Scientists from Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard have identified a drug that may reverse permanent deafness by triggering a regeneration of sensory hair cells in the …
Month: January 2013
Neuroinflammation, microglia, and brain health in the balance
I've written at some length in the past about "the brain's silent majority": the 90 percent of the cells in our central-nervous system that aren't nerve …
Rep. Anna Eshoo celebrates new cancer research law at Stanford
In a press conference held at Stanford Hospital & Clinics yesterday, Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto) announced the passage of a new law aimed …
FCC allocates $400 million in funding to develop and expand telemedicine
A number of studies and personal stories have shown that telemedicine can be effective at evaluating patients in remote locations and helping them modify their lifestyle to manage …
A call for singer/inventor will.i.am to help guide health-care industry
Now this is intriguing. On MedCityNews today, Veronica Combs outlines why singer/rapper/inventor will.i.am, who participated in a panel at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, should be …
Study shows weight counseling decreases despite increase in obesity rates
Past research has shown that primary care physicians feel under qualified and unprepared to provide weight-related counseling. The need to better educate doctors on how …
HPV-associated cancers are rising, HPV vaccination rates still too low, new national report says
Several cancers associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection are on the rise in the U.S., but the country's HPV vaccination rates remain dismally low, according …
Spreading awareness of inflammatory bowel disease, one bathroom stall at a time
Before the holidays, I wrote about patients with a form of inflammatory bowel disease spreading awareness about their condition. I was interested, then, to read in today’s …
Take-home kit helps at-risk kids’ families learn CPR skills
Parents of children with complex medical conditions have a lot to worry about when they come home from the hospital. They may need to give their …
Supreme Court decision on human embryonic stem cell case ends research uncertainty
Yesterday, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case of Shirley vs. Seblius, which challenged the federal government's right to fund research on human embryonic …
Advice for caregivers and patients about clinical trials
In a previous Scope entry, Inspire contributor and cancer patient Linnea Duff explained why she no longer views clinical trials as a last resort, but rather …
Exploring the microbes that inhabit our bodies
We've written previously about how researchers at Stanford and elsewhere are working to determine how microscopic ecosystems that exist in and on the human body may impact personal health. …
Medical marijuana not safe for kids, Packard Children’s doc says
The uncertainties of using medical marijuana mean that it should not be given to pediatric patients, writes Packard Children's adolescent medicine specialist Seth Ammerman, MD, …
Ask Stanford Med: Stanford health psychologist Kelly McGonigal taking questions on willpower
Past data suggests that four out of five people who adopt New Year's resolution's will eventually break them, and that a third will throw in …
How orthopedic surgery straightened out one man's life
Scoliosis is a painful and debilitating condition that causes the spine of an individual to curve like an "S." For Jerry Stark, having degenerative scoliosis meant he …
Sudden cardiac death has cellular cause, say Stanford researchers
Stanford cardiovascular researcher Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, and colleagues have used the power of patient-specific stem cells (also called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS …