Beth Israel establishes new diabetes center
Beth Israel Medical Center (New York) has established the new Gerald J. Friedman Diabetes Institute, which offers state-of-the-art supportive care, education and research in a brand-new facility on Beth Israel's main campus in Lower Manhattan.
The Institute, a gift to the people of the greater New York metropolitan area from the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman New York Foundation for Medical Research, has already enrolled over 300 patients — though its official opening will be celebrated on Nov. 14, 2007, which is World Diabetes Day. When fully operational, the Institute will have a full-time staff that will include nutritional, clinical and educational experts.
“This is a very innovative approach to diabetes care and research, and all of us at the Friedman Diabetes Institute are proud to be taking part in a proactive way to battle this insidious disease,” said Leonid Poretsky, MD, director of Beth Israel's diabetes management program and chief of the division of endocrinology and metabolism. “The idea is not for patients to come here to see physicians, though we will have four doctors on hand for emergencies. Instead, the Institute is here to supplement and support patients who remain with their own primary care physicians.”
Caritas Norwood bariatric wins accreditation
The bariatric surgery center at Caritas Norwood Hospital (CNH; Norwood, Massachusetts) has been accredited as a Level 2 facility by the Bariatric Surgery Center Network (BSCN) accreditation program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS; Chicago).
The ACS BSCN accreditation program provides confirmation that a bariatric surgery center has demonstrated its commitment to providing the highest quality care for its weight loss surgery patients. Accredited bariatric surgery centers provide not only the hospital resources necessary for optimal care of morbidly obese patients, but also the support and resources that are necessary to address the entire spectrum of care and needs of bariatric patients, from the prehospital phase through the postoperative care and treatment process.
Molnlycke moves global headquarters to U.S.
Molnlycke Health Care (Norcross) reports that global headquarters for its Biogel surgical gloves business unit is now in the U.S.
Lundy Fields, president, Americas Surgical Division, has been appointed global head of the Gloves business unit. Research and development, and some other support functions, will continue to be based in Irlam, England.
Molnlycke, is a supplier of powder-free surgical gloves, and said it is the only major medical glove company with an exclusively powder-free glove line.
The company said the Biogel brand of surgical gloves is nearly 25 years old and is known for exceptional fit, feel and comfort on the hands of surgeons worldwide.
Platelet hyper-responsiveness identified
Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland) have identified the mechanism that accounts for platelet hyper-responsiveness during abnormal blood cholesterol levels, the major risk factor for fatal heart attacks and strokes.
Using human clinical studies and mouse models, the researchers found that CD36 on platelets modulates platelet activity in response to oxidant stress and abnormal lipids in the blood. The researchers demonstrated that platelets from humans lacking CD36, a rare genetic disorder, have altered platelet responsiveness. They further demonstrated that the genetic deletion of CD36 could protect mice fed a high fat diet from developing hyperreactive platelets. Prior studies by Maria Febbraio, PhD, and Roy Silverstein, MD, researchers in the Lerner Research Institute’s Department of Cell Biology, and co-investigators on the study, showed genetic deletion of CD36 protects mice from atherosclerosis, the accumulation of plaque in blood vessels.