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Posts Tagged ‘Medical School’
Chances of surviving a cardiac arrest at home or work unchanged in 30 years
The chance of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has not improved since the 1950s, according to a report by the University of Michigan Health System. The analysis shows only 7.6 percent of victims survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, a number that has not changed significantly in almost 30 years. It’s a dismal trend considering enormous spending on heart research, new emergency care protocols, and the advent of new drugs and devices such as defibrillators. [Read more...]
U-M part of national program to improve clinical trials in pediatric medicine
Studying drugs in pediatric populations is challenging because drugs often affect children differently than they do adults. The scarcity of pediatric studies limits the ability of doctors and scientists to predict drug dosing, safety and efficacy in children. To address this gap, the National Institutes of Health announced today 18 grants totalling $8.5M to help determine outcome measures and increase the likelihood of success of future trials of treatments for children. The U-M will lead a project studying Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care to identify the most successful measures used to treat infants and older children with complex congenital and acquired heart disease. [Read more...]
Public may find it hard to follow measures to limit infection in pandemics
The H1N1 flu virus is spreading misery around the country, but University of Michigan researchers say that implementing and sustaining infection-limiting measures will still be a challenge. In focus groups with residents from four Michigan communities, U-M researchers found that people’s mistrust in government and concerns about job security or financial burdens would make social distancing efforts hard to maintain in any pandemic. The study’s results were expected to be published this week in the American Journal of Bioethics.
“Leaders in public health need to consider the many challenges articulated by our community members about the closure of businesses, schools and other gathering places during a pandemic,” says co-author Susan D. Goold, director of U-M’s Bioethics Program and professor in the Department of Internal Medicine. [Read more...]
Tests for colon cancer in colitis patients may lead to excessive treatment
Screening for colon cancer in patients with chronic colitis has never been more sensitive. But advanced screening methods, which can pick out pre-cancer years before a cancerous condition develops, are leading physicians to question the standard treatment options – which includes surgical removal of the entire colon, a procedure that can worsen a healthy patient’s quality of life. “This finding raises the question of whether new, very sensitive detection methods may do more harm than good, and suggests that if we are finding very early pre-cancer, we may need to scale back our therapeutic intervention,” says U-M gastroenterologist Peter D.R. Higgins. [Read more...]
Half of eligible patients not getting aortic valve replacement surgery
Overblown fears about the risk of surgery are among the reasons half of eligible patients are not getting aortic valve replacement surgery, according to a study by physicians at the University of Michigan Health System. In the study, published online ahead of print Nov. 17 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, the researchers report that two-thirds of the patients who did not have valve replacement were suffering symptoms such as shortness of breath that would have improved if they had undergone surgery. [Read more...]
Researchers find new way to attack inflammation in Graves’ eye disease
A small group of patients with severe Graves’ eye disease experienced rapid improvement of their symptoms — and improved vision — following treatment with the drug rituximab. Inflammation around their eyes and damage to the optic nerve were significantly reduced. The same patients had not previously responded to steroids, a common treatment for Graves’ eye disease. Professor Raymond S. Douglas (on right), an oculoplastics specialist who recently joined the faculty of the U-M Kellogg Eye Center, reports on the potential of the drug in the online October issue of Ophthalmology. [Read more...]
Deal of the Year - University of Michigan’s North Campus Research Complex
Pfizer departure paved the way for major university expansion
The 2008 departure of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer from its 174-acre campus in northern Ann Arbor was the single biggest blow to the region's economy in decades. But Pfizer's exodus, which displaced more than 2,100 workers, paves the way for the University of Michigan's biggest expansion in five decades. U-M, which acquired the site in June for $108 million, plans to hire 2,000 to 3,000 workers to populate the 2 million square feet of facilities over the next 10 years. The acquisition of the ex-Pfizer site, renamed the North Campus Research Complex, is AnnArbor.com Business Review's "Deal of the Year" for 2009. [Read more...]
NIH stimulus awards to U-M Medical School top $47 million
The National Institutes of Health have granted 182 stimulus-package awards totaling nearly $47.5 million to researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School as of November 1, 2009. The grants will enable U-M scientists and physicians to continue or begin projects that explore innovative approaches to such important health issues as cancer treatment and prevention, the impact of endocrine disruptor chemicals on fetal development, kidney disease genetics, stress as a factor in childhood obesity and dozens of other areas on the frontiers of medical research. [Read more...]
U-M scientists move forward with plans for embryonic stem cell projects
Nov. 4, 2009 is the one-year anniversary of the vote approving Proposal 2, the state constitutional amendment that eased restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research in Michigan. The amendment permits Michigan scientists to derive new human embryonic stem cell lines. While no such projects have begun at U-M, researchers here have taken several significant steps this year to prepare for them. [Read more...]
Tissue-engineering researchers create replacement knee ligaments from recipients’ own cells
In a development that could lead to more complete recovery from torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in humans, University of Michigan researchers have grown and repaired knee ligaments in rats from bone marrow stem cells harvested from the rats' own bones. The U-M researchers have tissue-engineered an advanced graft that includes an elastic ligament section in the center to accommodate joint motion and bone portions on the ends for more effective integration and attachment to the native bone of the injured knee. Their ligament design emphasizes stretchiness over initial strength, which appears to be more important for viability of the ligament and in allowing patients to regain their original mobility, says Ellen Arruda, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Biomedical Engineering and in Macromolecular Science and Engineering.