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WHSC News Releases for August


August 29, 2003 School of Medicine Program Features Latest Findings on Fragile X Syndrome
Geneticists at Emory University School of Medicine, who lead the world’s largest research program on fragile X syndrome, will present their latest research findings and expectations for future treatments at an event at Emory on Thursday, Sept. 18, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
FULL STORY
August 28, 2003 Emory Scientists Track Down Immune Sentinel Cells With Gene Gun
Dendritic cells monitor foreign substances in the body and communicate whether they present a danger to the rest of the immune system. Emory immunologists have developed a sensitive method to detect and follow dendritic cells by marking them with a change in their DNA, and have discovered that they are more numerous and longer lived than other scientists had previously observed. Their research uses a gene gun, which shoots DNA into the skin using microscopic gold pellets, and could lead to a faster and simpler way to vaccinate against emerging diseases like West Nile virus, SARS, or hepatitis C.
FULL STORY
August 28, 2003 Emergency Room Doctors Find Moonshine Drinkers in Downtown Atlanta
Moonshine consumption has often been considered a backwoods activity in small, southern towns, yet as Emory University School of Medicine researchers at Grady Memorial Hospital have recently discovered, moonshine use is surprisingly common in urban Atlanta as well. In a study conducted in the Grady Memorial Hospital emergency department and published in the September 2003 issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine, lead author Brent W. Morgan, MD, assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at Emory and director of Emory’s Medical Toxicology Fellowship Program, reveals that a group of patients who admitted consuming moonshine were more likely to have elevated blood lead levels than patients who did not drink moonshine.
FULL STORY
August 21, 2003 Scientists Identify New Sperm Protein Required for Fertilization
In the United States, nearly 2.6 million couples have been treated for infertility with about 40 percent of those cases thought to be due to male infertility. Now, a study published in the August 22 issue of Cell identifies a new protein that is required for a sperm to bind to an egg during the process of fertilization. This research provides important new insight into the molecular mechanisms that are involved in the initial events of sperm-egg association and may shed light on what underlies some instances of male infertility.
FULL STORY
August 20, 2003 Emergency Medicine Physician Develops Curriculum Teaching Medical Residents How to Communicate News of Death to Families
Tammie E. Quest, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine and Project on Death in America Faculty Scholar, has developed an innovative curriculum teaching emergency medicine residents at Grady Memorial Hospital how to communicate the news of sudden death to families in the emergency setting.
FULL STORY
August 20, 2003 NIH Awards HIV Vaccine Development Grant to UAB, Emory University, Harvard, and Novavax, Inc.
As part of a multi-institutional $16 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), scientists in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Emory University School of Medicine and the Emory Vaccine Center will work to develop and test a potential new class of HIV vaccines.
FULL STORY
August 18, 2003 MCG Health System Partners with Emory and Georgia in Pilot Eye Screening Project
MCG Health System, along with Emory Eye Center and the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR), are sponsoring a pilot project that they hope will lead to statewide eye screenings for diabetics.
FULL STORY
August 15, 2003 Emory Crawford Long Hospital and the Metropolitan Medical Response System Host Atlanta's Emergency and Medical Personnel for a Day of SARS Education, Monday, Aug. 18, 8 A.M. ­ 2:30 P.M.
SARS has affected the lives of thousands across the world. Although Atlanta has been spared the brunt of the epidemic, Emory Crawford Long Hospital and the Metropolitan Medical Response System are making sure emergency and medical personnel in Atlanta are prepared for SARS, should the need arise.
FULL STORY
August 15, 2003 Emory Center Helps Hyperacusis And Tinnitus Patients With A Unique Retraining Therapy
Suffering from a "ringing in the ears" sounds benign enough on the scale of medical problems, but tinnitus and related hearing disorders that affect millions of Americans can become so severe that they lead not only to decreased life quality but to anxiety, panic, depression and social isolation.
FULL STORY
August 14, 2003 Emory Scientist Presents Findings on Depression, Drug and Alcohol Use, and Risky Sex
Claire Sterk, PhD, Charles Howard Candler professor and chair of behavioral science and health education, Rollins School of Public Health, and her team of researchers will present a series of findings on the connections between depression, alcohol and drug use, and the propensity to engage in risky sex at the 98th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 16-19 at the Hilton Atlanta and Atlanta Marriott Marquis hotels.
FULL STORY
August 13, 2003 Emory Biostatisticians Demonstrate Method to Bolster Accuracy of Vaccine Studies
Is my illness serious enough to warrant a doctor visit? Do I have the flu or the common cold? These mundane questions posed by millions every year during flu season bedevil scientists who study influenza vaccines and can obscure the effectiveness of a trial vaccine. Scientists from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University have been exploring ways to measure vaccine effectiveness accurately, despite two persistent problems that threaten to confound statistical analysis: bias in reporting illness and non-specific definitions of disease.
FULL STORY
August 11, 2003 Emory Professor's New Book Compares The Intimate Lives of Mexican Immigrant Women To Those of their Sisters Across the Border
For eight months Jennifer Hirsch, PhD, an international health professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, sat in the knitting shops with the women in two small Mexican towns. She immersed herself into their culture, learning about their views on marriage, sexuality and reproductive health practices. Then she did the same with their sisters on Buford Highway in Atlanta’s immigrant corridor, driving them to doctor’s appointments and church services as she explored how their lives differed from their sister’s experiences across the border.
FULL STORY
August 7, 2003 Emory University School Of Medicine Establishes Cottrell Fellowships Program
The Frederick Gardner Cottrell Foundation has awarded Emory University School of Medicine a four-year grant of $263,560 to establish a new postdoctoral fellowship program for outstanding biomedical graduates. The Cottrell Fellowships not only will provide highly competitive stipend support for postgraduate research training, but also will provide additional support for personal research expenses as well as unique opportunities for professional and career development.
FULL STORY
August 6, 2003 Emory Pediatrician Advises Parents on Safety Tips As Children Prepare To Head Back To School
As a pediatrician and medical director of the Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Atlanta, Terri McFadden, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine, has treated her share of childhood injuries. Yet many of them, she says, can often be avoided if parents become more aware of what can be done to prevent injuries from occurring. Now as thousands of metro Atlanta children prepare to head back to school, Dr. McFadden offers several tips on how parents can keep their children safe and injury-free.
FULL STORY
August 6, 2003 Emory Study To Determine The Prevalence of West Nile Virus In Emergency Department Patients With Fever
As part of a research study, Emory University investigators are expanding West Nile virus testing to include emergency room patients with fever. The effort seeks to determine the real prevalence of West Nile virus in a group where infection might otherwise go undetected because its symptoms are less severe or not specific for West Nile virus fever.
FULL STORY
August 6, 2003 Emory Pilot Study Tests Virtual Reality Therapy For People With Fear of Public Speaking
The thought of public speaking can cause students or even business professionals to tremble. The fear of public speaking is common in up to 88 percent of individuals with social phobia, and 34 percent of people in the general population. The stares of an awaiting audience may evoke sweaty hands, shortness of breath, and memory loss for people who suffer from this social anxiety that is the most common phobia.
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August 4, 2003 Mouse Studies Reveal Immune Mechanism Involved in Bone Loss Caused by Estrogen Deficiency
Scientists have uncovered in mice a key mechanism of the immune system involved in the bone loss that results from estrogen deficiency. If confirmed in human studies, the findings would demonstrate that postmenopausal osteoporosis is the result of an inappropriate immune response triggered by estrogen deficiency. The research also could help explain why estrogen deficiency appears to exacerbate autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
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