This RSS news feed from uwnews.org, the University of Washington Office of News and Information, includes the last 40 in the Health and Medicine category. http://uwnews.org/apps/uwnews/public/rss.aspx?q=uwnByCategoryName&categoryName=Health and Medicine&numToShow=40 http://uwnews.org/images/uwnewslogo_small.jpg http://uwnews.org/ uwnews.org, the University of Washington Office of News and Information (c)2010 University of Washington News and Information | http://uwnews.org | uwnews@u.washington.edu | 206-543-2580 Bob Roseth | roseth@u.washington.edu Ken Fine | kenfine@u.washington.edu Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:10:57 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Adults who have both diabetes and depression are more than twice as likely to develop dementia -- a progressive decline of memory, reasoning, and other thinking skills -- than are people with diabetes alone. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=56228 Health and Medicine Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=56228 Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:27:12 GMT The gene appears to orchestrate pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses. When these are in correct balance, the body can fight the TB pathogen without harming itself. An imbalance causes problems. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=56180 Health and Medicine Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=56180 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:29:44 GMT Dr. Hunter Handsfield has been honored for long and distinguished contributions to preventing many types of sexually transmitted diseases http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=56166 Health and Medicine Bobbi Nodell (bnodell@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=56166 Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:40:41 GMT Kicking the marijuana habit is a killer. That's why 70 Puget Sound smokers are needed to participate in a clinical research trial to test state-of-the-art counseling treatments. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=56109 Health and Medicine Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=56109 Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:33:35 GMT Electrodes attached to the surface of the human brain show that imagining movements to control a computer cursor generates larger-than-life brain signals in less than 10 minutes of training. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55693 Technology Science Health and Medicine Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55693 Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:05:00 GMT Certain bacteria cause chronic lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis. Surviving in this oxygen-poor, nitrate-rich environment makes the bacteria less susceptible to antibiotics. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55541 Health and Medicine Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55541 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:51:48 GMT A material derived from crustacean shell and algae supports the growth of new stem cells, offering a possible replacement to today's Petri dishes lined with animal byproducts. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55374 Science Health and Medicine Technology Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55374 Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:16:14 GMT Baseball pitchers warm up in the bullpen and basketball players practice lay-ups before hitting the court. Will surgeons one day warm up to ensure they're better prepared for the equivalent of a big game? http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55252 Health and Medicine Mary Guiden (mguiden@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55252 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:58:18 GMT Depression increases the risk of kidney failure, blindness, heart attacks and stroke in people with diabetes. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55228 Health and Medicine Rebecca Hughes () and Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55228 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:40:13 GMT A five-year international multi-center clinical trial has found that acyclovir, a drug widely used as a safe and effective treatment taken twice daily to suppress herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2), which is the most common cause of genital herpes, does not reduce the risk of HIV transmission when taken by people infected with both HIV and HSV-2. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55042 Health and Medicine Clare Hagerty (clareh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55042 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:01:48 GMT Testing hair from Asian monkeys living close to people may provide early warnings of toxic environmental threats, such as lead exposure, to humans and wildlife. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54570 Health and Medicine Environment Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54570 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:48:54 GMT Dr. Edwin G. Krebs, who shared the 1992 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering a biological regulatory mechanism in cells, died Monday, Dec. 21, in Seattle. The cause was complications from progressive heart failure. He was 91. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54500 Health and Medicine Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54500 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:22:13 GMT A new ground-breaking study from University of Washington researchers has found that air bags do not seem to elevate risk of most potential adverse outcomes during pregnancy. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54472 Health and Medicine Mary Guiden (mguiden@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54472 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:38:00 GMT An analysis of data from more than 20,000 people has uncovered several DNA sequence variations associated with impaired lung function. The findings pave the way for a greater understanding of how various lung diseases develop and what makes some people more susceptible to lung damage from air pollution, smoking and other environmental agents. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54382 Health and Medicine Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54382 Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:06:13 GMT TB bacteria send chemical signals that make disease-fighting cells switch alligiance and work on behalf of the bacteria. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54288 Health and Medicine Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54288 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:10:11 GMT An interdisciplinary panel of researchers and providers will discuss the controversy surrounding the new breast cancer screening guidelines released last month by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The panel discussion takes place Thursday, December 17, 2009 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Hogness Auditorium of the Health Sciences Center. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54285 Health and Medicine Clare Hagerty (clareh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54285 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:43:58 GMT University of Washington researchers have discovered a way to more accurately predict life expectancy in patients newly diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme, the most aggressive form of primary brain tumors - and the type that took the life of Senator Ted Kennedy earlier this year. