Tag Archives: Massachusetts General Hospital

Articles of Interest

MIT Cop Killed In Boston Shootout With Bombing Suspects ‘Was Born To Be A Police Officer’

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

Sean Collier, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer who was shot and killed during a confrontation with the two Boston Marathon bombing suspects, was a 26-year-old at the start of a law-enforcement career he considered a calling, according to police.

Collier had been with the campus police force for only 14 months when he was found shot near Vasser and Main streets in Cambridge Thursday night at 10:30 p.m., not long after the first reports of gunfire near campus. According to authorities, Collier was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

MIT Police Chief John DiFava praised Collier on Friday as a devoted cop early in a career that he seemed to love.

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More on Terrorism

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/mit-cop-killed-sean-collier_n_3116503.html

News, Politics, Government

Police officer reportedly shot, injured at MIT campus

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BREAKING NEWS: Gunshots were reported Thursday night near a building on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., according to a posting on the university’s website.

The shooting was reported near the Ray and Maria Stata Center, also known as Building 32. The area is cordoned off and surrounded by responding law enforcement agencies, according to the posting.

Massachusetts State Police told MyFoxBoston.com that a campus police officer was shot and transported to Massachusetts General Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The university described the situation as “active and extremely dangerous” and said an investigation is underway.Officials were advising students on campus to stay away from the area.

Click here for more from MyFoxBoston.com.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/UfItwxOYQ3w/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Alkermes Announces Positive Results from Phase 2 Clinical Study of ALKS 5461 for Major Depressive Di

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Alkermes Announces Positive Results from Phase 2 Clinical Study of ALKS 5461 for Major Depressive Disorder

— Significantly Improved Depression Scores in 142-Patient Study Testing Novel Mechanism of Action for Once-Daily, Oral Medication —

— Company Plans to Initiate Pivotal Development Program —

— Data to be Presented at NCDEU Conference in May —

DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Alkermes plc (NAS: ALKS) today announced positive preliminary topline results from a phase 2 study of ALKS 5461, its novel drug compound for major depressive disorder (MDD) in patients who have an inadequate response to standard therapies for clinical depression. ALKS 5461 reflects a new approach to the treatment of MDD based on modulation of opioid receptors in the brain and is designed as a non-addictive, oral, once-daily medicine. Data from the study showed that ALKS 5461 significantly reduced depressive symptoms across a range of standard measures including the study’s primary outcome measure, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D17) (p=0.026), the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) (p=0.004) and the Clinical Global Impression – Severity Scale (CGI-S) (p=0.035). ALKS 5461 was generally well tolerated. Based on these results, as well as the positive phase 1/2 results previously reported, Alkermes plans to request a meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and advance ALKS 5461 into a pivotal development program. Data from this phase 2 study will be presented at the 53rd Annual New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit (NCDEU) Meeting in Hollywood, Fla., May 28-31, 2013.

“The improvements in depressive symptoms observed in patients treated with ALKS 5461 in this study were clinically meaningful and among the most robust I have seen in a phase 2 study for depression in the past two decades. This promising candidate could provide a valuable new treatment approach for this serious and chronic disease,” stated Maurizio Fava, M.D., Director of the Depression Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Slater Family Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “There is significant unmet medical need for novel treatments with new mechanisms of action for depression, as many patients do not adequately respond to existing pharmacological therapies.”

The phase 2, randomized, double-blind, multicenter, placebo-controlled study assessed the efficacy and safety of two doses of ALKS 5461 when administered once daily for four weeks as

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/17/alkermes-announces-positive-results-from-phase-2-c/

Articles of Interest

Boston Marathon Amputations: Faced With Legs Mangled By Bombs, Doctors Had To Amputate

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
BOSTON, April 16 (Reuters) – Doctors attending to long-distance runners usually see overheating and dehydration, but on Monday after the bombings on the Boston Marathon finish line the injuries were so gruesome that some had no choice but to amputate once healthy legs.
Surgeons at Boston’s biggest hospitals raced against the clock to save the lives of spectators and athletes who came in with legs so mangled that bones were sticking out and some limbs were hanging only by shreds of muscle.
“If these victims had spent even a few more minutes at the scene they would not be alive today,” Alasdair Conn, chief of emergency services at Massachusetts General Hospital, said on Tuesday.
A team of 20 Massachusetts General surgeons, including one who had himself just completed the 26.2 mile (42.2 km) race, amputated four legs above the knee. At Boston Medical Center, surgeons performed five amputations and at Brigham & Women’s there was one.
Two bombs exploded more than four hours into the race as hundreds of weary runners approached the finish line watched by thousands of spectators at one of the city’s signature sporting events. So far three people, including an eight year old boy and 29-year-old woman, have died and 176 are injured, some critically.
What kept the casualties relatively low, doctors said in interviews and briefings, was that so many doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians and ambulances were stationed at the finish to assist with the usually more routine ailments of the grueling event.
Doctors were able to quickly tell nearby hospitals what types of injuries were coming their way, they said.

