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Promising new strategy for Swedish medical research

Research scientists at Karolinska Institutet are planning an international initiative to map out the relationships between health, genes and lifestyle. Discussion partners include world-leading researchers from the USA, Britain, Singapore and Norway.

27 Feb 2005

28 percent of injecting drug users acquired their needles from safe sources

Nearly half of injection drug users disposed of their used syringes safely, yet only 28 percent acquired their needles from safe sources, according to a study of injection drug users in Baltimore, Md., conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

27 Feb 2005

Measuring hyaluronan in joints and fluid that lubricates cartilage might enable doctors to diagnose osteoarthritis more accurately

Measuring a biological chemical called hyaluronan found naturally in joints and the fluid that lubricates cartilage might enable doctors to diagnose osteoarthritis of the knee and hip earlier or more accurately, a new study concludes.

27 Feb 2005

Self-reporting of symptoms by patients with ulcerative colitis better than assessing patients with endoscopy

People living with fatigue, abdominal discomfort and bloody diarrhea caused by the chronic inflammation of ulcerative colitis may no longer need to undergo frequent and uncomfortable endoscopies, a new study shows.

27 Feb 2005

New HIV screening method, nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT)

Adding a new HIV screening method, called nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT), to standard HIV testing, researchers were able to uncover six percent more cases of HIV infection in urban STD and drug treatment clinics and HIV testing sites in Atlanta than with standard HIV antibody tests alone.

27 Feb 2005

Caution against FDA approval of race-based pharmaceutical

New York University Sociologist Troy Duster concludes that a pharmaceutical to combat heart disease among blacks is based on faulty research and urges the Food and Drug Administration to obtain more reliable data before approving the drug.

27 Feb 2005

A pilot study gathers baseline information on subway workers’ exposure to airborne metals

Steel dust exposure in the NYC subway system has been of concern to subway workers and transit police for decades. A study by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory researchers will examine the level of airborne metal in subway workers.

27 Feb 2005

Novel mutation in the recently identified LRRK2 gene causes parkinsonism

Neuroscientists at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., leading a team of researchers in the United States and Europe, have discovered that a novel mutation in the recently identified LRRK2 gene causes parkinsonism in several North American and European families.

27 Feb 2005

Importance of Fbw7 as an emerging tumor suppressor

The DNA tumor virus simian virus 40 produces the Large T antigen which inactivates two of the cell's most important cancer-preventing proteins, p53 and pRb.

27 Feb 2005

Scientists identify immune-system mutation

A team of Fox Chase Cancer Center scientists led by immunologist Dietmar J. Kappes, Ph.D., has identified the genetic mutation that keeps a mouse strain from developing white blood cells, or lymphocytes, called helper T cells. The report by Kappes and his colleagues appears in the Feb. 24 issue of Nature.

27 Feb 2005

Beginning of new wave - first generation to turn 18 since technology and treatments have allowed them to survive to adulthood

More than half a million children with special health-care needs will turn 18 this year, the first generation to reach adulthood since sweeping medical advances ensured an unprecedented number would survive congenital conditions that until recently would have killed them.

27 Feb 2005

Early Alzheimer's disease may be precipitated by a neuron traffic jam

Early Alzheimer's disease may be precipitated by a “traffic jam” within neurons that causes swelling and prevents proper transport of proteins and structures in the cells, according to new studies by Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers.

27 Feb 2005

Shigella infects cells by using a secretion system to inject proteins into human cells

According to research published in Science, the team from Imperial College London and Institut Pasteur, Paris, found that shigella, the bacteria which causes dysentery, is able to invade cells, while stopping any response from the immune system.

27 Feb 2005

Is caesarean section linked to postnatal depression?

According to a recent study elective Caesarean section does not protect women from postnatal depression. Emergency caesarean section or assisted vaginal delivery (use of forceps or vacuum extraction) do not indicate a possible increased risk of postnatal depression.

27 Feb 2005

Americans believe drug industry cares more about profits than people

Americans believe prescription drugs are improving their lives, but most also say that the drug industry cares more about profits than people, according to the latest Kaiser Health Poll Report issued by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

27 Feb 2005

Differences in how HIV virus infects males and females

A genetic analysis of viral RNA from 10 heterosexual couples, in which one partner has sexually transmitted HIV to the other, provides the first documentation of some differences in how the virus infects males and females.

27 Feb 2005

Second-generation Antidepressants

A recent article in the prestigious British Medical Journal seems to confirm an increased risk for suicidal behavior among adults taking popular antidepressants. This follows evidence that certain selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may have a similar effect among children and adolescents.

27 Feb 2005

Tobacco industry influences research

At a tobacco industry meeting in 1987 to consider how to ‘improve the industry’s position’on passive smoking, one of the strategies proposed by Philip Morris USA was to ‘establish a genuine scientific journal on indoor air quality’. In 1989 the International Society of the Built Environment, was established.

27 Feb 2005

NIH awards grant to explore causal relationship between epoetin dose and survival of hemodialysis patients

The National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) has awarded a two-year grant to the Medical Technology and Practice Patterns Institute (MTPPI) in collaboration with Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) to explore the causal relationship between epoetin dose and survival of hemodialysis patients receiving this therapy.

27 Feb 2005

Common epigenetic problem doubles cancer risk

In experiments with mice, a team of scientists from the United States, Sweden and Japan has discovered that having a double dose of one protein is sufficient to change the normal balance of cells within the lining of the colon, thereby doubling the risk that a cancer-causing genetic mutation will trigger a tumor there.

27 Feb 2005