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Press Releases

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

Oct 08, 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 05, 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 04, 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 03, 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 02, 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 04, 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 04, 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.

Jul 09, 2008 BWH/Faulkner Names New Chair of Department of Psychiatry David Silbersweig, MD, has been named chair of the Brigham and Women’s/Faulkner Department of Psychiatry effective July 1, 2008.

Jul 01, 2008 BWH Researchers Find That Routine Cardiac Catheterization May Benefit Some – but not all - Women With Heart Disease New research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) finds that women who are diagnosed with a heart attack stand to benefit as much as men from routine cardiac catheterization.

Jun 25, 2008 High Levels of Urinary Albumin in the Normal Range Predict Hypertension Healthy individuals with higher levels of albumin excretion, even levels considered normal, are at increased risk of developing hypertension (high blood pressure), according to a recent BWH study.

Jun 24, 2008 BWH Researchers Shed Light on Role of Omega-3 Fatty Acids Researchers from BWH, studying the potential role of omega-3 fatty acids in preventing asthma attacks and allergic reactions, have identified a molecule produced by the body that helps alleviate respiratory attacks in lab mice.

Jun 22, 2008 BWH Researchers Isolate a Toxic Key to Alzheimer's Disease in Human Brains Scientists have long questioned whether the abundant amounts of amyloid plaques found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's actually caused the neurological disease or were a by-product of its progress.

Jun 19, 2008 Dr. Edward R. Laws joins BWH as Director of the Neuro-Endocrine/Pituitary Program Edward R. Laws, MD, FACS, one of the world's experts in the treatment of neuroendocrine disorders, has joined the Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Jun 16, 2008 Insulin Resistance Linked to Peripheral Artery Disease Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have shown for the first time that a strong association exists between insulin resistance and peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a risk factor for heart attacks and stroke.

Jun 11, 2008 Low Melatonin Associated with Increased Risk of Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have shown in a new study that low melatonin levels are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

May 10, 2008 Utilization and Outcomes for Minimally Invasive Prostate Cancer Treatment BWH researchers assessed surgical utilization and complications, lengths of hospital stay and cancer outcomes in over 2,700 men who underwent prostate cancer surgery and found that MIRP usage almost tripled between 2003 and 2005.

May 08, 2008 Asthma Study team seeks participants from Partners’ network The BWH Asthma Research Center has received a $2 million Genetics Enters Medicine grant from Partners to study the influence of one’s genetic profile on response to asthma therapies.

Apr 24, 2008 BWH Researchers Find Gene Determinants of C-Reactive Protein Researchers at BWH have found that variation in several genes that are associated with metabolic and inflammatory regulation – in diseases such as diabetes and heart disease – also have significant effects on C-reactive protein (CRP) levels.