About eight percent of components for hip-replacement surgeries used in Britain are not backed by evidence and Harvard researchers call for stricter controls. Aaron Kesselheim, assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Jerry Avorn, professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, wrote an accompanying journal editorial.
HMS researchers describe for the first time a compound naturally made by young cells that was able to revive older cells and make them energetic and youthful again. David Sinclair, professor of genetics, is the senior author of the study.
The discussion on how to determine whether an illness is physical or psychological erupted this week after The Boston Globe ran its series on Justina Pelletier’s case at Boston Children’s Hospital. Alice Weaver Flaherty, associate professor of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, sheds light on the connection between neurology and psychiatry.
A Boston surgeon and his wife, an anesthesiologist, are pushing to stop a widespread surgical technique used on thousands of women during hysterectomies, which they say caused her undetected cancer to dangerously spread. Hooman Noorchashm, lecturer on surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Amy Reed, instructor in anaesthesia at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, are pushing to stop the technique.
DNA from an ancient toe bone has provided new insight into the lives of Neanderthals, revealing that inbreeding was common among the group and may have contributed to their demise. David Reich, professor of genetics, is one of the authors of the study.
Researchers have confirmed a longstanding hypothesis that narcolepsy is an autoimmune disease, in which the immune system attacks healthy cells. Thomas Scammell, HMS professor of neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is quoted.
