http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. New research from the University of California, San Diego published in the Jan. 23 issue of Science Translational Medicine moves researchers closer to understanding and developing treatments for shock, sepsis and multiorgan failure. Collectively, these maladies represent a major unmet medical need: they are the number one cause of mortality in intensive care units in the United States, with hundreds of thousands of deaths annually. There is currently no treatment for these conditions in spite of many clinical trials. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-blocking-digestive-enzymes-reverse-multiorgan.html Medical research Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:00:05 EST news278165261 (Medical Xpress)—The "bystander effect," which refers to people standing by and doing nothing while an emergency situation takes place, can also apply to medical care, according to two Yale doctors. Their "Perspectives" piece appears in the Jan. 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-bystander-effect-crime-medicine.html Health Fri, 04 Jan 2013 06:51:04 EST news276504656 Within every human kidney, millions of filtration units known as nephrons are hard at work clearing metabolic waste products from the blood. Given the dirty work they perform, one might expect that the cells composing the nephrons undergo routine self-replacement, but nephrons retain very limited regenerative capabilities and essentially shut down when those limits are exceeded—a potential prelude to organ failure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-stem-cell-population-day-source.html Medical research Wed, 07 Nov 2012 09:17:03 EST news271502210 Among premature, very low-birth-weight infants requiring a transfusion, use of fresh red blood cells (RBCs) compared with standard RBC transfusion practice did not improve clinical outcomes that included rates of complications or death, according to a study in the October 10 issue of JAMA. The study is being published early online to coincide with its presentation at the AABB (formerly the American Association of Blood Banks) Annual Meeting. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-fresh-red-blood-cells-transfusions.html Other Mon, 08 Oct 2012 09:51:03 EST news268908655 Chronic, debilitating pain and potential organ failure are what approximately 100,000 sickle cell patients in the United States live with each day. Yutaka Niihara, M.D., M.P.H. - lead investigator at The Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) and co-founder of Emmaus Medical, Inc., an LA BioMed spin-off company - is developing a low-cost, noninvasive treatment that helps provide relief for patients suffering from the debilitating effects of sickle cell disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-therapy-ease-pain-sickle-cell.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:08:06 EST news267790071 (AP)—A visitor to Yosemite National Park has recovered after becoming the ninth person diagnosed with a deadly rodent-borne illness blamed for three deaths among those who spent time at the park this summer, officials said. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-yosemite-visitor-recovered-virus.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 14 Sep 2012 09:55:29 EST news266835324 Tight blood sugar control in the intensive care unit for pediatric cardiac surgery patients does not improve patients' infection rate, mortality, length of stay or organ failure when compared to standard care, new research shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-tight-blood-sugar-pediatric-cardiac.html Cardiology Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:44:26 EST news266499844 Although some studies have portrayed tight blood sugar control as a potential means of lowering infection rates in critically ill adults, a new study—led by principal investigator Michael Agus, MD, director of the Medicine Critical Care Program at Boston Children's Hospital—found no indication that the approach benefits pediatric patients undergoing heart surgery. The results of the Safe Pediatric Euglycemia in Cardiac Surgery (SPECS) trial, which was conducted at Boston Children's and at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, will appear in the September 7 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine and in the September 27 print version of the publication. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-tight-glycemic-proven-benefits-children.html Cardiology Sat, 08 Sep 2012 04:40:02 EST news266297984 Researchers have identified a new technique that can help determine the severity of muscle loss in critically ill patients. The breakthrough could lead to new research to help prevent muscle-wasting and new therapeutic interventions to help treat critically ill patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-technique-degree-muscle-critically-ill.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sun, 02 Sep 2012 13:54:24 EST news265812856 When hospital patients need assistance breathing and are placed on a mechanical ventilator for days at a time, their lungs react to the pressure generated by the ventilator with an out-of-control immune response that can lead to excessive inflammation, new research suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-lungs-hospital-ventilator-infection.html Medical research Wed, 18 Jul 2012 17:00:47 EST news261849639 (HealthDay) -- A series of 12 predictive rules that combines existing scoring systems in patients with acute pancreatitis improves the accuracy of predicting persistent organ failure, according to a study published in the June issue of Gastroenterology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-combo-accurately-failure-pancreatitis.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 08 Jun 2012 05:20:01 EST news258349399 Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified an agent that in lab tests protected the skin and lungs from fibrosis, a process that can ultimately end in organ failure and even death because the damaged tissue becomes scarred and can no longer function properly. The findings were published today in Science Translational Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-scientists-agent-block-fibrosis-skin.html Medical research Wed, 30 May 2012 14:00:01 EST news257590756 Frank M. Brunkhorst, M.D., of Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany, and colleagues conducted a study to compare the effect of the antibiotics moxifloxacin and meropenem with the effect of meropenem monotherapy on sepsis-related organ dysfunction. Early appropriate antimicrobial therapy leads to lower mortality rates associated with severe sepsis. The authors hypothesized that maximizing the potential benefit and appropriateness of initial antibiotics by using 2 antibiotics would improve clinical outcomes compared with monotherapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-combination-antibiotic-treatment-result-failure.