A new genetic approach to treating sickle cell disease is showing promising results in mice, report researchers from Children’s Hospital Boston. By inactivating a gene they previously discovered to be important in the laboratory, they were able to boost production of a healthy fetal form of hemoglobin in the mice, potentially compensating for the defective adult hemoglobin that causes red blood cells to “sickle” and obstruct blood flow

Neurosurgeons from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center performed the world’s first intra-arterial cerebral infusion of Avastin (bevacizumab) directly into a patient’s malignant brain tumor.

Neurosurgeons from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center performed the world’s first intra-arterial cerebral infusion of Avastin (bevacizumab) directly into a patient’s malignant brain tumor.

Acute heart attack patients received an average total dose of ionizing radiation equal to 725 chest X-rays from medical tests during their hospital stay, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2009.

Many biological processes are controlled by small molecules known as microRNAs, which work by suppressing the expression of specific sets of genes. Xiang-Hang Luo and colleagues, at Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, People’s Republic of China, have now identified a previously unknown microRNA (miR-2861) as crucial to bone maintenance in mice and humans.