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53947 Health and Medicine Clare Hagerty (clareh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53947 Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:19:43 GMT A novel early intervention program tested at the UW for very young children with autism - some as young as 18 months - is effective for improving IQ, language ability and social interaction, a comprehensive new study has found. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53914 Health and Medicine Social Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53914 Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:39:26 GMT Patients may be poorly served by pharmaceutical Web marketing strategies offering coupons and vouchers for prescription medications, according to a study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53913 Health and Medicine Rebecca Hughes () and Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53913 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:46:12 GMT Professor Dennis Donovan will discuss behavioral characteristics and correlations between drinking and aggressive driving Wednesday, Dec. 2, as part of the UW Medicine and the Seattle Public Library's Medical Lecture Series. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53912 Health and Medicine Social Science Mary Guiden (mguiden@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53912 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:42:50 GMT University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital researchers are looking for 110 6-month-old infants in the Puget Sound area to participate in a new study investigating brain development in autism. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53662 Health and Medicine Social Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53662 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:59:50 GMT UW researchers have successfully used a method called exome sequencing to quickly discover a previously unknown gene responsible for a rare disorder. The finding demonstrates the usefulness of exome sequencing in studying the 7,000 plus rare genetic disorders affecting millions of people. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53637 Health and Medicine Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53637 Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:12:00 GMT On Tuesday, Nov. 10, UW Medicine and Northwest Hospital & Medical Center signed documents that would expand an existing program agreement to make Northwest Hospital one of the entities of the UW Medicine health system. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53631 Health and Medicine Karen Peck (Karen.Peck@nwhsea.org) and Tina Mankowski (ochs@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53631 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:27:02 GMT UW Medical Genetics Clinic faculty, leaders and staff will celebrate the clinic's 50th anniversary Friday, November 6, with a symposium and evening reception. The clinic, among the first of its kind in the United States, sees nearly 2,000 patients each year. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53291 Health and Medicine Clare Hagerty (clareh@u.washington.edu) and Mary Guiden (mguiden@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53291 Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:00:20 GMT UW Medicine Tumor Vaccine Group hosts third annual open house Thursday, November 5, at South Lake Union http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53251 Health and Medicine Mary Guiden (mguiden@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53251 Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:40:02 GMT Stress-evoked changes in circuits that regulate serotonin in certain brain regions can precipitate a low mood and a relapse in cocaine-seeking. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53217 Health and Medicine Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53217 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:26:14 GMT Women with a history of depression who used psychiatric medicine during pregnancy have triple the odds of delivering a premature baby. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53216 Health and Medicine Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53216 Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:14:24 GMT Computer scientists at the UW are using Android, the open-source mobile operating system championed by Google, to transform a cell phone into a flexible data-collection tool. Their free suite of tools, named Open Data Kit, is already used by organizations around the world that need inexpensive ways to gather information in areas with little infrastructure. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53209 Science Technology Health and Medicine Environment Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53209 Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:57:42 GMT Two new studies illustrate just how hard it is to make sure people take their HIV medication. One study looked at the effects of drinking alcohol on adherence and showed the risk for non-adherence was double among drinkers compared to abstainers. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52991 Health and Medicine Social Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52991 Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:17:06 GMT University of Washington's Institute of Translational Health Sciences and its partners-Group Health Research Institute, Duke University and Wayne State University-have developed a new web site to help researchers create and sustain successful multisite research collaborations. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52912 Health and Medicine Mary Guiden (mguiden@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52912 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:45:16 GMT Pacifier, baby bottle, or finger sucking may hamper a child's speech development if the habit goes on too long. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52897 Health and Medicine Charlotte Webber (Charlotte.Webber@biomedcentral.com) and Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52897 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:05:37 GMT Older cancer patients very commonly suffer from depression, which is debilitating both during and after treatment. UW and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance psychiatrists are showing that there are ways to better this situation, and that these approaches can be applied in primary-care settings. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52894 Health and Medicine Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) and Dean Forbes (dforbes@fhcrc.org) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52894 Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:45:18 GMT Tissue engineers were able to grow stem cell patches with rudimentary blood vessels, beating contractions, and a stiffness resembling heart tissue. The patches were viable after transplant to rodent hearts. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52494 Health and Medicine Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52494 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:15:00 GMT About 90 percent of autism spectrum disorders have suspected genetic causes but few genes have been identified so far. Now a large international team, including six present and former University of Washington researchers, has identified several genetic links to autism, chief among them a variant of semaphorin 5A, a gene whose protein product controls nerve connections in the brain. