December News Roundup

 

Downstream signaling: Cilia release ectosomes to deliver important messages in the Kidney

Science X
Lipschutz and colleagues have linked the presence and length of mammalian primary cilia to EV production. Loss of EXOC5 or IFT88 resulted in shorter cilia that produced fewer EVs, while the presence of more EXOC5 resulted in longer cilia that produced more EVs. Importantly, the proteins that were found in these various EVs were very different. This has important implications for intercellular communication that is not limited to the kidney.

Survival rate for heart transplant recipients drops in early analysis of new system

MUSC Catalyst News
An early national analysis of the new way of prioritizing who should get donated hearts raises some red flags, doctors say. The study, published in The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, found that while fewer people are dying while waiting for a heart transplant, the people who are getting heart transplants have a lower survival rate than under the old system.

Ryan Tedford, M.D., chief of heart failure and medical director of the heart transplant team at MUSC Health, was one of the authors of the article, along with colleagues at the University of Minnesota, the University of Michigan, the Cleveland Clinic and Harvard Medical School. “It was a bit shocking that the numbers were as bad as reported. I think a lot of us had concerns that we would be transplanting sicker people, but the actual numbers we saw were worse than I predicted.”

Health Focus with Bobbi Connor: Excessive Daytime Sleepiness with Dr. Robert Vorona

SC Public Radio-Health Focus
Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. Robert Vorona about the health risks and problems related to excessive daytime sleepiness. Dr. Vorona is an Adult Sleep Medicine Specialist in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine at MUSC.

Health Focus with Bobbi Connor: Inherited Cardiovascular Disease with Dr. Daniel Judge

SC Public Radio-Health Focus
Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. Daniel Judge about inherited cardiovascular disease and new developments in cardiovascular genetic testing. Dr. Judge is a cardiologist specializing in inherited heart disease, and he is the Director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Program at MUSC.

Health Focus with Bobbi Connor: Diabetes in Pregnancy with Dr. Aundrea Loftley

SC Public Radio-Health Focus
Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. Aundrea Loftley about diabetes during pregnancy and efforts to control blood sugar to help maintain a healthy pregnancy. Dr. Loftley is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and an Endocrinologist at MUSC.

A Patient’s Guide to Chest Pain

U.S. News & World Report
“Chest pain can result from virtually any cardiopulmonary condition,” says Dr. Thomas Di Salvo, director of the division of cardiology and chief of the Heart & Vascular Integrated Center of Clinical Excellence at the Medical University of South Carolina. “Most commonly in the United States it results from coronary artery disease.” This is a cause of angina, a type of chest pain that occurs when the heart isn’t getting enough blood.

“The pain is usually beneath the breastbone, and it may radiate or migrate to other areas, including the inner part of the left arm down to the fingers, the neck or jaw or the back,” Di Salvo says.

Drug combination shows promise in preclinical models of triple negative breast cancer

MUSC Catalyst News
“Scientists are working hard every day to develop new drugs for triple negative breast cancer treatment, and the most important thing is for patients to participate and support clinical trials,” said Giordano. “That is the only way drugs can advance in clinical experimentation and get approved for patients. It is also the only way patients can receive drug therapies earlier in the course of the disease.”

The right doctor at the right time: Geriatricians focus on healthy aging for older adults

SC Now
In just 15 years, people in the United States over the age of 65 will outnumber children for the first time in history, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The aging population comes with a new set of health care challenges. Recent news of former President Jimmy Carter’s hospitalization after his third fall this year might feel familiar to middle-aged adults trying to help their parents navigate a new stage of life.

Geriatricians, doctors who are specially trained to care for older adults, can be an invaluable resource.

“A geriatrician has specialized medical training for older adults,” said Amanda Overstreet, D.O., who is board certified in geriatrics and oversees geriatrics education for internal medicine residents at MUSC Health. “One reason it’s important is the physiology of an older adult is different than the physiology of a younger adult.”

The doctors are in: Two specialties join forces to provide unified care to pregnant women with diabetes

MUSC Catalyst News
Women with diabetes who become pregnant have among the most difficult pregnancies to manage. But a new joint endocrine and obstetric clinic at MUSC Women’s Health seeks to move those 40 weeks of pregnancy along smoothly to a successful and healthy birth.

The joint clinic, a passion of Timothy Lyons, M.D., director of the Division of Endocrinology at MUSC Health, began taking patients in November.

Endocrinologist Aundrea Loftley, M.D., said that in the past, obstetricians would manage a patient’s diabetes with consultation from an endocrinologist as necessary. Some hospitals have established endocrine/obstetric clinics in which a patient can see both doctors on the same day, but MUSC Health wants to take the model a step further.

Health Focus with Bobbi Connor: Circadian Rhythm with Dr. Chitra Lal

SC Public Radio-Health Focus
Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. Chitra Lal about out circadian rhythm; our twenty-four hour internal clock that regulates cycles of alertness and sleepiness. Dr. Lal is an Associate Professor of Medicine and she’s a Sleep Medicine Specialist in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine at MUSC.