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Hard to quit smoking even after cancer is diagnosed

According to a new study many people with cancer continue to smoke after their diagnosis, even though they are told that smoking can significantly compromise the outcome of any treatment.

29 Nov 2005

Stenting of the carotid artery significantly improves cognitive speed

Stenting of the carotid artery significantly improves cognitive speed and may improve memory function in some patients, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

28 Nov 2005

Eat your way to a better brain for your baby

A team of British scientists at Manchester and Lancaster Universities has turned established thinking on its head in a bid to understand the serious and often deadly condition, hydrocephalus, commonly known as 'water on the brain'.

From The University of Manchester 28 Nov 2005

One-half of cancer patients continue to smoke after diagnosis

A pair of articles from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center makes the case that patients would receive better care if physicians and researchers would address the issue of tobacco use after a cancer diagnosis and monitor tobacco use during clinical trials that test new agents.

28 Nov 2005

MGH study finds first function for, promising flexibility in adult-born nerve cells

New brain cells that develop in the olfactory system of adult mice appear to play a role in the brain different from that of older neurons.

28 Nov 2005

Noise can increase risk of heart attack

New research published online in European's leading cardiology journal, European Heart Journal, links exposure to chronic noise with an increased risk of heart attack.

28 Nov 2005

Potential new treatment for pancreatic cancer

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers are encouraged by early results of a treatment vaccine for pancreatic cancer, a disease with few options and low odds for long-term survival.

28 Nov 2005

Loss of genes on chromosome 1 or 11 raises the risk of death from the children's cancer neuroblastoma

A new study reports that a loss of genes on chromosome 1 or chromosome 11 raises the risk of death from the children's cancer neuroblastoma, even when other indicators seem to point to a lower-risk form of the disease.

28 Nov 2005

Distance to radiation facilities has an inverse relationship with breast-conserving surgery with radiation use

The farther away a woman lives from a radiation therapy facility, the less likely she is to get lumpectomy with adjuvant radiation therapy for early stage breast cancer, and may instead get mastectomy, according to a new study.

28 Nov 2005

Age alone influences risks for people in their eighties after heart surgery

Patients aged 80 and older have a higher risk of death and disease than younger patients after undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery or valve surgery, and age alone influences these outcomes, according to a study in the November issue of Archives of Surgery.

26 Nov 2005

African-Americans fare better in the short term following coronary interventions

Racial disparities in cardiovascular outcomes are well-established, however new findings from University of Pittsburgh researchers indicate that African-Americans fare better in the short term following coronary interventions.

26 Nov 2005

New and promising antibody profiling technique to test for non-small cell lung cancer cases

Biomedical scientists have revealed a new and promising antibody profiling technique that provides a high degree of early diagnostic accuracy for non-small cell lung cancer cases.

26 Nov 2005

Study of two drugs for angina treatment shows equal outcomes to patients

Researchers have found that the blood-thinning drug Lovenox works as well as a standard artery-clearing drug in patients with severe heart-related chest pain, but neither reduced the risk of death after a year of treatment.

24 Nov 2005

Sleeping on their back causes breathing problems for babies

New research has revealed that very young children with obstructive sleep apnea who sleep on their backs appear to have more respiratory problems, as measured by increases in the respiratory disturbance index (RDI).

22 Nov 2005

Sleeping on back affects sleep apnea among young children

Children aged three and younger who have a sleeping disorder known as sleep apnea show more respiratory disturbance when they sleep on their backs, according to a study in the November issue of Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery.

21 Nov 2005

Computer-aided guidance system simplifies the surgical treatment for movement disorders

Tens of thousands of people who experience movement disorders associated with Parkinson's and a variety of other neurological conditions stand to benefit from a new guidance system that uses computerized brain-mapping techniques to significantly improve an increasingly popular procedure called deep brain stimulation.

21 Nov 2005

Exercise capacity is a powerful predictor of death in patients with coronary artery disease

Exercise capacity, as measured in terms of VO2max, is a powerful predictor of death in patients with coronary artery disease, not just patients with heart failure. That is the finding of a Mayo Clinic study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2005 in Dallas.

21 Nov 2005

American physicians may be too liberal in their use of blood transfusions

In an analysis of some 24,000 patient records, the researchers found that Americans rushed to the hospital with heart attack symptoms have significantly higher rates of bleeding and transfusions after treatment than similar patients throughout the world.

21 Nov 2005

Scientists direct embryonic stem cells to become cartilage cells

Scientists from Imperial College London have successfully converted human embryonic stem cells into cartilage cells, offering encouragement that replacement cartilage could one day be grown for transplantation.

20 Nov 2005

Six gene variants predict heart muscle damage after cardiac surgery

Duke University Medical Center researchers have found that patients with six specific variants of genes involved in the body's immune response are significantly more likely to suffer damage of heart tissue after cardiac surgery.

16 Nov 2005