DOCTORS SHOCKED
Even seasoned veterans, including some who had worked in war zones, were shocked by the injuries, several doctors said.
“In my 20 years here I have never seen such a degree of casualties with

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/17/boston-marathon-amputations-legs_n_3095747.html

News, Politics, Government

Boston attacks are reminder of violence elsewhere

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The blasts that struck the Boston Marathon on Monday were shocking not only for their brazenness and the lives they shattered, but also because attacks like this usually happen in far-off, troubled places — not in the middle of a major American city.

As the chief of emergency services at Massachusetts General Hospital, Alasdair Conn, put it: “This is what we expect from war.”

Many who live in countries such as Iraq and Syria where violence remains troublingly common had mixed reactions to the bombings. While they were sorry to hear about the attacks, some expressed dismay that the assaults they face on a regular basis get less attention.

“Nobody cared about the dozens of victims who fell yesterday in Iraq and Syria,” said Hazim Khazim, a teacher who lost a cousin in a bombing in Baghdad on Monday, in a reaction typical of many in the region.

Internet cafe owner Hassan Sabeeh in Baghdad was more understanding.

“The Iraqi people can feel, more than anybody else in the world, the misery of the Boston victims and their families,” he said. “We sympathize and feel their suffering.”

Authorities in the United States are urgently searching for clues into the bombing in Boston that killed three, including 8-year-old Martin Richard. More than 170 people were wounded.

Here is a look at some other countries that have faced violent attacks of their own in recent days:

SYRIA

Syrian warplanes swooped over the quiet town of Saraqeb in the country’s north Saturday, dropping bombs on a residential district. The blasts shattered storefronts, set cars ablaze and sent huge plumes of smoke into the sky. Rubble and twisted metal littered the street after the airstrikes, which left 20 dead. Harrowing images like those have become routine for those watching the Syrian civil war unfold. Activists say an average of 120 people get killed daily in violence and clashes across the country.

“In Syria, it’s not Boston every day, but many times per day,” posted Jean Pierre Duthion, a French expatriate in Damascus who has Tweeted the war.

IRAQ

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/tWpDFv2M9Oo/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

InVivo Therapeutics' CEO Scheduled to Appear on WCVB-TV in Boston Tonight

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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InVivo Therapeutics’ CEO Scheduled to Appear on WCVB-TV in Boston Tonight

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV), a developer of groundbreaking technologies for the treatment of spinal cord injuries (SCI) and other neurotrauma conditions, today announced that CEO Frank Reynolds is scheduled to appear on WCVB-TV in Boston tonight, April 10th during the 11:00pm EDT newscast.

InVivo Therapeutics has pioneered a treatment that uses a biocompatible polymer-based scaffold to provide structural support to a damaged spinal cord in order to spare tissue from scarring while improving recovery and prognosis after traumatic SCI.

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted two approvals to the Company, the first for Humanitarian Use Device (HUD) designation, which the Company believes will expedite the product’s path to market, and the second to approve the Company to begin a first-in-man clinical trial of the technology.

“Our technology is a true platform that can be leveraged to create products for many neurotrauma conditions, and we look forward to beginning the study for our lead product to provide the first effective treatment option for acute SCI,” said Reynolds.

WCVB-TV is the ABC affiliate for the Boston market and airs locally on channel 5.

About InVivo Therapeutics

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. is utilizing polymers as a platform technology to develop treatments to improve function in individuals paralyzed from traumatic spinal cord injuries. The company was founded in 2005 based on proprietary technology co-invented by Robert S. Langer, ScD, Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Joseph P. Vacanti, M.D., who is affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2011, the company earned the prestigious David F. Apple Award from the American Spinal Injury Association for its outstanding contribution to spinal cord injury medicine. The publicly traded company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. For more details, visit www.invivotherapeutics.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, and the Company intends that such statements are subject to the safe harbor created thereby. These statements include, but are not limited to, those relating to the expected approval of the FDA to conduct

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

InVivo Therapeutics Receives Approval from FDA for First Human Trial Using Biomaterials for Traumati

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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InVivo Therapeutics Receives Approval from FDA for First Human Trial Using Biomaterials for Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV), a developer of groundbreaking technologies for the treatment of spinal cord injuries (SCI) and other neurotrauma conditions, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Company’s Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) to begin human studies to test its biopolymer scaffold product, a technology developed to treat patients with acute, traumatic SCI.

