Once considered an adult injury, ACL tears are occurring more often in the legs of elementary and middle school-age children, orthopedic specialists report. The increase, which stems in part from better diagnostic tools and a dramatic increase in children playing competitive, organized sports, has created a vexing problem: What’s the best way to fix it? Mininder Kocher, HMS professor of orthopedic surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital, is quoted.
Organizers of the Archon Genomics X-Prize called off their $10-million competition Thursday, just two weeks before teams were set to begin work on 100 high-quality human genome sequences, in 30 days, at a cost of less than $10,000 per genome. George Church, the Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics at HMS, is quoted.
The use of a potentially lifesaving, clot-busting drug – called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) – to treat patients with ischemic stroke nearly doubled between 2003 and 2011, according to a large new study. Lee Schwamm, HMS professor of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the leader of the study.
David Williams, the Leland Fikes Professor of Pediatrics at HMS, and colleagues may be on the verge of curing the mysterious Bubble Boy Syndrome. Williams was recently a guest on Innovation Hub.
It’s long been known that people with naturally red hair also have a higher risk of the skin cancer melanoma, and now scientists might have uncovered why. Wenyi Wei, HMS associate professor of pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is one of the lead researchers.
It was big news this week when the CDC announced that cases of Lyme disease were vastly underreported and that, in fact, about 300,000 Americans are diagnosed with the disease each year — 10 times its previous estimate. Paul Sax, HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, writes that he’s not at all surprised by the Lyme disease underreporting and offers a few theories on what’s behind it.
Women who have diets high in omega-3 fatty acids derived from fish are less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than those who skimp on fish, new research suggests. Simon Helfgott, HMS associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is quoted.
A new study has found that patients in psychiatric hospitals who take part in smoking cessation programs during their stay are more likely to be smoke-free after 18 months, compared to patients who don’t participate in the programs. Nancy Rigotti, HMS professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, is quoted.
