northwestern university researchers

(Northwestern University) In an improvement over open-heart surgery, cardiologists now use catheters to eliminate damaged heart tissue in certain patients.

But this can be a long and painful procedure as catheters with different functions need to be inserted sequentially.

Now Northwestern University researchers and an interdisciplinary team have developed one catheter that can do it all.

This new tool for cardiac ablation therapy has all necessary medical devices printed on one standard balloon catheter.

(Northwestern University) Researchers from Northwestern University and NorthShore University HealthSystem have developed a method to detect early signs of lung cancer by examining cheek cells in humans using pioneering biophotonics technology.

The method offers the potential to prescreen patients at high risk for lung cancer, such as those who smoke, and identify the individuals who would likely benefit from more invasive and expensive tests versus those who don't need additional tests.

(Northwestern University) Northwestern University researchers have found that even before infants begin to speak, words play an important role in their cognition.

For 3-month-old infants, words influence performance in a cognitive task in a way that goes beyond the influence of other kinds of sounds, including musical tones.

The research by Alissa Ferry, Susan Hespos and Sandra Waxman in the University's psychology department will appear in the March/April edition of the journal Child Development.

(Northwestern University) The copper sequestering drug tetrathiomolybdate (TM) has been shown in studies to be effective in the treatment of Wilson disease, a disease caused by an overload of copper, and certain metastatic cancers.

That much is known. Very little, however, is known about how the drug works at the molecular level. A new study led by Northwestern University researchers now has provided an invaluable clue: the three-dimensional structure of TM bound to copper-loaded metallochaperones.

(Northwestern University) Recent clinical trials show that a new colon cancer screening technique created by Northwestern University researchers has a high enough sensitivity that it could potentially be as or more successful than a colonoscopy in screening for colon cancer.