http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. On April 18th JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments) will publish a new video article by Dr. Paul A Iaizzo demonstrating the anatomical reconstruction of an active human heart. The research uses contrast-computed tomography (CT) to allow in-depth 3-D computer modeling of hearts that can be used for prolonged archiving. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-scientists-scan-human-heart-digital.html Medical research Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:51:41 EST news285497494 Organ donation in Ontario is significantly less common at large general hospitals than at hospitals with clinical programs for transplant recipients, which points to missed opportunities to optimize organ donation, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-donation-shortfall-large-hospitals-ontario.html Other Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:00:06 EST news284114336 (Medical Xpress)—Individuals who had taken a type of drug commonly used to treat Type 2 diabetes showed abnormalities in the pancreas, including cell proliferation, that may be associated with an increased risk of neuroendocrine tumors, according to a new study by researchers from UCLA and the University of Florida. Their findings were published online March 22 in the journal Diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-popular-diabetes-drugs-abnormal-pancreatic.html Diabetes Wed, 27 Mar 2013 07:27:52 EST news283588058 A person in the northeastern state of Maryland who recently died of rabies was found to have contracted the illness from an organ transplant done over a year ago, US health officials said Friday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-transplant-patient-dies-rabies.html Other Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:00:01 EST news282569840 As success rates in treating childhood cancers have improved, greater emphasis is being placed on quality of life issues following successful treatment. Many cancer treatments can lead to infertility, but there are few methods to preserve the fertility of children who have not entered puberty. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-fertility-childhood-cancer.html Cancer Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:22:55 EST news282568968 (HealthDay)—The proportion of livers not used for transplantation is increasing, with the primary causes being donation after cardiac death (DCD), older donor age, greater body mass index (BMI), and increasing diabetes prevalence, according to research published in the January issue of Liver Transplantation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-proportion-livers-transplantation.html Other Tue, 22 Jan 2013 19:00:05 EST news278100198 By analyzing tissues harvested from organ donors, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have created the first ever "atlas" of immune cells in the human body. Their results provide a unique view of the distribution and function of T lymphocytes in healthy individuals. In addition, the findings represent a major step toward development of new strategies for creating vaccines and immunotherapies. The study was published today in the online edition of the journal Immunity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-atlas-cells-human-body.html Immunology Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:00:04 EST news275224643 (Medical Xpress)—People at risk for Type 1 diabetes may have fewer insulin-producing "beta" cells than people not at risk, a finding that could help researchers shed light on what causes the disease, a new University of Florida study shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-pancreas-size-diabetes.html Diabetes Wed, 12 Dec 2012 06:46:29 EST news274517182 UC College of Engineering and Applied Science chemical and materials engineering associate professor, Chia-Chi Ho, announces ability to sort and steer cells, opening doors to a potential future of steering disease and cancer related cells into diagnostic and treatment solutions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-closer-cell.html Medical research Tue, 11 Dec 2012 08:50:10 EST news274438179 Hearts previously rejected due to donors' age or other risk factors can now be declared viable for transplantation using pharmacological stress echo, according to research presented at EUROECHO and other Imaging Modalities 2012. The study1 was presented by Dr Tonino Bombardini from Pisa, Italy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-hearts-viable-transplantation-stress-echo.html Cardiology Wed, 05 Dec 2012 04:45:13 EST news273905106 In a study to investigate how transplanted islet cells can differentiate and mature into insulin-producing pancreatic cells, a team of Japanese researchers found that using a specific set of transcription factors (proteins that bind to specific DNA sequences) could be transduced into mouse pancreatic stem cells (mPSCs) using Sendai virus (SeV), a mouse influenza virus, as a carrier, or vector. The study is published in a recent issue of Cell Medicine [3(1)], now freely available on-line. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-mouse-pancreatic-stem-cells-successfully.html Medical research Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:58:40 EST news267811105 The largest U.S. multicenter study of living kidney transplant donor chains showed that 46 percent of recipients are minorities, a finding that allays previous fears that these groups would be disadvantaged by expansion of the donor pool through this type of exchange process. