Updated: Friday, December 19 2014, 07:34 PM EST Rochester, N.Y. -- A doctor's visit isn't always pleasant. But for children with Autism, that experience can become overwhelming. A new, one of a kind pediatric clinic is being dedicated to children with Autism. The Golisano Children's Hospital received a major gift to help build the new facility. The William and Mildred Levine Foundation donated $1 million to the center. Dr. Susan Hyman, of the URMC, says more than 500 new Autism Spectrum Disorders diagnosis were made through UR Medicine's Golisano Children's Hospital in the past year. That number is growing, and the new center will cater to their specific needs. "When you have a child with a disability like autism the smallest activities can be really challenging," says Rachel Rosner, member director at AutismUp and mother of two children with Autism. "When you have a child with autism you visit the doctor a lot more than families with typical developing children." That's because they have different sensory needs. "Children with Autism are overwhelmed by sound or may get fixated on certain patterns - who become overwhelmed with the proximity coming and going through the same doorway or the noise," says Dr. … Continue reading →

Friday December 19, 2014 5:39 PM UPDATED: Saturday December 20, 2014 3:27 PM A stroke is called a brain attack. Survivors may find themselves partially paralyzed or unable to speak. But a new study finds that a treatment tested at OhioHealth Riverside Hospital can do a remarkable job helping some patients recover. Every 45 seconds, someone in this country has a stroke. It's caused by a clot, that stops blood flow in the brain. Doctors say "time is brain." "The longer you wait to get treatment, the more brain tissue might have died." said Dr. Ron Budzik, co-director of the stroke program a Riverside. Until now, the only approved treatment has been the clot-busting drug called TPA. But it has to be given no more than four and a half hours after the brain attack. Doctors at Riverside Hospital were among the first in the country to test a new technique, one that uses a tiny scaffold-like stent. When a stroke patient arrives in the emergency department at Riverside, doctors scan the blood vessels of the brain to locate the clot. Through a small slit, they snake a tube up to the clot. The tube carries the stent. A tiny … Continue reading →

Hockey legendGordie Howehas made strides in his recovery from a stroke after underdoing adult stem-cell treatment earlier this month inMexico. The 86-year-old Howe had a significant stroke in October and his family said in an update on Friday that he has shown significant improvement since participating in a clinical trial. In a statement issued through theDetroit Red Wings, the family described the procedure and his recovery: "Following the press coverage of our father's deteriorating medical condition, the Howe family was contacted in late November by Dr.Maynard Howe(CEO) andDave McGuigan(VP) ofStemedica Cell Technologies. McGuigan knew our family as a result of his previous employment with theDetroit Red Wings. "Stemedica is abiotechnologycompany that manufactures allogeneic adultstem cellsin itsU.S. governmentlicensed,cGMP facilityinSan Diego,California. Although no relation, Dr. Howe and his brothers Drs. David and Roger are hockey players and bigGordie Howefans, having grown up inMinnesota. They wished to help our father by generously facilitating Dad's participation in a stem cell clinical trial at Novastem, a licensed distributor of Stemedica's products inMexico. Novastem (www.novastem.mx) is currently conducting federally licensed andInstitutional Review Boardapproved clinical trials for several medical conditions, including stroke, using Stemedica's stem cell products. At the time, we were contacted, Mr. Hockey had been … Continue reading →

Opening a new chapter in the use of genomic science to fight cancer, the Food & Drug Administration on Friday approved olaparib, a medication for advanced ovarian cancer associated with a defective BRCA gene. The new drug, to be marketed under the commercial name Lynparza, was found in a preliminary clinical trial to shrink or eliminate ovarian tumors in women whose cancers bore a specific genetic fingerprint and who had undergone at least three prior lines of chemotherapy. Based on Lynparza's "existing objective response rate and duration of response data," the drug safety agency granted the medication's maker, Astra-Zeneca, an "accelerated" approval. Roughly a third of women with the genetic mutation targeted by Lynparza saw partial shrinkage or complete disappearance of their ovarian tumors over an average of eight months. At the same time, the FDA granted marketing approval for a "companion diagnostic" that will help identify women whose advanced ovarian cancer is likely to respond to the drug. That test, BRACAnalysis CDx, is made by Myriad Genetics Inc. To be a candidate for Lynparza, a patient must take the test and show positive for a specific mutation of the BRCA gene, which confers a high risk of both breast … Continue reading →