With this approval, InVivo intends to commence a first-in-man clinical study in the next few months that will test safety and performance of its biopolymer scaffold in five patients. The Company expects the study to occur over approximately 15 months. There are currently no treatment options approved by the FDA, or in clinical trials, to intervene directly in the spinal cord following SCI. The trial will be conducted at multiple U.S. hospitals, and work to gain Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston is already underway.

“It’s heartbreaking for all of us for it to take even a minute longer than necessary to begin human studies, and we’ve all heard of, or experienced, treatments that have proven to be unsafe, but when conducting a first-in-man study, it is imperative to take the time to get it right, because any mistakes can lead to years of lost time for the scientists and patients that follow,” said Frank Reynolds, InVivo Chief Executive Officer.

“I want to thank my team for their years of dedication and hard work, and the FDA for its diligence, careful consideration and engagement during the stringent review of our technology, a true platform that we believe is capable of being leveraged into new treatments for a wide range of acute and chronic neurological conditions. Many of these neurological problems have limited options for care, and for the patients and families of those with lower incidence conditions, often called ‘orphan’ conditions, every day life can feel like there is no way out. We expect a successful safety study to provide not only the first treatment for acute SCI, but also a safe platform for next generation treatment options for conditions such as ALS, MS and Parkinson’s Disease. At InVivo we live by the mantra ‘What a drug or cell can do…We can optimize,’ and we believe that these treatments will include combination therapies that will be optimized with long-term release and localized delivery of agents or cells.”

Continued Reynolds, “Everyone knows my obsession with safe FDA studies. Over the next month or …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

InVivo Therapeutics Sponsors 2013 RISE Above Paralysis Gala

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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InVivo Therapeutics Sponsors 2013 RISE Above Paralysis Gala

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV), a developer of groundbreaking technologies for the treatment of spinal cord injuries (SCI) and other neurotrauma conditions, today announced that the Company has renewed its support for the Greater Boston Chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA), a non-profit organization that offers programs and services to those with spinal cord injury and disease.

InVivo will serve as a Premier sponsor at the RISE Above Paralysis Gala this Saturday, March 16, 2013, an annual event hosted by the Greater Boston Chapter of the NSCIA. The evening will bring together individuals with SCI, family members, healthcare professionals, and benefactors for a silent auction, dinner and dancing. This year’s gala marks the 21st anniversary of the Greater Boston Chapter.

“We’ve worked for years to be ready to begin human studies and as we await word from the FDA regarding our application we’re proud to once again be a part of the RISE Above Paralysis Gala,” said Frank Reynolds, InVivo Chief Executive Officer. “This is the fourth year that we’ve been a premier sponsor, and we look forward to another evening celebrating the lives of those living with SCI.”

Said David Estrada, Director of the Greater Boston Chapter, “From the day InVivo was founded, it has reached out and supported the SCI community via corporate philanthropy. We depend on generous donors like InVivo to support our mission, and we look forward to hearing the progress they’ve made on acute and chronic SCI technologies.”

About InVivo Therapeutics

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. is utilizing polymers as a platform technology to develop treatments to improve function in individuals paralyzed from traumatic spinal cord injuries. The company was founded in 2005 based on proprietary technology co-invented by Robert S. Langer, ScD, Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Joseph P. Vacanti, M.D., who is affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2011, the company earned the prestigious David F. Apple Award from the American Spinal Injury Association for its outstanding contribution to spinal cord injury medicine. The publicly traded company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. For more details, visit www.invivotherapeutics.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

News, Politics, Government

Making Electronic Health Records More Efficient

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By Zina Moukheiber, Contributor Six years ago, radiologist Michael Zalis found himself spending a lot of time logging in and out of separate electronic health records at Massachusetts General Hospital to gather lab data, clinical notes, and other non-imaging information scattered in multiple databases. “Clinicians face this every day,” says Zalis, who quantified the frequency of EHR use to interpret CT scans and MRIs, and published his findings in the American Journal of Roentgenology. “It takes hours to manually pull together information, and clinicians are under pressure to get the information they need.” …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Health

Some Antidepressants May Cause Heart Rhythm Problems, Study Confirms

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SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), types of antidepressants, are associated with a long QT interval, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, reported in the BMJ (British Medical Journal). The QT interval is the duration of electrical activity of the heart muscle. A long QT interval is a marker for heart rhythm abnormalities…
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Medical News Today