What
is RSS?Health
Coverage Improves Health and Reduces Major Heart Complications
December 25, 2007 - A 12-year study of over 7,000 Americans shows that individuals
without health insurance experience a dramatic improvement in their subsequent
health trends when they become eligible for Medicare at age 65.
Kofi Annan and Alice Waters to Receive Global Environmental Citizen Award
December 10, 2007 - The Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard
Medical School announces that Kofi Annan and Alice Waters will be their 2008
Global Environmental Citizen Award recipients. The Center presents the award
each year to individuals that have demonstrated outstanding achievement in furthering
our understanding or raising awareness about the importance of the global environment.
Neurons
in the Frontal Lobe May Be Responsible for Rational Decision-making
December 10, 2007 - Scientists have found that when monkeys choose between different
options, the value neurons assign to each option does not depend on the menu
of choices.
Homeless
Cells Find Temporary Lodging--and Their Demise
November 29, 2007 - When human cells wander in suspension,
free of their normal
attachments, many of them launch invasions into their neighbors. These "homeless" cells
bore
into other cells and hang out inside, where they either die
or exit, apparently unscathed. This bizarre phenomenon, which
the researchers term entosis, appears to underlie a natural process
involving tumor cells inhabiting other tumor cells that pathologists have observed
for decades.
Blood
Stem Cells Fight Invaders, Study Finds
November 29, 2007 - Researchers have discovered that blood
stem cells are capable of patrolling the body’s organs where they
seek out, and respond to, pathogens. They appear to be proactive participants
in our innate immune response.
Jeffrey Modell Immunology Center Opens
November 17, 2007 - Harvard Medical School officially opened The Jeffrey Modell Immunology Center on Nov. 17. The new Center was made possible by the Jeffrey Modell Foundation (JMF), a non-profit organization established by Vicki and Fred Modell in memory of their son, Jeffrey, who died at the age of 15 from a Primary Immunodeficiency.
Katrina
Victims Increasingly Depressed, Traumatized, and Suicidal as Relief Efforts
Drag On
October 31, 2007 - According to the most comprehensive survey of people affected
by Hurricane Katrina, results of which are being presented today to the U.S.
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Ad Hoc Subcommittee
on Disaster Recovery, the percentage of pre-hurricane residents of the affected
areas in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi who have mental disorders has increased
significantly compared to the situation five to eight months after the hurricane.
These findings counter a more typical pattern from previous disasters where prevalence
of mental disorders decreases as time passes.
HMOs
Fail to Bridge the Gap Between Medicaid and Commercial Patients
October 9, 2007 - Medicaid patients in HMOs fare worse than commercial patients
in HMOs. This is the case for both HMOs serving only the Medicaid population
and HMOs serving both the Medicaid and the commercial populations.
Researchers
Develop Targeted Approach to Pain Management
October 3, 2007 - Scientists have combined a normally inactive lidocaine derivative
with capsaicin, the ‘heat’-generating ingredient in chili peppers,
to produce pain-specific local anesthesia. When injected into rats, this combination
completely blocked pain without interfering with either motor function or sensitivity
to non-painful stimuli.
The
Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair Gets a New Name
October 2, 2007 - The Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair (HCNR)
has a new name and tagline: Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center—collaborating
to cure neurodegenerative disease. The goal of the name change is to help foster
connections with people and organizations that share the Center’s vision
to convert promising discoveries into effective treatments and cures for neurodegenerative
disease.
Mental Disorders Cause 1.3 Billion Annual Days of Lost Role Perfromancce
October 1, 2007 - A general population survey found that in U.S. adults mental
disorders result in more than 1.3 billion days each year out of role—unable
to work or carry out usual activities. This number equals roughly half as many
days out of role as those associated with all chronic physical conditions combined.
Condition-specific estimates show that major depression, in particular, is among
the most impairing of all conditions in terms of total lost days of role performance.
Researchers Find Connection Between Caloric Restriction and Longevity
September 20, 2007 - Scientists at Harvard Medical School, Cornell Medical School,
and the National Institutes of Health have discovered how caloric restriction
enables cells—and many higher mammals—to live longer and healthier
lives.
Scientists
Synthesize Memory in Yeast Cells
September 14, 2007 - Researchers in the Harvard Medical School Department of
Systems Biology have constructed a memory loop out of bits of DNA. After being
placed in a yeast cell, the loop continued throughout many cell divisions.
Uninsured Community Health Center Patients Often Have Difficulty Accessing Specialty Services
September 11, 2007 - Uninsured patients who receive their primary health care in publicly funded community health centers face significant obstacles accessing specialty services outside of these centers, even after a physician has deemed them necessary.
Underinsured
Children Receive Fewer Vaccines, Study Finds
August 7, 2007 - Due to limited federal and state funding for vaccines, underinsured
children in the United States are increasingly at risk for not getting needed
vaccines, according to a new study published August 8 in the Journal of the American
Medical Association.
Researchers Uncover Risk Genes for Multiple Sclerosis
July 29, 2007 - A study examining the genetic basis of Multiple Sclerosis has confirmed that altered genes in the immune system elevate the risk of developing the neurodegenerative disease.
Obesity Spreads
Through Social Networks
July 25, 2007 - A study of 12,067 people over a period of 32 years has found
that social networks have a marked influence on weight gain. For example, if
a person’s close friend becomes obese, that person’s chances of becoming
obese increase 57 percent; for siblings, increase is 40 percent; and for spouses,
increase is 37 percent.
Jeffrey S.
Flier Named Next Dean of Harvard's Faculty of Medicine
July 11, 2007 - Jeffrey S. Flier, the George C. Reisman Professor of
Medicine at Harvard Medical School, will become the new Dean of Harvard’s
Faculty of Medicine on September 1, President Drew Faust announced today.
