Growing numbers of pregnant women are on medicines to treat high blood pressure, new research indicates. Brian Bateman, HMS assistant professor of anaesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital, is an author of the study.
A pervading theme at a conference this week sponsored jointly by Pfizer Inc. and the Harvard Business School Health Industry Alumni Association was the growing trend toward partnerships between pharmaceutical companies and academia. Jeffrey S. Flier, dean of the faculty of medicine at HMS, is mentioned as a speaker at the conference.
New research suggests that close connections to friends and family may ward off poor health and premature death. A study by George Vaillant, HMS professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, is cited.
It may be more important than we thought to tackle obesity in childhood. A new study finds that overweight teenagers eat fewer calories than their healthy weight peers. Matthew Gillman, HMS professor of population medicine, is quoted.
This summer, two drugs under development for Alzheimer’s disease were declared failures, ruining the chances of finding a near-term fix for an illness that is ravaging the memories of more than 5 million Americans. Research by Dennis J. Selkoe, the Vincent and Stella Coates Professor of Neurologic Diseases in the Department of Neurology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Reisa Sperling, HMS professor of neurology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and Rudolph Tanzi, the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Child Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, is cited.
Doctors say there’s no reason for a gluten-free diet unless you have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. But if you have regular digestive problems, such as recurrent diarrhea, bloating, or abdominal pain, or a history of hives, eczema, or food allergies, you may want to try a gluten-free experiment. Tim Buie, HMS assistant professor of pediatrics at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, is quoted.
Several research teams are working to figure out ways to spur existing follicles—the tiny organs in the skin that give birth to hair—back into action, or to make new, active follicles. Marie Demay, HMS professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, has led much of the research in this area focusing on vitamin D.
Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Joslin Diabetes Center will partner on research and clinical care, focusing particularly on people with diabetes-related eye disease, the groups announced yesterday. The center will be led by Lloyd Paul Aiello, HMS professor of ophthalmology at Joslin Diabetes Center. Joan W. Miller, the Henry Willard Williams Professor of Ophthalmology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, is also quoted in the article.
The first large and comprehensive study of the genetics of a common lung cancer has found that more than half the tumors from that cancer have mutations that might be treated by new drugs that are already in the pipeline or that could be easily developed. Matthew Meyerson, HMS professor of pathology and Bruce Evan Johnson, HMS professor of medicine, both of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, are authors on the paper.
Most students going into medicine imagine that they will have daily contact with their patients; but the reality is that only a minority will end up as primary care physicians, causing what some experts say could be a critical shortage in the United States, where there are long waits in both doctors’ offices and emergency rooms. Russell Phillips, director of the HMS Center for Primary Care and Andrew Morris-Singer, HMS instructor in medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, are quoted.
