The train derailment that killed four passengers in New York on Dec. 1 has put a spotlight on sleep after investigators announced the train’s engineer may have nodded off shortly before the accident. Charles Czeisler; the Frank Baldino, Jr., Ph.D. Professor of Sleep Medicine at HMS and Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Russell Sanna, executive director of the Division of Sleep Medicine, and Stuart Quan, the Gerald E. McGinnis Professor of Sleep Medicine at HMS and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, were guests on HuffPost Live.
A promising new method has just been tested for the first time in those with extreme peanut allergies—and it appears to hold potential as a permanent cure. Lynda Schneider, HMS associate professor of pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, led the study.
The article presents five reasons why patient portals can lead to better health. Jan Walker, principal associate in medicine, and Daniel Sands, HMS assistant clinical professor of medicine, both of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, are quoted.
The idea that people can be obese and still be “healthy” is called into question by a new study, that finds that, at least over the long term, obesity itself may confer a small increased risk of death. Pieter Cohen, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, is quoted.
Though smoking is, by far, the greatest risk factor in developing lung cancer, an estimated 10 to 15 percent of lung cancer patients in the U.S. have never smoked. Geoff Oxnard, HMS assistant professor of medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is the co-principal investigator of a new study.
A radioactive smart bomb might help mop up the last bits of AIDS virus hiding out in a patient’s body, even getting into the brain, researchers reported. Clyde Crumpacker, HMS professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is quoted.
Men who have trouble falling asleep at night or display other insomnia symptoms had a 25 percent greater likelihood of dying over six years compared with those who had no sleep troubles, according to new research. Xiang Gao, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was a co-author of the study.
Until now, there’s been little medical guidance to help cancer patients find foods they can tolerate and maintain a healthy weight. Julie Silver, HMS associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, is quoted.
In a new study, researchers chip away again at the traditional view of carbon monoxide as a menace. They found that administering carbon monoxide to cancer cells in a dish could increase the cells’ susceptibility to chemotherapy 1,000-fold, while protecting normal cells. In mice with prostate and lung cancer, carbon monoxide inhibited tumor growth. Leo Otterbein, HMS associate professor of surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, led the research.
The author profiles a physician from Johns Hopkins University who investigates Marfan syndrome, a rare and often fatal disorder that can cause the aorta, the large blood vessel that carries blood from the heart, to grow and grow until it bursts. David Altshuler, HMS professor of genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital, is quoted.
