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Press Releases

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

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 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.

Apr 13, 2008 BWH Cytogeneticist to Receive Korean “Nobel Prize” At 38, Charles Lee, PhD, will be the youngest recipient of the Ho-Am Prize in Medicine when the Brigham and Women’s Hospital clinical cytogeneticist receives the “Nobel Prize” of Korea in Seoul on June 3.

Apr 07, 2008 Designer drug successfully treats chronic blood cancer in mice Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have successfully treated a chronic blood cancer in mice using a novel designer drug to attack a mutant protein that triggers malignant blood cell growth.

Apr 07, 2008 Improving Patient Safety with Bar-codes Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have shown that using bar-code technology to augment the counting of surgical sponges during an operative procedure increases the detection rate of miscounted and/or misplaced sponges.

Apr 03, 2008 Researchers Answer Troublesome Question of Why Some Genetic Association Studies Have Failed Replication Attempts A team of researchers from Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and elsewhere have described a possible reason why some studies have been unable to replicate associations between genes and traits.

Apr 02, 2008 BWH Researchers First to Observe Fetal Cells in the Blood of Mothers Years after Donor Egg Pregnancies For the first time, researchers have observed that fetal cells remain in the blood of mothers who had pregnancies with donor eggs for years after delivery, without being destroyed by her immune system.

Apr 02, 2008 Lack of Patient-Provider Discussion Contributes to Disparities in Use of Breast Reconstruction after Mastectomy Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute concluded that lack of patient-provider discussion may contribute to socioeconomic, age and race-related inconsistencies in the use of breast reconstruction after mastectomy.

Mar 28, 2008 IMPROVE IT Trial to Expand Enrollment The academic leadership of the IMPROVE-IT (IMProved Reduction of Outcomes: Vytorin Efficacy International Trial) announced today that the number of subjects enrolled into the trial now exceeds 11,000 and will be increased to up to 18,000 subjects.

Mar 25, 2008 BWH Names Director of Integrated Interventional Cardiovascular Program Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, has been named the new director of the Integrated Interventional Cardiovascular Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and the VA Boston Healthcare System (VA) effective July 1, 2008.

Mar 14, 2008 Simple Non-Lab Methods as Good as Lab Tests at Predicting Cardiovascular Disease Risk In a new study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), researchers show that methods using non-laboratory-based risk factors predict cardiovascular events as accurately as more costly laboratory-based tests.

Mar 13, 2008 The Search For A Kidney Stem Cell Researchers at BWH examined cells in the kidney to determine which cells are responsible for generating repair.

Mar 12, 2008 Deep Sleep Plays Role in Visual Learning Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have now shown that the processes that regulate deep sleep may affect visual learning.

Feb 26, 2008 Lilly, Partners In Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital Team Up to Fight MDR-TB in Former Soviet Republics Eli Lilly and Company and Partners In Health announced a series of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis trainings by Brigham and Women's Hospital experts for individuals treating drug-resistant patients in 10 former Soviet Republics.

Feb 25, 2008 BWH Researchers Identify Mutated Genes Unique to Mesothelioma Tumors Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), for the first time, using new DNA sequencing technology, can identify the unique genetic mutations of a cancerous tumor of an individual patient.

Feb 19, 2008 Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Make Major Gift to Support Cancer Care at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center Once again demonstrating their commitment to improve healthcare and the fight against cancer, Carl J. and Ruth G. Shapiro have pledged $27 million to Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center to substantially upgrade and expand its facilities.

Feb 18, 2008 Team From MIT and BWH Creates Gecko-Inspired Bandage Researchers have created a waterproof adhesive bandage inspired by gecko lizards that may soon join sutures and staples as a basic operating room tool for patching up surgical wounds or internal injuries.

Feb 18, 2008 Heart attack prescription drug strategy may save lives and reduce healthcare costs Full prescription coverage of heart drugs could help heart attack survivors live longer, better lives and lower the nation’s healthcare costs, according to a new analysis reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Feb 11, 2008 BWH Study Identifies Modifiable Factors Associated With Long Life A healthy lifestyle during the early elderly years—including weight management, exercising regularly and not smoking—may be associated with a greater probability of living to age 90 in men.