Thursday, October 29, 2009

UT Southwestern Patient First In North Texas To Receive Newest-generation Heart Failure Device

UT Southwestern Medical Center patient Michael LeBlanc, 40, is the first in North Texas to receive the newest generation of a mechanical device designed to improve heart function. It will be his lifeline while he awaits a heart transplant. Called a left-ventricular assist device (LVAD), its purpose is to help a patient's weakened heart pump blood throughout the body. For Mr. LeBlanc, it will help his ailing heart continue to pump until the Irving resident receives a new heart. More at...

Sunday, October 25, 2009

How Tiny Cells Deliver Big Sound

Deep in the ear, 95 percent of the cells that shuttle sound to the brain are big, boisterous neurons that, to date, have explained most of what scientists know about how hearing works. Whether a rare, whisper-small second set of cells also carry signals from the inner ear to the brain and have a real role in processing sound has been a matter of debate. Continue reading ...

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

High Protein Diet May Shrink Brain Say Alzheimer's Researchers

Researchers observing the effects of various diets on the brains of genetically engineered mice bred for studying Alzheimer's disease found quite unexpectedly that mice fed a high protein, low carbohydrate diet, developed brains that were five per cent lighter than those of mice fed other diets. Continue reading ...