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Quitting marijuana as hard as quitting cigarettes

Research by a group of scientists studying the effects of heavy marijuana use suggests that withdrawal from the use of marijuana is similar to what is experienced by people when they quit smoking cigarettes.

25 Jan 2008

UCLA study questions diagnosis, medical treatment of ADHD

A new UCLA study shows that only about half of children diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, exhibit the cognitive defects commonly associated with the condition.

23 Jan 2008

Cervical cancer rates higher among minority women

The last 50 years have witnessed a dramatic decline in the number of cervical cancer cases, according to the National Cancer Institute.

23 Jan 2008

Studies highlight MRSA evolution and resilience

Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infections are caused primarily by a single strain USA300 of an evolving bacterium that has spread with "extraordinary transmissibility" throughout the United States during the past five years, according to a new study led by National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists.

22 Jan 2008

Melanomas appear as ugly ducklings!

A preliminary study suggests that melanomas have a different appearance than other irregular skin moles (i.e., are “ugly ducklings”), according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

22 Jan 2008

New knowledge base of gene-disease relationships

The 12 Million Euro 'GEN2PHEN' project, funded by the European Commission, aims to harness the web to capture and unify genetic information that fundamentally impacts on a person's health and disease processes.

22 Jan 2008

Boston IVF to offer test of women's biological clock in the northeast

Boston IVF has announced it will be the first IVF center in the northeast to offer Repromedix's Plan Ahead test, an innovative blood test that provides an assessment of a woman's egg supply by combining multiple factors including the measurement of ovary-related hormones AMH, Inhibin B, and FSH.

22 Jan 2008

International team pinpoints the genes for lupus

An international team of researchers has pinpointed the genes involved in the auto-immune system disease lupus.

21 Jan 2008

New diagnostic technique using bioimpedance spectroscopy to diagnose cervical and skin cancers

A non-invasive diagnostic tool to detect surface cancers quickly and painlessly using technology currently employed by gyms to calculate body composition has been developed by a QUT PhD medical physics researcher.

21 Jan 2008

$Risk of falling is overlooked as the major cause of fractures in the elderly$

Risk of falling is overlooked as the major cause of fractures in the elderly

An elderly person's risk of falling is too often overlooked when trying to prevent them from getting serious fractures, for instance of the hip or wrist, according to an article published in this week's BMJ.

21 Jan 2008

Prostatitis - one of the most common urologic diseases in the U.S

Estimates on the number of males in the United States who will experience prostatitis during their lifetimes range up to 50 percent.

21 Jan 2008

FDA clears for ProFlu+ test for marketing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared for marketing a test that simultaneously detects four common respiratory viruses, including the flu, in a patient's respiratory secretions.

21 Jan 2008

Common variations in human DNA signal lupus risk

Scientists have pinpointed a set of common variations in human DNA that signal a higher risk for lupus in women who carry them.

21 Jan 2008

Discovery opens door to 'personalized' asthma therapy

In the last few years, "personalized medicine" using genetic or other molecular biology-based diagnostic tests to customize treatment for a particular patient has emerged as a powerful new tool for health care.

18 Jan 2008

Smallest particles from vehicle emissions may promote hardening of the arteries

Patients prone to heart disease may one day be told by physicians to avoid not only fatty foods and smoking but air pollution too.

18 Jan 2008

Nanomechanical analysis of cells from cancer patients

A multidisciplinary team of scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), were able to differentiate metastatic cancer cells from normal cells in patient samples by utilizing a modified form of atomic force microscopy (AFM) to measure the softness of the cells.

16 Jan 2008

Proteomic profiling shown more accurate than traditional biomarkers in identifying liver cancer

As the incidence of liver cancer continues to grow - fueled in large part, by rising rates of hepatitis C infections - so too does the need for tests to help diagnose the disease at an earlier stage.

16 Jan 2008

Study supports role of a dopamine related gene in the onset of depression

Depression is one of the most common forms of psychopathology. According to diathesis-stress theories of depression, genetic liability interacts with negative life experiences to cause depression.

16 Jan 2008

New European medical implants

Patients suffering from conditions such as stroke, blindness, deafness, incontinence, glaucoma or hydrocephalus will be the first to benefit from a range of new technologies and implantable medical devices developed by a pioneering European consortium of researchers, surgeons and technology companies.

16 Jan 2008

Nanobac announces Baylor initial results for nanoparticle and gall stone formation study

Nanobac Pharmaceuticals Inc has announced that scientists at the Baylor College of Medicine, working under a collaborative agreement with Nanobac, have cited evidence showing the presence of calcifying nanoparticles (CNPs) in surgically resected gallbladders with cholelithiasis (Gall Stones).

15 Jan 2008