Rochester Medicine Magazine - Medical Center Rounds Updates

Medical Center launches patient-and-family-centered care

The University of Rochester Medical Center always has paid careful attention to issues of quality, safety, and service-excellence, but a recent commitment to patient-and family-centered care represents a more disciplined effort to involve all faculty and staff. Read more »

Scientists Discover Gene Regulation Mechanism Unique to Primates

Scientists have discovered a new way genes are regulated that is unique to primates, including humans and monkeys. Though the human genome – all the genes that an individual possesses – was sequenced 10 years ago, greater understanding of how genes function and are regulated is needed to make advances in medicine, including changing the way we diagnose, treat and prevent a wide range of diseases. Read more »

Grateful Cancer Survivor Makes Gift to Wilmot Cancer Center

Businessman Richard T. Bell is celebrating his triumph over cancer with a gift of $1.5 million that will be used to establish the Richard T. Bell Endowed Professorship in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center. The gift is given in honor of Yuhchyau Chen, M.D., Ph.D., interim chair of the department. Read more »

Study: Get Thee to a Stroke Center

Hospitals with designated stroke centers are associated with up to 20 percent higher survival rate for patients with ischemic stroke and significantly greater use of acute stroke therapy. That is the conclusion of a study appearing today in the Journal of the American Medical Association which compares treatment and outcomes in stroke care between hospitals in New York State. Read more »

Neuroscientist Robert Doty Dies at 91

Robert W. Doty, Ph.D., a leading brain researcher who helped create what is now the world’s largest organization of neuroscientists, the Society for Neuroscience, died Jan. 14 at home in Rush, N.Y. He was 91. Dr. Doty had served the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry since 1961, a central figure to a team of people that has made the University an internationally recognized powerhouse in neuroscience. Read more »

Researchers Unzip MRSA and Discover Route for Vaccine

University of Rochester Medical Center orthopaedic scientists are a step closer to developing a vaccine to prevent life-threatening methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections following bone and joint surgery. Read more »

Michael F. Kamali Named Chair of URMC Emergency Medicine

Michael F. Kamali, M.D., associate professor of clinical emergency medicine, has been named chair of the University of Rochester Medical Center Department of Emergency Medicine. Read more »

Researchers Pinpoint Origin of Deadly Brain Tumor

Scientists have identified the type of cell that is at the origin of brain tumors known as oligodendrogliomas, which are a type of glioma – a category that defines the most common type of malignant brain tumor. Read more »

Helicopter Transport Increases Survival for Seriously Injured Patients

Severely injured patients transported by helicopter from the scene of an accident are more likely to survive than patients brought to trauma centers by ground ambulance, according to a new study published in The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care. The study is the first to examine the role of helicopter transport on a national level and includes the largest number of helicopter-transport patients in a single analysis. Read more »

University of Rochester Recognized for Scientific Excellence

A recent report by Thomson Reuters shows that discoveries and insights by University of Rochester researchers disproportionately shape the thinking of other scientists.  The study places the University of Rochester on a short list of influential U.S. research institutions whose scholarly publications were referred to most frequently by colleagues. Read more »

Study Reveals Major Shift in How Eczema Develops

While the upper-most layer of the skin – the stratum corneum – has been pinned as the culprit in previous research, a new study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that a second skin barrier structure, consisting of cell-to-cell connections known as tight junctions, is also faulty in eczema patients and likely plays a role in the development of the disease. Read more »

Apartment-Dwelling Children in Nonsmoking Units Still Exposed

Children living in apartments are exposed to secondhand smoke even when no one smokes inside their own unit. This study, released online today by the journal Pediatrics, strongly suggests that housing type contributes to children’s exposure to tobacco smoke, despite the best intentions of parents. Read more »

Stem Cell Advance a Step Forward for Treatment of Brain Diseases

Scientists have created a way to isolate neural stem cells – cells that give rise to all the cell types of the brain – from human brain tissue with unprecedented precision, an important step toward developing new treatments for conditions of the nervous system, like Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases and spinal cord injury. Read more »