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52493 Health and Medicine Social Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52493 Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:01:08 GMT While end-of-life-care issues have come front and center in the current health care reform debate, physicians in the Pacific Northwest can now get more intensive training and new board certification in palliative medicine and hospice care. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52503 Health and Medicine Mary Guiden (mguiden@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52503 Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:27:44 GMT While surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome in patients without an indication of severe nerve damage provides better outcomes than non-surgical treatment, the clinical relevance of this difference is modest, according to a new study. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52177 Health and Medicine Clare Hagerty (clareh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52177 Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:04:08 GMT There is new evidence that depression, obesity and alcohol abuse or dependency are interrelated conditions among young adult women but not men. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52110 Health and Medicine Social Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52110 Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:54:33 GMT Picture this. A bunch of adolescent rats walk into a bar and start consuming Jell-O shots. Lots of them. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52076 Social Science Health and Medicine Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52076 Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:01:19 GMT Climate change will have serious and long-term consequences for public health, with effects that will vary from community to community across the country. To help learn more about the effects, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have awarded researchers at the University of Washington nearly one million dollars over the next three years. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52063 Health and Medicine Elizabeth Sharpe (esharpe@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52063 Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:28:06 GMT Northwest Hospital & Medical Center, a 281-bed full service acute care hospital, will expand its program agreement with UW Medicine to become an integral part of the UW Medicine health system. The University of Washington Board of Regents endorsed the expanded affiliation agreement at its Sept. 17 meeting. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52045 Health and Medicine Tina Mankowski (ochs@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52045 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:08:46 GMT The UW was among nine research institutions from around the world that collaborated on the first successful demonstration of multiple biomedical robots operated from locations in the U.S., Europe and Asia. UW engineers also helped develop the standard protocol used in the tests. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52044 Science Technology Health and Medicine Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) and Lindsay Sheppard (lindsay.sheppard@sri.com) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52044 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:58:53 GMT An informal backgrounder for reporters on injury prevention and health protection in elite winter athletes http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51982 Health and Medicine Clare Hagerty (clareh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51982 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:20:19 GMT University of Washington researchers at the UW Medicine Eye Institute have successfully used gene therapy to cure color blindness in adult monkeys. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52015 Health and Medicine Science Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52015 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:00:00 GMT The number of students enrolled in global health programs in universities across the United States and Canada doubled in just three years due to a surging interest in careers to address health disparities and prevent the spread of disease in developing countries, according to a survey released today by the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH). http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51943 Health and Medicine Bobbi Nodell (bnodell@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51943 Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:01:01 GMT Medical and public health experts and students from the University of Washington have weighed in on a variety of health-care topics in recent months, including the primary care doctor shortage, public hospital financing, health-care co-ops, and how to care for the uninsured. As federal and state lawmakers and President Obama debate how to reform the country's medical system, we expect these conversations to continue, and the public and media to turn to the UW to learn more. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51900 Health and Medicine Mary Guiden (mguiden@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51900 Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:04:36 GMT Researchers have found new evidence showing that parents play a key role in whether or not their adolescent children who experiment with tobacco progress to become daily smokers before they graduate from high school. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51799 Social Science Health and Medicine Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51799 Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:59:47 GMT A newly designed computational method has proven its usefulness in counting copies of duplicated genome sequences and in doing initial assessments of their contents, according to a study to be published Aug. 30 in Nature Genetics. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51699 Health and Medicine Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51699 Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:00:00 GMT Although Asian-Americans as a group have lower rates of thinking about and attempting suicide than the national average, U.S.-born Asian-American women seem to be particularly at risk for suicidal behavior. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51514 Social Science Health and Medicine Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51514 Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:25:38 GMT As the national debate on health care policies continues, University of Washington experts are available to discuss the issues. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51471 Campus Law and Policy Health and Medicine Catherine O'Donnell (cath2@u.washington.edu) and Clare Hagerty (clareh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51471 Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:39:57 GMT Like clockwork, brain regions in many songbird species expand and shrink seasonally in response to hormones. Now, for the first time, neurobiologists have interrupted this natural "annual remodeling" of the brain and have shown that there is a direct link between the death of old neurons and their http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51429 Health and Medicine Social Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51429 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:25:04 GMT