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-kidney-recipients-donor-transplant-chains.html Other Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:01:59 EST news267267710 In the largest study of its kind, living donors who had a kidney removed through a single port in the navel report higher satisfaction in several key categories, compared to donors who underwent traditional multiple-port laparoscopic removal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-single-port-kidney-belly-button-boosts.html Surgery Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:48:22 EST news266676491 The policies that several states have adopted giving tax deductions or credits to living organ donors do not appear to have increased donation rates. Authors of the study, appearing in the August issue of the American Journal of Transplantation, found little difference in the annual number of living organ donations per 100,000 population between the 15 states that had enacted some sort of tax benefit as of 2009 and states having no such policy at that time. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-state-tax-incentives-donation.html Other Thu, 30 Aug 2012 10:05:43 EST news265539904 Children undergoing liver transplantation are at greater risk of graft loss and death from adult organ donors who are severely obese according to research published in the August issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. The study, funded in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), found that pediatric donor body mass index (BMI) did not increase mortality risk in this pediatric population. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-obese-donors-death-pediatric-liver.html Other Wed, 01 Aug 2012 14:07:33 EST news263048834 Johns Hopkins researchers say a program they developed that uses personal advocates and community networks to find organ donors for friends and loved ones who need kidney transplants resulted in success for nearly half of the participants in its trial run. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-grassroots-networks-kidney-donors-hopkins.html Other Wed, 23 May 2012 05:40:01 EST news256969786 Researchers at the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine and Feinstein Institute for Medical Research conducted a retrospective analysis which found that morbid obesity impedes kidney donation. In fact, in the analysis of 104 potential living kidney donors, 23 (22 percent) donors were classified as morbidly obese, only three (13 percent) of whom were able to successfully lose weight and donate their kidney. This data will be presented at the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) 2012 Spring Clinical Meetings, to be held from May 9-13 in Washington, DC. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-obesity-hinders-kidney-donation.html Other Thu, 10 May 2012 20:00:02 EST news255886451 Transplantation of a whole pancreas or isolated insulin-producing beta cells are the only therapy to cure type I diabetes. However, the shortage of organ donors limits this approach to only few patients. LMU researchers have now shown that beta cells from genetically modified pigs can effectively restore pancreas function and can protect porcine beta cells from immune rejection in animal models. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-xenotransplantation-therapy-diabetes-pig-beta.html Diabetes Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:12:56 EST news254401966 A new study presented today at the International Liver Congress 2012 indicates the potential for gallbladder tissue (which is routinely discarded from organ donors and surgical interventions) to be a highly available candidate source for multipotential stem cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-gallbladder-shown-potential-stem-cell.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:02:26 EST news254037728 There is an urgent need to increase the number of organ donors from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups in countries with a strong tradition of immigration, such as the UK, USA, Canada and the Netherlands, in order to tackle inequalities in access and waiting times. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-highlights-urgent-tackle-donors-bme.html Other Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:32:45 EST news248524358 People over age 70 years of age can safely donate a kidney, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The results provide good news for patients who need a kidney but have limited options for donors; however, kidneys from these elderly donors do not last as long as those from younger living donors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-donate-kidney.html Other Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:26:53 EST news239009205 (AP) -- The practices of a prestigious medical research institute that studies schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are on trial in Maine, where the organization collected at least 99 brains from organ donors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-brain-collection-trial-maine.html Other Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:20:43 EST news235916404 A national transplant policy change designed to give African-American patients greater access to donor kidneys has sliced in half the racial disparities that have long characterized the allocation of lifesaving organs, new Johns Hopkins research suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-national-policy-racial-disparity-kidney.html Other Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:30:01 EST news231495948 More than half of Sweden's intensive care nurses doubt that a clinical neurological examination can establish that a patient is brain dead. Intensive care nurses also perceive that this uncertainty can affect relatives when the question of organ donation is raised, is reveiled in a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-intensive-nurses-method-brain-death.html Other Tue, 28 Jun 2011 10:42:27 EST news228476530 A new study published in the American Journal of Transplantation reveals that HIV-infected deceased donors represent a potentially novel source of organs for HIV-infected transplant candidates that could decrease waitlist deaths and even shorten the national waitlist. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-hiv-infected-donors-source-transplant-candidates.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 23 May 2011 10:15:08 EST news225364483