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New treatments suggest that cancer is on the run!

People suffering from cancer will be encouraged by a cluster of recent reports on successful new treatments for several different forms of cancer.

24 Oct 2005

Keep on working - you'll live longer but it may not be so much fun!

If you're thinking of taking early retirement, with the plan of getting into the garden, sorting out your golf or tennis or just contemplating your navel, think again!

24 Oct 2005

Possible new directions for treatments for addiction to cocaine

Cocaine causes specific alterations in the brain's circuitry at a genetic level, including short-term changes that result in a high from the cocaine, as well as long-term changes seen in addiction, researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

23 Oct 2005

C. elegans, free-living soil nematodes, pave way for better anesthetics

Ten genes that may make patients more or less susceptible to a common anesthetic agent have been identified by researchers using tiny worms and sophisticated technology that eliminates the activity of individual genes.

23 Oct 2005

Testosterone may improve women's sex lives after menopause

The addition of testosterone to hormone therapy in women after menopause enhances their sexual function. However, it may also reduce HDL cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol) in women, according to a systematic review of current evidence.

23 Oct 2005

Teens with missing part of a chromosome confirm genetic role in schizophrenia

A study in youth who are missing part of a chromosome is further implicating a suspect gene in schizophrenia.

23 Oct 2005

Dopamine link to psychiatric and neurological disorders

A gene that regulates dopamine levels in the brain is involved in the development of schizophrenia in children at high risk for the disorder, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and the University of Geneva.

23 Oct 2005

Traditional medical treatment of persistent cough may not be the most effective

The reviews appear in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

23 Oct 2005

Natural antifreeze protein may help store human organs

A new antifreeze protein discovered in tiny snow fleas by Queen's University researchers may lengthen the shelf life of human organs for transplantation.

23 Oct 2005

Mental health professionals need to be watchful of mental health problems beyond depression in order to prevent youth suicide

WHO researchers examine which mental disorders or combinations of disorders may be most responsible for youth suicide in a new study being released in the October issue of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

23 Oct 2005

Intravenous lidocaine and oral derivatives relieve pain from damage to the nervous system

Lidocaine and similar local anesthetics are effective for treating pain that emanates from damaged nerves, according to a systematic review of current evidence.

23 Oct 2005

Nitric oxide may help sickle cell patients

Inhaling a small dose of nitric oxide gas may one day help sickle cell patients avoid pain crises and live healthier lives, researchers say.

23 Oct 2005

It's safe for patients with asthma to exercise regularly

Although exercise can trigger asthma attacks in some people, a new review of studies has found that exercise improved cardiopulmonary fitness in people with asthma.

23 Oct 2005

Mixed carbon nanotubes and standard urban particulates suggests a risk of thrombosis from airborne pollution

Carbon nanoparticles - both those unleashed in the air by engine exhaust and the engineered structures thought to have great potential in medical applications - promote blood-clotting, scientists report in an upcoming edition of the British Journal of Pharmacology.

23 Oct 2005

Gene found only in men is altered by a chemical process, which is in turn linked to aggressive forms of melanoma

New scientific evidence that may shed light on why men are more likely than women to develop aggressive forms of skin cancer has been published in Carcinogenesis.

23 Oct 2005

New treatment advances for patients with follicular lymphoma

A newly published study recommends that doctors carefully choose their patients' initial therapies because there are significant differences in overall survival rates, according to researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center's James P. Wilmot Cancer Center.

20 Oct 2005

Deep brain stimulation can lower blood pressure

The possibility of a patient lowering their blood pressure at the flick of a switch has been raised by research led by Oxford University, which shows that stimulating parts of the brain with electrodes can change a patient’s blood pressure.

20 Oct 2005

Diabetes drugs may also prevent nerve degeneration caused by Alzheimer's disease

Recent research has shown a surprising link between Alzheimer’s and diabetes, two of the major health challenges facing society today. According to Dr Holscher modern lifestyle promotes the development of type 2 diabetes, which in turn could drastically increase the number of people to develop Alzheimer’s disease as people with type 2 diabetes are much more likely to develop the disease than healthy people of the same age.

20 Oct 2005

Successful prevention programs for children and adolescents

The future is bleak for children whose behavior seriously goes against the norm at a tender age. Early and long-term interventions make all the difference.

20 Oct 2005

Defibrillators plentiful in schools but not senior centers

A greater percentage of high schools had automated external defibrillators (AEDs) - devices that can be used to treat cardiac arrest victims - than senior centers, despite the fact that cardiac arrests appear more common in senior centers, according to a study by University of Iowa researchers.

20 Oct 2005