More and more American women are undergoing breast magnetic resonance imaging to screen for cancer, according to two new studies. Natasha Stout, HMS assistant professor of population medicine at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, led one of the studies.
Boston’s teaching hospitals have been so widely praised for saving dozens of Marathon bombing victims that trauma surgeons worry the state will grow complacent. They met with legislators Tuesday to remind them that luck and timing played a role on Patriot’s Day, and that the trauma system still has gaps that require attention. Frederick Millham, HMS associate clinical professor of surgery, and George Velmahos, the John Francis Burke Professor of Surgery, both of Massachusetts General Hospital, are quoted.
Genetic testing could help better guide doctors’ use of warfarin, new research suggests. The blood-thinning medication is widely used to prevent stroke and heart attack in people with irregular heartbeats. Robert Giugliano, HMS associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is the lead author of a study cited in the article. Joseph Loscalzo, the Hersey Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic and chair of the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Patrick Ellinor, HMS associate professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, are also quoted.
Last week, the nation’s leading heart organizations released new guidelines for lowering cholesterol, along with an online calculator meant to help doctors assess risks and treatment options. The calculator appears to greatly overestimate risk, so much so that it could mistakenly suggest that millions more people are candidates for statin drugs. Paul M. Ridker, the Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine, and Nancy Cook, HMS professor of medicine, both of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, identified the problems with the calculator.
Jeffrey S. Flier, dean of the faculty of medicine at Harvard University, participated in a recent discussion in The Wall Street Journal’s The Experts section about the Affordable Care Act.
Further coverage of new guidelines for lowering cholesterol, along with an online calculator meant to help doctors assess risks and treatment options. Paul M. Ridker, the Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine, and Nancy Cook, HMS professor of medicine, both of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, identified the problems with the calculator. Peter Libby, the Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is also quoted.
Why are some obese people healthy, apparently protected from the damaging effects of excess fat on the liver and other organs? Scientists are investigating this question as they look to understand how obesity disrupts normal organ function and causes inflammation, insulin resistance, diabetes and other metabolic abnormalities. Research by Bruce Spiegelman, the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Professor of Cell Biology and Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is cited.
As a physician at Boston Children’s Hospital, Cesare T. Lombroso tried to figure out as much as possible about the neurological disorder that causes seizures, and over the years his research influenced how it was diagnosed and treated. Lombroso died on October 19 at the age of 96 and was also professor of neurology, emeritus, at HMS.