Study
Finds Uninsured Adults Increase Medicare Costs
July 9, 2007- While the overall cost-effectiveness of Medicare benefits
have been much-debated, new data now show that people who were uninsured
before receiving benefits at age 65 required more intensive and costlier
care than those who had been privately insured prior to receiving Medicare.
These findings, from researchers at Harvard Medical School (HMS), appear
in the July 12, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Master
Regulatory Gene of Epithelial Stem Cells Identified
May 3, 2007- The skin’s ability to replace the tissue it sloughs off is
controlled by a variety of genes. However, a new study from Harvard Medical School
published in the May 4 issue of Cell, identifies a “master regulator” of
this regeneration process not only for skin, but for many epithelial tissues
including breast, prostate, and urogenital tract. This master regulator of epithelial
stem cells turns out to be the p63 gene, a close relative to the well-known tumor-suppressing
p53 gene. Without p63, mutant mice run out of the regenerative epithelial stem
cells. The findings also have implications for cancers of the skin, breast and
prostate, which are among the most common human malignancies.
Genome-wide
Search Unearths Surprising Clues for Diabetes and Triglycerides
April 26, 2007--Scientists from the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Lund
University, and Novartis today announced the discovery of three unsuspected regions
of human DNA that contain clear genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes, and
another that is associated with elevated blood triglycerides.
Harvard Medical
School and The Culinary Institute of America Launch Healthy Kitchens,
Healthy Lives
April 20, 2007 - Harvard Medical School (HMS) and The
Culinary Institute of America (CIA) today launched their pioneering initiative
Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives: A Leadership Conference Bridging Nutrition
Science, Health Care, and the Culinary Arts. At this unique, semi-annual
gathering—held at the CIA’s Greystone campus in Napa Valley—health
professionals from around the country will participate in seminars led by
Harvard scientists and in hands-on cooking workshops led by CIA chef-instructors
as they explore the delicious possibilities of healthful food and its preparation.
Cholera Makes
Protein Analogous to Formin/Spire Hybrid-like Actin
April 19, 2007- Researchers at Harvard Medical School have
demonstrated that a type III secretion system (T3SS) is both functional
and required for intestinal colonization of Vibrio cholerae in the infant
mouse model. Although T3SS have been associated with pathogenic mechanisms
in a wide variety of bacteria, until now T3SS have not been described for
V. cholerae. The current study, led by John Mekalanos, PhD, chair
of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, was based on his
earlier research which identified a strain of V. cholerae that does not
contain virulence factors but does contain components of T3SS. The new findings,
which appear in the April 19 issue of Cell Host & Microbe, show that T3SS provide an alternate
colonization mechanism that makes a protein analogous to formin/spire hybrid-like
actin and causes changes in the cytoskeleton.
Protein Fragments Sequenced in 68 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex
April 11, 2007- In a venture once thought to lie outside the reach of science,
researchers from Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
have captured and sequenced tiny pieces of collagen protein from a 68 million-year-old
Tyrannosaurus rex. The protein fragments-seven in all-appear to most closely
match amino acid sequences found in collagen of present day chickens, lending
support to a recent and still controversial proposal that birds and dinosaurs
are evolutionarily related. The HMS and BIDMC researchers, working with scientists
at North Carolina State University, report their findings in the April 13 Science.
Weight Gain in Pregnancy Linked to Overweight in Kids
April 2, 2007- Pregnant women who gain excessive or even appropriate weight,
according to current guidelines, are four times more likely than women who
gain inadequate weight to have a baby who becomes overweight in early childhood.
These findings are from a new study at the Department of Ambulatory Care
and Prevention of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
and are published in the April issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics
and Gynecology.
Significant
Prostate Cancer Risk Factors Identified
April 1, 2007- A study led by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the
University of Southern California and Harvard Medical School has identified seven
genetic risk factors-DNA sequences carried by some people but not others-that
predict risk for prostate cancer. According to the study's findings, these risk
factors are clustered in a single region of the human genome on chromosome 8
and powerfully predict a man's probability of developing prostate cancer. The
paper will be published in the online edition of Nature Genetics on April 1.
Discovery Could Lead to New Broad-spectrum Antibiotics
March 23, 2007 Antibiotic resistance has become a major problem not only in hospital settings, but also in the community as well. New antibiotics are needed to overcome these increasingly resistant bacterial infections. Suzanne Walker, PhD, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School, has identified the biosynthetic genes for moenomycin, the only known natural product that directly inhibits an important family of cell wall biosynthetic enzymes. The discovery could lead to new broad-spectrum antibiotics.
High-Deductible
Health Plans Linked to Fewer Emergency Room Visits
March 14, 2007 Patients who switched to high-deductible health plans went to
the emergency department 10 percent less than patients who remained in traditional
plans, according to a new study by the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention
(of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care). The study, published
in the March 14 Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that most
of this reduction was for less severe conditions like colds, nausea, and headaches.
The authors followed members for approximately one year after the switch to the
high-deductible plan.
HMS Center for Health and the Global Environment Honors His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales
January 28, 2007 "We are delighted to honor Prince Charles, whose life's work has so effectively carried out the Center's mission by helping people understand that their health depends on the health of the environment and motivating them to do everything in their power to protect it," says Eric Chivian, MD, director of the Center and co-recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.
New Study Suggests Hip Fractures Not Caused by Benzodiazepine
January 16, 2007 Benzodiazepine use was not shown to be associated with hip fractures after all, according to a new study from the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention (of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care). Previous epidemiological studies suggesting an association have been used to support legislation and policy decisions that limit access to these drugs among the elderly. These policies may need to be reexamined based on these new findings.