Weill Cornell Science Briefs is an electronic newsletter published by the Office of Public Affairs that focuses on innovative medical research and patient care at Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The newsletter is sent electronically to journalists and available to all on this Web site.

Once placed into a patient's body, stem cells intended to treat or cure a disease could end up wreaking havoc simply because they are no longer under the control of the clinician. But gene therapy has the potential to solve this problem, according to a perspective article from physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center published in a recent issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell. The paper details strategies for genetically modifying stem cells prior to transplantation in order to ensure their safety.

Every summer, the seaside town of Ulcinj, Montenegro, swells to more than 10 times its off-season size due to an influx of European tourists that has grown since the end of the Yugoslav Wars in 2001. The result — more emergency patients than the town's small clinic can handle. To address this challenge, physicians and nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx are traveling to the region to teach and assist in emergency medicine and help organize a long-term response.

After visiting the emergency room with fainting spells and shortness of breath, a 17-year-old Morningside Heights boy was diagnosed with rare, life-threatening blood clots blocking his pulmonary arteries. To address the problem, surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital successfully performed a pulmonary thromboendartectomy (PTE) surgery — reportedly, the first time it has been performed on a child in the New York City area.

Breaking a fall, such as a tumble on the sidewalk, with your hands and wrists is everyone's natural reflex. But, if you fall hard enough, you'll often fracture your radius bone, or even one of the smaller wrist bones and wrist ligaments. Left untreated, these injuries could lead to disabling wrist arthritis.

In recent decades, there have been periodic reports of a worldwide decline in sperm count and quality. Male infertility has ostensibly been on the rise, accompanied by increases in testicular cancer and hypospadias — a congenital defect in which the opening of the urethra is on the underside, rather than at the end, of the penis. Taken together, these three conditions have been termed testicular dysgenesis syndrome.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital announced today that it has received a $50 million commitment from noted business leader, longtime supporter and Hospital Trustee Ronald P. Stanton. The gift will establish the Ronald P. Stanton Clinical Cancer Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, strengthening and expanding the Hospital's ability to provide patients with the very best cancer care.

A photograph of two patients at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian called "A Candid Moment at MSCHONY" was selected by the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI) for "Champions," its 2009 traveling exhibition of 50 photographs. The photo, taken by Charles Manley, was chosen from nearly 250 photographs submitted to NACHRI by children's hospitals across the country.