemours Children's Specialty Care and Wolfson Children's Hospital.

11 May 2015

GTEx findings reveal how genomic variants can affect gene activity and disease susceptibility

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project have created a new and much-anticipated data resource to help establish how differences in an individual's genomic make-up can affect gene activity and contribute to disease.

8 May 2015

Fecal transplantation cures C. diff infection, eliminates multi-drug resistant pathogens

A fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) not only cured a case of Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection in a 66 year old man; it eliminated populations of multi-drug resistant organisms both in the patient's gastrointestinal tract, and several other body sites.

7 May 2015

Mutations in PARN and RTEL1 associated with familial pulmonary fibrosis, telomere shortening

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified mutations in two genes that cause a fatal lung scarring disease known as familial pulmonary fibrosis.

5 May 2015

$Bone-marrow-derived MSCs can promote fracture healing$

Bone-marrow-derived MSCs can promote fracture healing

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been transplanted to successfully treat a variety of diseases and conditions. The benefit of using MSCs is their ability to self-renew and differentiate into a variety of specialized cell types, such as osteoblasts (cells contributing to bone formation), chondrocytes (cartilage cells), adipocytes (fat cells), myocardiocytes (the muscle cells that make up the cardiac muscle), and neurons (nervous system cells).

30 Apr 2015

New study finds that sexual function in adult living donors lower at three months after transplant

A new study found that sexual function in adult living donors was lower at the evaluation phase and at three months following liver transplantation. Results published in Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society, suggest that donor education prior to surgery may improve recovery and ease concerns about sexual function following the transplant.

29 Apr 2015

Will new hepatitis C treatments strain payers’ budgets? An interview with Dr Chhatwal

Our analysis shows that these drugs would not save overall healthcare money, but would add to the budget. When something is cost effective, it does not necessarily mean it is going to save money. It essentially implies that we're willing to spend additional money to gain additional benefits...

28 Apr 2015

Combination therapy effective in HCV patients with advanced cirrhosis and post-transplant recurrence

Phase 3 results presented today at The International Liver Congress 2015 show that a combination of daclatasvir (DCV), sofosbuvir (SOF) and ribavirin (RBV) for 12 weeks was effective and well tolerated amongst patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection with advanced cirrhosis and post-transplant recurrence.

27 Apr 2015

Humanized mouse model may lead to better anti-cancer therapies

Human tumors grown in mouse models have long been used to test promising anti-cancer therapies. However, when a human tumor is transplanted into a mouse, the mouse immune system must be knocked down so that it doesn't attack the foreign tumor tissue, thus allowing the tumor to grow.

27 Apr 2015

New data supports use DAAs in patients with HCV recurrence following liver transplantation

New data presented today at The International Liver Congress 2015, supports the use of sofosbuvir (SOF)- and daclatasvir (DCV)-based regimens in patients with recurrence of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) following liver transplantation (LT).

25 Apr 2015

AUDs have negative prognostic outcome with higher mortality risks in patients with HCV infection

Results presented today at The International Liver Congress 2015, show that alcohol use disorders (AUD) have a serious, negative prognostic outcome with higher mortality risks in the general population and patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in particular.

25 Apr 2015

Record number of abstracts submitted to Heart Failure 2015

A record number of abstracts have been submitted to the world's leading heart failure congress, promising more original science than ever before.

25 Apr 2015

Recommended alcoholic hepatitis treatments fail to increase patients' survival

The main drugs used to treat alcoholic hepatitis are not effective at increasing patients' survival, a major study has found. In a trial of over 1,000 patients, prednisolone and pentoxifylline, treatments recommended in international guidelines, did not achieve a statistically significant reduction in mortality after 28 days, 90 days or a year.

24 Apr 2015

Study: Combination therapy shows high SVR rates in HCV patients with decompensated liver disease

Results presented today at The International Liver Congress 2015 show that the use of the fixed-dose combination of ledipasvir/sofosbuvir (LDV/SOF) in combination with ribavirin (RBV) was well tolerated and demonstrated high sustained virologic response rates 12 weeks post treatment (SVR12) in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who have decompensated liver disease (cirrhosis) or have undergone liver transplantation.

23 Apr 2015

Transportable MP Airdrive device enhances donor liver viability for transplantation

A new device has demonstrated it has the potential to enhance the viability of donor livers for transplantation. Results revealed today at The International Liver Congress 2015 show that the transportable machine perfusion (MP) Airdrive is able to effectively maintain the quality of livers derived from donation after circulatory death (DCD).

23 Apr 2015

Transplant News and Research

Weight loss can improve outcomes in lung transplant patients

Chemical drug safely controls side effects associated with haploidentical stem cell transplantation

Major breakthrough in understanding development of type 1 diabetes

Immune system plays surprising role in the progression of Rett syndrome

Dana-Farber/Boston Children's joins immunotherapy clinical trial for children with ALL

Conjoined twin boys undergo successful separation surgery

GTEx findings reveal how genomic variants can affect gene activity and disease susceptibility

Fecal transplantation cures C. diff infection, eliminates multi-drug resistant pathogens

Mutations in PARN and RTEL1 associated with familial pulmonary fibrosis, telomere shortening

Bone-marrow-derived MSCs can promote fracture healing

New study finds that sexual function in adult living donors lower at three months after transplant

Will new hepatitis C treatments strain payers’ budgets? An interview with Dr Chhatwal

Combination therapy effective in HCV patients with advanced cirrhosis and post-transplant recurrence

Humanized mouse model may lead to better anti-cancer therapies

New data supports use DAAs in patients with HCV recurrence following liver transplantation

AUDs have negative prognostic outcome with higher mortality risks in patients with HCV infection

Record number of abstracts submitted to Heart Failure 2015

Recommended alcoholic hepatitis treatments fail to increase patients' survival

Study: Combination therapy shows high SVR rates in HCV patients with decompensated liver disease

Transportable MP Airdrive device enhances donor liver viability for transplantation

Leveraging the power of automation to boost research

Automating research - solutions and best practices

How can microdialysis benefit drug development

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