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Press Releases

The following is the press releases for the current year. Or you can search our Press Releases.

Dec 30, 2008 Vitamins C and E and Beta-Carotene Do Not Reduce Cancer Risk Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital show that supplemental vitamins C, E and beta-carotene also fail to provide protection against cancer for middle aged women.

Dec 22, 2008 Common Genetic Variants Linked to Risk of Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events for Patients Taking Widely-Used Antiplatelet Medication Clopidogrel Researchers from BWH found that approximately one third of the population has variations in a specific gene that renders them unable to metabolize properly clopidogrel, one of the most commonly prescribed anti-platelet medications.

Dec 17, 2008 Quantum Leap - From the Atom to "Real World Objects" Imagine a computer chip so fast, it is capable of doing calculations it would take current computers a billion years to replicate. Imagine the ability to kill a cancer tumor by taking some of its cells and destroying them outside the body.

Dec 16, 2008 Robotic Radical Hysterectomy Results in Shorter Hospital Stays Researchers found that robotic radical hysterectomy results in lower blood loss and shorter length of stay compared to ORH. The findings are available online and published in the December print issue of Gynecologic Oncology.

Dec 9, 2008 Neither Vitamin C nor E Associated With Reduced Risk of Prostate Cancer or Other Cancers In the Physicians' Health Study II, researchers at BWH found that supplementation with vitamin E or C did not reduce risk of cancer.

Dec 8, 2008 DOCTOR’S USE OF E-PRESCRIBING SYSTEMS WITH INSURERS’ FORMULARY DATA CAN IMPROVE DRUG COST SAVINGS Researchers at BWH found that electronic prescribing systems that use insurers' formularies can save $845,000 per 100,000 patients per year, and possibly more.

Dec 2, 2008 Analysis of Generic and Brand-Name Cardiovascular Drugs Finds No Evidence of Brand-Name Superiority Researchers from BWH found that brand-name cardiovascular drugs are not clinically superior to their generic counterparts.

Nov 28, 2008 Brigham and Women’s Hospital receives American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines Gold Performance Achievement Award BWH recently received the American Stroke Association’s Get With The GuidelinesSM–Stroke (GWTG–¬Stroke) Gold Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes BWH’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care.

Nov 25, 2008 Exposure to Diesel Exhaust at Work Linked to COPD and Increased Risk of Death Researchers from BWH find that individuals who were regularly exposed to diesel exhaust at work may have had an increased risk of dying from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Nov 24, 2008 Study of Diabetes Treatment Gives Elderly Diabetics Something New to Consider Researchers from BWH found that there was a higher occurrence of death and a greater risk of congestive heart failure in elderly patients taking rosiglitazone, compared to pioglitazone.

Nov 17, 2008 Serial PSA Screening for Prostate Cancer May Reduce Risk of Recurrence Patients and health care providers alike are confused about the current role of PSA screening in diagnosing and treating prostate cancer. New research finds that serial PSA screening may play a role in improving outcomes for patients.

Nov 9, 2008 Rosuvastatin Dramatically Reduces Heart Attack, Stroke and Total Mortality Among Men, Women with Low Cholesterol but Elevated C-Reactive Protein Level In the landmark JUPITER trial of 17,802 patients, researchers from BWH report that rosuvastatin reduces by nearly fifty percent the risk of heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death among apparently healthy men and women.

Nov 9, 2008 New Risk Assessment Tool Using CRP and Family History More Accurately Predicts Cardiovascular Risk Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have devised a Web-based formula that uses information on C-reactive protein and family history to more accurately predict risk of heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death among men.

Nov 9, 2008 No Cardiovascular Protection from Vitamin E or C New research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) finds that neither vitamin E nor vitamin C supplements protect against cardiovascular disease in middle-aged and older men.

Nov 6, 2008 Self-assembling Nano-fiber Gel Delivers High Concentrations of Clinically Approved Drugs New self-assembling hydrogel drug delivery system is biocompatible, efficient at drug release, and easy to tailor.

Nov 5, 2008 Multiple Sclerosis Progression Can Be Predicted With MRI Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have shown that MRI scans used on multiple sclerosis (MS) patients to determine if the disease has affected gray matter in the brain can identify those at-risk for progression of disability.

Nov 4, 2008 Folic Acid, Vitamin B6 and B12 Do Not Lower or Increase Cancer Risk in Women Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have found no association between folic acid, vitamin B6 and B12 intake and overall cancer risk in middle aged women.

Nov 1, 2008 Therapeutic Potential of Stem Cells Augmented By Simple Chemical Procedure Researchers from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital have shown that a simple chemical modification to the cell surface may enable doctors to target cells to specific tissues in the body.

Oct 13, 2008 No Link Between Caffeine Consumption and Overall Breast Cancer Risk BWH researchers show that caffeine consumption is not associated with overall risk of breast cancer.

