Posts Tagged ‘johns hopkins’

A new Johns Hopkins University study is validating the potential of smart phones in medical care. Since the debut of the iPhone, one of the most-often demonstrated medical uses of the device are radiological applications which allow physicians to view x-rays, CT scans and MRIs wirelessly. However, are these images comparable to the high-end workstations found in the radiologist’s office? Are pictures displayed on such a small screen sufficient for physicians to make accurate diagnoses? According to this current study, it appears radiologists were able to just as accurately diagnose an appendicitis on an iPhone 3G as on their office computers, with one major difference – portability. Fifteen of the 25 study patients were correctly identified as having acute appendicitis on 74 of 75 interpretations. Being able to accurately diagnose a medical emergency, such as an appendicitis, without having to be tied to a workstation may save valuable time, especially in areas where radiologists may not be available immediately. Perhaps it’s just a matter of time until someone writes a program which will allow computers to automatically detect an appendicitis without the radiologist. [via Medical News Today]

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Physicians and researchers at Cedars-Sinai and Johns Hopkins hosipitals have embarked on an exciting study involving the use of stem cells to fix heart muscle that have been damaged during heart attacks. Heart-specific stem cells are harvested directly from the patient’s own heart and grown in a petri dish. The stem cells form clusters called “cardiospheres” that can even start to beat while in the dish. These cells are then injected back into the damaged heart of the patient from which they came. The researchers are hoping that these new cells will grow into healthy muscle to replace a damaged and scarred heart. This minimally-invasive procedure was completed in the first patient on Friday, June 26, 2009.

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A study led by Johns Hopkins University researchers has found that eating broccoli sprouts can reduce the activity of H. pylori, a bacteria that often infects human stomachs and can lead to inflammation, ulcers, and even stomach cancer. Broccoli sprouts contain sulforaphane, a compound that has been found to act like an antibiotic. By reducing the activity of the bacteria, the inflammatory environment that can lead to cancerous growth may probably be reduced as well.

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Johns Hopkins University transplant surgeons have successfully completed what is believed to be the world’s first kidney transplant involving a kidney that was removed from the donor through her vagina and then transplanted into her niece. Removing the kidney through the vagina avoided the need to make a 5 to 6 inch incision in the donor’s abdomen and, instead, left only three pea-size scars, one of which is hidden in the navel. More about minimally invasive surgery.

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Milk allergy is the most common food allergy in children. And according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention food allergies in children have risen 18 percent in the last decade, with 3 million children in the United States having at least one food allergy. Having an allergy to milk can be difficult for children since milk products are extremely prevalent in the U.S. But scientists at Johns Hopkins and Duke universities are working on a solution. Their recent research suggest that daily exposure to milk powder can enhance the body’s tolerance to milk proteins. This technique, called oral immunotherapy, “gradually retrains the immune system to completely disregard or to better tolerate the allergens in milk that previously caused allergic reactions,” study senior investigator Dr. Robert Wood, director of Allergy and Immunology at Hopkins Children’s, said in a hospital news release. “Albeit preliminary and requiring further study, these results suggest that oral immunotherapy may be the closest thing yet to a true treatment for food allergy.”

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