A compassionate attitude – gentle words, a listening ear and encouragement – is an agent for physical healing, even if the concern is faked, according to a recent Harvard study. Ted Kaptchuk, HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, led the research.
Network science, an emergent discipline drawing from sociology, medicine, and statistics, reveals just how innovation–much like the dreaded flu bug sweeping the nation–is contagious. Nicholas Christakis, HMS professor of healthcare policy (medical sociology) in the Department of Health Care Policy and professor of sociology at FAS, focuses on research in the field.
A team of Cambridge scientists reported that they used Internet searches and genealogy websites to discern the names of nearly 50 people who had anonymously provided genetic samples listed in a publicly-accessible research database, demonstrating that like credit card and bank account numbers, genetic information is vulnerable to hacking. George Church, the Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics at HMS, is quoted.
There is now a flurry of new trials at cutting-edge medical centers in Boston and elsewhere, and yesterday, a rigorous randomized trial found that most patients with serious, recurrent infections caused by the bacteria C. difficile got better when donor feces were infused into their intestines. George Russell, HMS instructor in pediatrics at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, is quoted.
An experiment at Brigham and Women’s Hospital suggests that surgeons, nurses, and other staff members can vastly improve their handling of critical situations by reviewing checklists, an approach used by pilots during airplane mishaps. Atul Gawande, HMS professor of surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, led the study. Charles Pozner, HMS associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was also one of the authors.
Local coordination of brain activity is impaired in people with autism, according to a new study. Tal Kenet, HMS instructor in neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, is a study corresponding author.
Leana Wen, HMS clinical fellow in medicine and Joshua Kosowsky, HMS assistant professor of medicine, both emergency physicians at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, co-authored the new book, “When Doctors Don’t Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests.”
In a new study, researchers analyzed 68 studies that compared added sugar intake in sweetened beverages and other foods with weight changes and found that when participants were advised to lower their sugar intake they lost an average of nearly two pounds over six to eight months. Walter Willett, chair of the Department of Nutrition at HSPH and David Ludwig, HMS professor of pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, wrote an editorial that accompanied the study.