Oct 8, 2008 Nation's Top Healthcare Organizations Announce Strategies to Prevent Deadly Healthcare-Associated Infections Leading healthcare organizations publish practical science-based strategies to help prevent the six most important healthcare-associated infections.

Oct 5, 2008 Prostate Cancer Mortality is Higher for Overweight Men with High Insulin Secretion Prior to Diagnosis Ecess bodyweight and high plasma concentrations of C-peptide in men who are subsequently diagnosed with prostate cancer are reliable indicators that they are more likely to die from their disease than those with lower levels.

Sep 25, 2008 New Research Finds Drug-Eluting Stents Are More Effective for Heart Attack Patients Than Bare-Metal Stents Researchers followed 7000-plus patients, two years in longest, largest stent cohort to date.

Sep 21, 2008 Six New Genetic Indicators for Rheumatoid Arthritis New genetic indicators for rheumatoid arthritis uncovered, providing an avenue for researchers to better understand the disease and pursue new treatment.

Sep 18, 2008 BWH Neurosurgeon Named to National Neurology Advisory Council The National Insitute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke appointed appointed Dr. Robert M. Friedlander, vice chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at BWH, to the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and and Stroke Council.

Sep 4, 2008 BWH Researchers Identify New Genetic Pathway for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard’s School of Public Health and Medical School, and colleagues in Europe have found a new genetic pathway for the development of both of the major forms of inflammatory bowel disease.

Sep 3, 2008 Health Care Fraud Cases in the U.S. Resulted in $9.3 Billion in Damages in the Last Decade Health care fraud is widely thought to be pervasive, and now, for the first time, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have chronicled the characteristics and financial impact of recent health care fraud cases.

Sep 2, 2008 Common Over-the-counter Drug Could Pose Serious Risk for Some Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have found that daily ibuprofen use may increase cardiovascular risk for arthritis patients.

Aug 25, 2008 Drug Resistant Tuberculosis Is Treatable Rates of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis are growing rapidly throughout the world, and curtailing the disease is a major WHO priority. Now, researchers from BWH have shown successful treatment outcomes for patients with XDR-TB in Russia.

Aug 14, 2008 New Research Highlights How and When Errors in Inpatient Medication Reconciliation Occur Study findings suggest how to better prevent harmful medication record discrepancies

Aug 12, 2008 Consistent PSA Screening Results in Better Prognosis Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have now shown that men who had been screened for a longer period of time using PSA tests were less likely to have adverse features of prostate cancer at the time of diagnosis.

Aug 4, 2008 Rapid oral HIV screening tests: In low prevalence settings, reactive tests need confirmation Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have found that one of the most commonly used rapid HIV tests, when conducted on oral fluid in a low prevalence emergency department population, may lead to a high rate of false positive results.

Aug 4, 2008 BWH Research Shows Level of Cognitive Impairment Immediately Following Waking Up Depends On Phase Of Biological Clock Implications of circadian rhythm in sleep inertia for on-call professionals

Jul 29, 2008 Brigham and Women’s Hospital Welcomes Two New Cardiac Electrophysicists Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) welcomes two new doctors, Roy John, MD, PhD and Gregory Michaud, MD, both of Concord, MA, to the cardiac electrophysiology team in the Cardiovascular Division.

Jul 25, 2008 Older People May Need Less Sleep Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have shown that when older people are asked to stay in bed during 16 hours of darkness, they sleep only about 7.5 hours compared to the 9 hours that younger people sleep when in the same situation.

Jul 21, 2008 Genetic Mechanisms linked to Parkinson’s Disease Uncovered A new genetic finding from a group of researchers showed that the build up of a certain protein is responsible for controlling the production of the gene, alpha-synuclein, which is a cause of PD.

Jul 17, 2008 Mediterranean and Low-Carb Diets are Safe and Effective Weight-Loss Diets Researchers at BWH's Channing Laboratory have effectively evaluated three different weight-loss diets over two years and found that both Mediterranean and Low-carbohydrate diets are as effective in achieving weight-loss as low-fat diets.

Jul 14, 2008 BWH Ranked in Top Ten of Nation’s Hospitals by U.S. News and World Report BWH has again earned high marks on the U.S. News & World Report annual Honor Roll of America’s Best Hospitals, ranking eighth among the 19 hospitals on the list. This ranking is two spots higher than 2007’s number 10 ranking.

Jul 11, 2008 Brigham and Women’s Hospital Welcomes Two New Cardiac Electrophysicists BWH welcomes two new doctors, Roy John, MD, PhD and Gregory Michaud, MD, both of Concord, MA, to the cardiac electrophysiology team in the Cardiovascular Division.

Jul 10, 2008 BWH Research Finds Formal Art Observation Training Improves Medical Students’ Visual Literacy and Diagnostic Skills Researchers designed a pre-clinical course for Harvard Medical School students to enhance their diagnostic abilities and improve their visual acumen through close observation and guided discussion of fine art and artistic concepts.