Studies and Analyses

Finding could further improve understanding of disease mechanism, lead to new treatments

Researchers from the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders (MIND) have identified a gene variant that may increase the risk of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. In the March 3 New England Journal of Medicine they report that specific changes in the gene for a protein called ubiquilin-1 are associated with an increased incidence of Alzheimer’s in two large study samples

Surgery gives normal life expectancy to patients with severe mitral regurgitation; death risk for medically treated patients is five times greater

“We know from previous studies that patients with symptomatic mitral regurgitation are at increased risk of death, but for those without symptoms the picture has been murkier,” says Maurice Enriquez-Sarano, M.D., the Mayo Clinic cardiologist who led the study. “In this study we followed a large population of asymptomatic patients pros

Mistakes made by human subjects in identifying the facing direction of faces, cars or meaningless objects have yielded evidence that the brain contains nerve cells, or neurons, whose job is to encode the viewing angle of objects. It is well known that certain neurons respond to color, motion, edges and other aspects of our environment. Now, University of Minnesota researchers have found that our visual cortex contains neurons that tell us, for example, whether a face is turned in our directio

Columbia University Medical Center researchers publish JAMA study showing that clearing fatty deposits in angioplasty procedures during heart attack fails to improve patient outcomes

Interventional cardiologists from Columbia University Medical Center have shown that a commonly used procedure to remove fatty debris from blocked arteries during a heart attack does not improve patient outcomes.

The procedure, called distal microcirculatory protection, is commonly and suc

A new study finds men treated with hormone therapy for prostate cancer may experience temporary cognitive changes that can affect verbal fluency, visual recognition and visual memory. The study, published in the April 1, 2005 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, finds the degree of cognitive dysfunction appeared to be related to a decline in serum estradiol brought on by hormonal treatment.

Androgen-deprivation therapy (AD) is an effective adjuvan

ASPS study says only 5 percent of college-age women have had cosmetic surgery

Many parents worry about the potential influence the media may have on their children’s self-esteem and body image. Stories about young women having excessive plastic surgery are enough to keep any parent up at night. However, according to a study published in the March issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery® (PRS), the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), onl