Studies and Analyses

A study from the Netherlands suggests that elderly persons who receive a yearly influenza vaccination have reduced risk of death from all causes, according to a study in the November 3 issue of JAMA.

“Influenza-associated morbidity and mortality increase with age, especially for individuals with high-risk conditions,” the authors provide as background information in the article. “The effectiveness of vaccination has been reported to decrease in high-risk persons. Annual influenz

It’s one of the defining tenets of modern biology: The characteristics of a living organism are coded into the organism’s DNA, and only information in the DNA can be passed to the organism’s offspring.

A new study by scientists at The Wistar Institute, however, suggests that this is not the full story. Instructions that control gene activity and are recorded solely in the molecular packaging of the DNA can also be passed to an organism’s progeny, according to th

Adults who dispense eye drops daily to correct a child’s “lazy eye” take note: a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and 29 other centers across North America finds that giving the drops just twice during the weekend is just as effective as administering them every day of the week.

In what is believed to be the first clinical trial comparing treatment regimens of atropine sulfate eye drops for the treatment of amblyopia, the investigators co

Researchers have found capsule endoscopies can be effective in detecting tumors in the small bowel that previously went undetected. According to a study released today at the 69th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology, researchers from the Mt. Sinai Medical Center and the University of Miami School of Medicine found the capsule endosocopy detected tumors in the small bowel after patients had undergone an average of 4.6 negative evaluations. Of the tumors found, 65

Surgeons at Western Pennsylvania Hospital report that laparoscopic surgery for obesity, known as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, effectively improves unhealthy conditions associated with severe clinical obesity (or “morbid” obesity). The results, which were presented at the 69th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology, reveal that after this surgery many patients are able to stop medications for a range of serious obesity-related health problems, including diabetes, sl

Data from two ongoing studies testing new approaches for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) this afternoon.
Presented by principal investigator Nezam Afdhal, M.D., Chief of Hepatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, the new findings provide researchers with sufficient evidence to demonstrate promising re