If Congress increases the tobacco purchase age to 21 from 18, it will “substantially” reduce the number of 15- to 17-year-olds who begin smoking, according to the results of an independent study conducted for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Jonathan Winickoff, associate professor of pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital, is mentioned.
Google-backed genetic testing company 23andMe is launching its own drug development unit, betting that it can translate its database of customer DNA information into novel medicines. Robert Green, associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is quoted.
Scientists should refrain from studies that alter the genome of human embryos, sperm, or egg cells, researchers warn in a commentary published today in Nature. George Daley, professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Boston Children’s Hospital, is quoted.
Walk the halls of Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Roslindale and you’ll be struck by what you don’t hear: the beep, beep, beep of alarms. Typically, care facilities attach alarms to beds and wheelchairs of patients considered at risk of falling. The pressure-sensitive devices have been used since physical restraints were outlawed in the 1990s. But do alarms really keep residents safer? Are they worth the price of leaving them in fear of making the slightest move, interrupting their sleep and that of their roommates, and driving nurses and nursing aides to distraction every time one goes off? Hebrew SeniorLife is a Harvard Medical School affiliate.
Harvard Medical School student Hena Ahmed coauthored this opinion piece that recommends addressing the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate in America with education paired with relationship building.
Stanford University researchers were stunned when they awoke Tuesday to find that 11,000 people had signed up for a cardiovascular study using Apple Inc.’s ResearchKit, less than 24 hours after the iPhone tool was introduced. C. Michael Gibson, professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is quoted.
The six graduate disciplines that U.S. News ranks annually are evaluated on factors that include standardized test scores of newly enrolled students, employment outcomes for graduates, acceptance rates and other criteria. Harvard topped the “Best Medical Schools: Research” list.
Gout is a common form of inflammatory arthritis that afflicts about 8.5 million people in the United States with sudden, severe pain in knee and toe joints. Its nickname, the disease of kings, stems from an old belief that only those who could afford a rich diet would contract gout, but now it’s on the rise among the masses, too. But new research has found a positive aspect to gout: It may help protect against Alzheimer’s disease. Hyon Choi, professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the leader of the new research.
