A man who was badly injured in the Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island in 2003 received a hand transplant on Sunday at Massachusetts General Hospital, the first procedure of its kind at the Boston hospital. Curtis L. Cetrulo Jr, HMS instructor in surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, led the surgical team.
In what might be an unintended consequence of health care improvement efforts, older heart attack patients seem less likely to get stents in the U.S. states that require hospitals to report the outcomes of such procedures, according to a new study. Karen E. Joynt, HMS instructor in medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is the lead researcher.
Being alert to the earliest sign of a migraine is the key to preventing it from becoming debilitating and long lasting, according to experts. Rami Burstein, the John Hedley-Whyte Professor of Anaesthesia at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is quoted.
In another sign of the possible dangers lurking in an environmental hazard, new research links mercury exposure in expectant mothers to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in their children at the age of 8. Susan Korrick, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is the study’s co-author.
England’s Sir John Gurdon and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka from Japan share the 2012 Nobel Prize in medicine for work on stem cells, revealing that mature cells can be reverted into primitive cells. Ray Suarez talks to Harvard Stem Cell Institute’s David Scadden, co-chair of the Department of Stem Cell & Regenerative Biology at Harvard, who explains the implications and applications for stem cell medicine.
More hospitals and medical practices are adopting telemedicine techniques, finding they save money and for some patients work as well as flesh-and-blood visits. Efren Flores, HMS instructor in radiology and Peter Schalock, HMS assistant professor of dermatology, both of Massachusetts General Hospital, are quoted.
Richard Mangino is able to drive, swim and mow the lawn after undergoing a double hand transplant operation last year. Bohdan Pomahac, HMS associate professor of surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, led the surgical team.
Neanderthals apparently last interbred with the ancestors of today’s Europeans after modern humans with advanced stone tools expanded out ofAfrica, researchers say. Sriram Sankararaman, HMS research fellow in genetics, was the lead researcher.
