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New therapy to send cancer-killing drugs directly to tumours

Disguising a molecule to get it past the body's immune system could greatly enhance the success of a groundbreaking new therapy, Cancer Research UK scientists report in the British Journal of Cancer this week.

2 Jun 2004

Health surveys find mental disorders highly prevalent and often untreated

Reallocation of treatment resources could substantially decrease the problem of unmet need for treatment of mental disorders among serious cases in developed and developing countries.

1 Jun 2004

Microbes in your gut could be cause of allergies

Allergies making your life miserable? Tired of popping antihistamines like candy? Can't go anywhere without your inhaler? The real problem may not be your stuffed-up head. It could be the microbes in your gut.

1 Jun 2004

There are still benefits from hormone therapy after menopause

Despite the highly publicized closing of the Women’s Health Initiative study, the scientific community should not rule out that women may benefit from hormone therapy after menopause, say researchers at UC Davis, Duke and Harvard Universities.

31 May 2004

Cellular garbage plays a key role in the process of cytokinesis, or cell division

A cellular structure discovered 125 years ago and dismissed by many biologists as "cellular garbage" has been found to play a key role in the process of cytokinesis, or cell division, one of the most ancient and important of all biological phenomena.

27 May 2004

Training in chronic care medicine is poor

In a national survey of practicing family physicians, pediatricians, internists and surgeons, the majority reported that their training in chronic care medicine was too thin overall to meet the demands of their practices.

27 May 2004

Antibiotics could be the cause of many allergies

27 May 2004

Arrhythmias are more commonly associated with adults, they can affect children as well

Doctors prescribed different medications to control the cardiac arrhythmia, or abnormal heartbeat. But the medications slowed his heart rate too much, at times to as low as 40 beats per minute.

27 May 2004

30-ton superconducting magnet to further brain research

The 30-ton, superconducting magnet that forms the center of a 7-Tesla MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) system developed by Siemens Medical Solutions will be uncrated and moved by crane from a truck into the New York University School of Medicine’s Center for Biomedical Imaging this Friday morning.

26 May 2004

In the years between adolescence and adulthood, about three men die for every woman

In the years at the dangerous border between adolescence and adulthood, about three men die for every woman, according to a new University of Michigan study of the ratio of male to female mortality rates in 20 nations, including the United States.

25 May 2004

Bacteria found in the mouth can block the HIV virus

Certain strains of bacteria that occur naturally in the human mouth can snare the HIV virus and even cells it has infected, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry. They report their findings today at the 104th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

25 May 2004

In one unusual circumstance smoking may actually be good for you

An Austrian study has found that smoking cigarettes, a habit that contributes to the development of peripheral artery disease-actually helps arteries stay open following a procedure to repair clogged blood vessels in the legs. The study found that habitual to heavy smokers who continued to smoke after angioplasty had a lower rate of restenosis, or re-narrowing of the arteries, than nonsmokers.

25 May 2004

Pediatric asthma patients given a certain inhaled corticosteroid had a 29 percent lower risk of ending up in emergency

A study presented today at the 100th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in Orlando shows pediatric asthma patients given a certain inhaled corticosteroid had a 29 percent lower risk of ending up in the emergency department (ED) or being admitted into the hospital.

25 May 2004

Improving the care delivered to children with special health care needs

Health care delivered close to home is vitally important, especially when the patient is a child. But how do community pediatric practices adapt to offer the best care when faced with a child who has complex and often, multiple health needs? Reporting in this month's issue of Pediatrics, Dartmouth researchers outline a process designed to help any practice become a state of the art "medical home" for such children.

20 May 2004

Diabetes drug improves metabolic changes associated with HIV combination therapy

Use of an oral antidiabetes medication produced significant improvement in a group of patients with HIV lipodsytrophy, a syndrome involving the redistribution of fat and other metabolic changes in those receiving combination drug therapy for HIV infection.

20 May 2004

Parents overestimate their children's use of bicycle helmets and seatbelts

Parents think their children use bicycle helmets and seatbelts more often than children say they use them, according to a new study by a University of Michigan Health System pediatric surgeon.

19 May 2004

Dark chocolate and cocoa may help arterial stiffness

“This is the first study to investigate whether chocolate has any favorable effects on cardiovascular function in healthy subjects,” says Charalambos Vlachopoulos, MD, of the Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece. “We found dark chocolate improves endothelial function and decreases arterial stiffness in healthy young adults.”

19 May 2004

Office of Naval Research harnessing human brain power to control the maneuvers of UUVs

Even the least graceful among us has motor control the most high-tech unmanned undersea vehicle would envy, thanks to a region of the brain that allows our bodies to carry out complex maneuvers. The Office of Naval Research, which traditionally relies on the power of the human mind to achieve breakthroughs in science and technology, now also is harnessing the working principle of the brain to control the maneuvers of UUVs.

19 May 2004

Australian University gets new cutting edge body scanner

Installed in the University of Adelaide's Medical School, it will be used to collect data for the pilot study of human body size and shape for the future Body Size Survey of the Australian population.

17 May 2004

Discovery of the gene for Cornelia de Lange syndrome

An international team of researchers has discovered the gene for Cornelia de Lange syndrome, a disabling, multisystem genetic disease that affects an estimated one in 10,000 children. The finding is expected to lead to a genetic test, enabling rapid and definitive diagnosis of the syndrome, as well as prenatal testing for families who already have one child with the disease.

17 May 2004