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Emergency Medicine Physicians
Primary Care

12 Days of Christmas Seen Through the Eyes of Emergency Medicine Physicians

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ER docs offer a dozen tips to keep all days safe and healthy

The joyful song about French hens, turtle doves, and a partridge rings in a cheerful holiday season for all. And for those celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas, it’s a wonderful time of the year.

As the celebrations of the season go into full swing, emergency medicine physicians and their teams know to expect all types of medical situations arriving in their emergency rooms.

And, to keep Pennsylvanians from making unnecessary trips to their local emergency rooms on what should be days of joy, physicians share 12 ideas on how you can enjoy a safer holiday season.

Social Ties to Teen Sleep Problems
Pediatrics

Social Ties More Important Than Biology When it Comes to Teen Sleep Problems

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Medical researchers point to developmental factors, specifically the decline of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, as an explanation for why children get less sleep as they become teenagers. But a new study suggests that social ties, including relationships with peers and parents, may be even more responsible for changing sleep patterns among adolescents.

Mayo Clinic Researchers Find Shape-Shifting Stops Migrating Cancer Cells
Medicine

Mayo Clinic Researchers Find Shape-Shifting Stops Migrating Cancer Cells

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Like a car with a front and back end, a steering mechanism and an engine to push it forward, cancer cells propel themselves through normal tissues and organs to spread cancer throughout the body. Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida, however, have managed to turn these cells into shapes like a round fried egg and an exaggerated starfish that sticks out in many directions — both of which cannot now move.

In research published in the December issue of Molecular and Cellular Biology, investigators reveal how interplay of molecules keeps cancer cells moving forward, and how disturbing the balance of these proteins pushes their shape to change, stopping them in their tracks.

New Classification System for Cardiomyopathy
Medicine

New Classification System for Cardiomyopathy

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Mount Sinai Hospital’s Cardiologists Contribute to the Creation of Newly Proposed MOGE(S) Classification System for Cardiomyopathy Disorders, with an Easy-to-Use Online Diagnostic App for Physicians

Leading cardiologists at The Mount Sinai Hospital have contributed to the development of a new classification system called MOGE(S) for cardiomyopathies, the diseases of the heart muscle which can lead to heart enlargement and heart failure.

A Brain Reward Gene Influences Food Choices
Medicine

A Brain Reward Gene Influences Food Choices in the First Years of Life

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Research has suggested that a particular gene in the brain’s reward system contributes to overeating and obesity in adults. This same variant has now been linked to childhood obesity and tasty food choices, particularly for girls, according to a new study by Dr. Patricia Silveira and Prof. Michael Meaney of McGill University and Dr. Robert Levitan of the University of Toronto.

Dying From a Food Allergy
Primary Care

Dying From a Food Allergy is Less Likely Than Being Murdered

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A person with a food allergy is more likely to be murdered than to die from a severe reaction, according to a new study.

One in 10 children has a food allergy. Many sufferers and their parents experience anxiety about the possibility of a severe and life-threatening allergic reaction, called anaphylaxis, but until now no studies have estimated how common death from such reactions is.

Molecular Glue Controls Chromosome Segregation in Oocytes
Medicine

Molecular Glue Controls Chromosome Segregation in Oocytes

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The spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) is a surveillance mechanism that delays cell division until all chromosomes have attached to the spindle poles. If this mechanism is impaired in oocytes, it can result in chromosome missegregation and production of aneuploid fetuses, leading to abnormalities like Down’s syndrome (trisomy 21), Edward’s syndrome (trisomy 18) or Klinefelter’s syndrome (XXY). The IMBA researcher Kikue Tachibana-Konwalski and her team together with collaborators from the University of Oxford have now discovered that the proper functioning of the SAC in mammalian oocytes depends on the “molecular glue” called cohesin.

PCBs Still Affecting Our Health Decades Later
Medicine

PCBs Still Affecting Our Health Decades Later

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Although PCBs have been banned in the United States since 1979, University of Montreal and CHU Sainte-Justine researcher Maryse Bouchard has found that higher levels of the toxin was associated with lower cognitive performance in seniors. There is a significant association between PCB levels and cognitive abilities among individuals aged 70 to 84 years; the correlation was also detected to a lesser extent among people aged 60-69 years. This analysis also showed that the association differed by sex. Women in the older age group had the largest diminution in cognition in relation to exposure. “While most studies have looked at the impact of PCBs on infant development, our research shows that this toxin might affect us throughout our lives,” Bouchard said.

A New Approach to Huntington's Disease
Medicine

A New Approach to Huntington’s Disease?

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Tweaking a specific cell type’s ability to absorb potassium in the brain improved walking and prolonged survival in a mouse model of Huntington’s disease, reports a UCLA study published March 30 in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience. The discovery could point to new drug targets for treating the devastating disease, which strikes one in every 20,000 Americans.

Huntington’s disease is passed from parent to child through a mutation in the huntingtin gene. By killing brain cells called neurons, the progressive disorder gradually deprives patients of their ability to walk, speak, swallow, breathe and think clearly. No cure exists, and patients with aggressive cases can die in as little as 10 years.

Vincent van Gogh
What Killed 'Em

Van Gogh

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Vincent van Gogh, one of the most acclaimed artists of all time, sold 1 painting during his lifetime and achieved fame only after his death. Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in Groot Zundert, Holland. He was the eldest surviving son of a pastor, and after a stint of working in art galleries as a young boy, at age 16 he switched gears and decided to follow in his father’s vocation. He studied evangelization and began a ministry for poor miners in Borinage, Belgium. However, his emotional state and lack of confidence probably precluded his ability to focus on his religious career. He was removed because of his erratic behavior and overzealousness. Encouraged and financed by his brother Theo, who was an art gallery manager, he became an artist.

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