A deaf toddler who underwent surgery to have a radical auditory device implanted into his brainstem to help him hear is showing vast improvement after undergoing the surgery a second time, his doctors said, giving new hope that the device could one day be a common treatment option for deaf children. Daniel Lee, associate professor of otology from Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and a team of specialists from Massachusetts General Hospital, implanted a device called an Auditory Brainstem Implant, or ABI, into Alex’s brain last year.
Runners race for a middle ground between earlier design trends. Irene Davis, professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, is quoted.
The Broad Institute has received the biggest gift worldwide for psychiatric research, a $650 million commitment that could help scientists unravel the genetic underpinnings of diseases such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and begin to develop better treatments. Steven Hyman, professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at FAS; Eric Lander, professor of systems biology and founding director of the Broad Institute; and Steve McCarroll, assistant professor of genetics at HMS, are quoted. The gift coincides with the publication of the largest genomic study of schizophrenia, which identified more than 100 spots in the genome that are associated with the disease.
The New Yorker profiles a family with a son who was the only known patient with a certain genetic disorder. Daniel MacArthur, assistant professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Isaac Kohane, the Lawrence J. Henderson Professor of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and director of the Countway Library of Medicine at HMS, are quoted. The article mentions that the National Institutes of Health awarded nine million dollars in January to researchers at Harvard Medical School to coordinate a nationwide network of centers for rare diseases.
Medical professionals say Google Glass could be helpful, but patient privacy is still a concern. Karandeep Singh, clinical fellow in medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Daniel Hashimoto, clinical fellow in surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital; and Arshya Vahabzadeh, clinical fellow in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, are quoted.
A decade-long effort by hundreds of scientists worldwide has uncovered 128 genes involved in the brain disorder schizophrenia, findings that point to new research avenues while suggesting a cure may not be achievable with a single treatment. Steve McCarroll, assistant professor of genetics at HMS and head of genetics at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute, and Mark Daly, associate professor of medicine and chief of analytic and translational genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital, were authors on the study and quoted in the article.
Article profiles efforts to honor former Massachusetts General Hospital surgeon Ernest Amory Codman. Andrew Warshaw, the W. Gerald Austen Distinguished Professor of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, is quoted.
The explosion in the use of the electronic records has created the potential for efficiencies and safety benefits but also new risks for patients, the scope of which still is not fully understood. David Bates, professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is quoted.
