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Hospitals commit to ambitious quality, safety and patient satisfaction goals

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham (BID-Needham) are taking unprecedented steps to commit each hospital to attain specific patient safety and satisfaction goals that would establish a new standard of care at each facility.

18 Jan 2008

Europe should adopt WHO recommendations for particulate matter cuts

Europe must adopt the World Health Organization (WHO) standard on fine particulate matter pollution if it is to significantly curb needless premature deaths, concludes research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

18 Jan 2008

Current state of the art in glycoscience

Sugars were once credited with magical healing powers but are now seen like salt as an evil necessary in small doses but the cause of numerous diseases such as diabetes if taken in excess.

18 Jan 2008

Discovery opens door to 'personalized' asthma therapy

In the last few years, "personalized medicine" using genetic or other molecular biology-based diagnostic tests to customize treatment for a particular patient has emerged as a powerful new tool for health care.

18 Jan 2008

Diet and lifestyle critical to recovery

Diet and lifestyle may play a much more significant role in a person's ability to respond favourably to certain drugs, including some cancer therapies, than previously understood, say scientists.

From The University of Manchester 18 Jan 2008

Contact lenses with imprinted electronic circuit and lights

Movie characters from the Terminator to the Bionic Woman use bionic eyes to zoom in on far-off scenes, have useful facts pop into their field of view, or create virtual crosshairs.

18 Jan 2008

Previously unknown chromosomal abnormalities play substantial role in autism

Genome-wide scans of families affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have revealed new evidence that previously unknown chromosomal abnormalities have a substantial role in the prevalent developmental disorder, according to a report published online Jan. 17th in the American Journal of Human Genetics, a publication of Cell Press.

18 Jan 2008

Cancer stem cell marker also drives transcription in normal cells

New research links the recently discovered function of a multi-faceted transcriptional complex to control of gene expression in both normal cells and cancer stem cells.

18 Jan 2008

Calcium and vitamin D is more effective than calcium alone in preventing bone loss in elderly women

Previous studies have shown that high calcium intake can help prevent bone loss. This latest study, however, demonstrated that calcium therapy, although initially successful at preventing bone loss, was no different from placebo after three or five years.

18 Jan 2008

$Annual bone fracture rate almost 4 percent and double previous estimates$

Annual bone fracture rate almost 4 percent and double previous estimates

The annual bone fracture rate in England is just short of 4% of the population, which is more than double previous estimates, suggests a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

18 Jan 2008

Alzheimer's molecule is a smart speed bump on the nerve-cell transport highway

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that proteins carrying chemical cargo in nerve cells react differently when exposed to the tau protein, which plays an important role in Alzheimer's disease.

18 Jan 2008

Altering brain's lipid metabolism reduces Alzheimer's plaques in mice

Increasing levels of a protein that helps the brain use cholesterol may slow the development of Alzheimer's disease changes in the brain, according to researchers studying a mouse model of the disease at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

18 Jan 2008

Smallest particles from vehicle emissions may promote hardening of the arteries

Patients prone to heart disease may one day be told by physicians to avoid not only fatty foods and smoking but air pollution too.

18 Jan 2008

Scientists focus on Epstein-Barr virus

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a human-pathogenic virus which belongs to the herpes virus family.

18 Jan 2008

Male and female doctors have divergent views on women and depression

Women and men doctors have some divergent views about women and depression, according to a recent survey conducted by the Society for Women's Health Research, a Washington, D.C., based advocacy organization.

17 Jan 2008

Survey shows US teens confident in their inventiveness; hands-on, project-based learning needed

American teens are confident they can invent solutions to some of the world's pressing challenges, such as protecting and restoring the natural environment, but more than half feel unprepared for careers in technology and engineering, the Lemelson-MIT Invention Index has found this year.

17 Jan 2008