Big Data
Duchenne muscular dystrophy: The decade of therapy
‘Heart on a chip’ suggests a surprising treatment for a rare genetic disease
Caffeine helps premature babies breathe a little easier…but how much and for how long?
By Tom Ulrich
The caffeine in coffee might help get you going in the morning, but for premature babies it can be lifesaving. For more than a decade neonatologists have routinely given premature newborns caffeine as a respiratory stimulant, helping their immature lungs and brains remember to breathe and reducing episodes of intermittent hypoxia (IH)—short, repetitive drops in blood oxygen levels.
Direct-to-consumer genetic testing: a case of potential harm
Last November, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a “cease and desist” order to 23andMe, a major purveyor of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing. In its letter to the company—issued after three prior warnings—the FDA reiterated its view that 23andMe’s Personal Genome Service (PGS) constitutes a medical device requiring further premarket evaluation:
Hearing restoration has a sound future
By Jeffrey Holt
Capturing complexity: Modeling bone marrow on a chip
By Tom Ulrich
The light side of drug delivery
By Tom Ulrich
Getting drugs where they need to be, and at the right time, can be more challenging than you think. Tumors, for example, tend to have blood vessels that are tighter and twistier than normal ones, making it hard for drugs to penetrate them. Despite decades of research on antibodies, peptides and other guidance methods, drug makers struggle to target drugs to specific tissues or cell types.
Q+A: The economic case for obesity treatment
By Lisa Fratt
Can putting a price tag on childhood obesity propel treatment and prevention efforts into comprehensive action? Perhaps, says David Ludwig, MD, PhD, of Boston Children’s Hospital.
Health claims data: Taking a 30,000-foot view on disease associations
By Tom Ulrich
The only time most of us ever look at an insurance claim is after a hospital or doctor visit, when we get a claim summary from our carrier. And then as far as we know, it gets filed away, never again to see the light of day.
But there’s a lot to be learned from these claims data.
CMS plans unprecedented dump of Medicare data | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — White House officials announced that they plan to make public a rich reservoir of data Medicare payments unlike any publicized before, perhaps as early as next week.
The release will include payments made in 2012 to individual doctors, covering some 880,000 healthcare providers, according to the Wall Street Journal. The move is expected to help healthcare watchdogs curb fraud and examine usage trends.