Health Highlights: June 9, 2008

• Sen. Edward Kennedy May Go Home Monday
• Researchers Failed to Disclose Drug Company Funding: Report
• Scientists Identify Gene Linked to Enlarged Heart
• Stem Cell Treatment May Have Cured Child With Rare Skin Disease
• Tainted Salmonella Tomatoes 'Distributed Throughout the Country'
• Many Americans Stressed About Money: Survey

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Sen. Edward Kennedy May Go Home Monday

One week after he underwent surgery for brain cancer, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was expected to be released Monday from Duke University Medical Center and go to his home in Hyannisport on Cape Cod, according to his son Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.)

Patrick Kennedy made the comments to The Providence Journal at the Rhode Island Democratic Convention on Sunday, the Associated Press reported.

A spokesman at Duke declined to confirm whether the 76-year-old senator would be released Monday, and said all updates on Kennedy's condition would come from his family, the AP reported.

Last month, Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant glioma brain tumor after he suffered a seizure. Last Monday, he had a 3.5-hour operation to remove as much of the tumor as possible to improve the success of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

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Researchers Failed to Disclose Drug Company Funding: Report

A team of doctors who helped pioneer the use of psychiatric drugs in children are being investigated after they failed to properly disclose at least $3.2 million in funding from several drug companies.

Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital are looking into the disclosure and conflict of interest forms of Drs. Joseph Beiderman, Timothy Wilens and Thomas Spencer, who conducted research into how children are affected by psychiatric drugs, Bloomberg news reported.

The researchers filed yearly disclosure forms showing they received a total of $120,000 from several drug companies. But they admitted to receiving more after Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) sought added documentation in March.

"Obviously, if a researcher is taking money from a drug company while also receiving federal dollars to research that company's product, then there is a conflict of interest," Grassley said in a statement.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health requires researchers to disclose when they receive at least $10,000 from companies whose products are being used in studies. When researchers fail to do so, institutions can lose their federal funding, Bloomberg reported.

Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital don't allow researchers to work on a company's product if the researchers get more than $20,000 a year from the company.

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Scientists Identify Gene Linked to Enlarged Heart

A new genetic cause of enlarged heart has been identified by an international team of scientists, who said their finding could lead to new treatments.

In research with rodents and humans, the scientists found that the gene osteoglycin (Ogn) regulates the growth of the heart's left ventricle, it's main pumping chamber. When Ogn behaves abnormally, the heart can become enlarged, BBC News reported.

The study appears in the journal Nature Genetics.

It was already known that irregular heart growth can be caused by obesity, high blood pressure and strenuous exercise, but the influence of genes is largely unknown, BBC News reported.

"But, now that we are unraveling how genes control heart growth, we can gain a better understanding of common forms of heart disease. This could lead to new and more effective ways of treating people," said researcher Dr. Stuart Cook.

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Stem Cell Treatment May Have Cured Child With Rare Skin Disease

University of Minnesota doctors believe they have hit a "home run" in using stem cell therapy in a 2-year-old boy's bone marrow by curing him of a rare disease that had been described as incurable.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that doctors performed a bone marrow transplant on 2-year-old Nate Liao, who had been suffering from recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), a genetic condition that literally causes skin to peel off at the slightest touch.