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 21 May 2012 11:00:22 EST news256812317 In a small, preliminary trial, patients with infected necrotizing pancreatitis (severe form of the disease involving devitalized pancreatic tissue) who received a less-invasive procedure, endoscopic transgastric necrosectomy (removal of the pancreatic tissue), had an associated lower risk of major complications and death compared to patients who had surgical necrosectomy, according to a study in the March 14 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-endoscopic-procedure-result-outcomes-patients.html Inflammatory disorders Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:00:07 EST news250869095 A new technique involving the use of an artificial scaffold into which a patient's own stem cells are inserted, turning it into a fully functional organ, could offer a potential solution to the donor shortage crisis, according to the second paper in this week's Lancet Series on stem cells. This pioneering approach to regenerating and transplanting organs requires no human donors, has no problems with rejection, and has no need for immunosuppressive drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-potential-solution-donor-shortage.html Medical research Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:30:04 EST news250445974 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 Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most lethal form of breast cancer . It spreads easily through the lymphatic and blood vessels, forming metastasis which can lead to multi-organ failure. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Cell Communication and Signaling demonstrates how IBC cells use IL-8, secreted as part of the anti-inflammatory response by a specific set of white blood cells (monocytes), to increase fibronectin expression. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-metastatic-breast-cancer-hitches-free.html Immunology Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:30:01 EST news248073643 US researchers have begun a groundbreaking trial to test the potential of umbilical cord blood transplants, a kind of stem cell therapy, to treat and possibly reverse hearing loss in infants. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-stem-cell-trial-loss.html Medical research Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:10:01 EST news247895713 Hepatitis C, an infectious disease that can cause inflammation and organ failure, has different effects on different people. But no one is sure why some people are very susceptible to the infection, while others are resistant. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-stem-cells-hepatitis.html Medical research Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:26:22 EST news247292768 (AP) -- Doctors in Chile are optimistic about the survival of a 10-month-old girl who was separated from a conjoined twin who died following the surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-chile-girl-twin.html Other Tue, 20 Dec 2011 04:11:04 EST news243576621 (AP) -- A 10-month-old girl who was surgically separated from her conjoined twin died Sunday after suffering general organ failure, said the director of a Chilean children's hospital. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-chile-girl-dies-conjoined-twin.html Other Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:30:01 EST news243492673 The toxic byproducts produced by the breakdown of unsaturated fats lead to a higher likelihood of severe inflammation, cell death and multi-system organ failure among acute pancreatitis patients who are obese, say researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Their findings, published online today in Science Translational Medicine, provide new insight into how fat can induce complications after sudden inflammatory, non-infectious illnesses. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-unsaturated-fat-breakdown-complications-acute.html Medical research Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:46:10 EST news239467562 A team of researchers led by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), has found treatment of selected immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis patients with high-dose melphalan and autologous stem cell transplantation (HDM/SCT) resulted in a high organ response rate and increased overall survival (OS), even for those patients who did not achieve a hematologic complete response (CR). These findings appear in the current issue of Blood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-high-dose-melphalan-autologous-stem-cell.html Cancer Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:33:19 EST news238854783 Terry Dyroff's PSA blood test led to a prostate biopsy that didn't find cancer but gave him a life-threatening infection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-prostate-dark-side-men.html Cancer Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:32:57 EST news237652370 Health care providers assess blood and tissue type as well as organ size and health to enhance transplant success. New research indicates that checklist might also need to include the circadian clock. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-circadian-clock-impact-transplant-success.html Medical research Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:52:06 EST news236944310 Clinicians from a leading UK children's hospital have called for European countries to change the way they tackle the shortage of organ donations from children, after a review, published in the September issue of Acta Paediatrica, found a large number of legal, ethical and cultural barriers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-europe-tackle-legal-ethical-cultural.html Other Thu, 08 Sep 2011 10:45:45 EST news234697505 Transfused blood may need to be stored in a different way to prevent the breakdown of red blood cells that can lead to complications including infection, organ failure and death, say researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Wake Forest University. This week in the early online version of Circulation, the team reports the latest findings from its ongoing exploration of the interaction between red blood cell breakdown products and nitric oxide (NO), revealing new biological mechanisms that can reduce blood flow and possibly damage vital tissues after administration of blood that has been stored for longer than 39 days. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-team-transfusion-blood-safe-age.html Cardiology Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:57:27 EST news229787795 A new method for scoring the severity of illness for patients after cardiac arrest may help to predict their outcomes, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Most importantly, their findings, published in the early online version of Resuscitation, also show that none of the severity categories rules out the potential for a patient's recovery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-team-post-cardiac-patients-outcomes.html Cardiology Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:16:47 EST news229623393 New research from the Trudeau Institute may help to explain why anticoagulant therapies have largely failed to extend the lives of patients with sepsis. The study was led by Deyan Luo, a postdoctoral fellow in Stephen Smiley's laboratory. It shows that fibrin, a key product of the blood clotting process, is critical for host defense against Yersinia enterocolitica, a gram-negative bacterium that causes sepsis in humans and experimental mice. The new data will be published in the August 15 issue of The Journal of Immunology and is available now online ahead of print. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-discovery-sepsis.html Medical research Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:36:24 EST news229606573 By analyzing complex interactions of the immune system in an animal study, pediatric researchers have found potential tools for controlling a life-threatening condition called a cytokine storm that may strike children who have juvenile arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-clues-calming-cytokine-storm.html Medical research Mon, 16 May 2011 12:34:09 EST news224768037