Blood Test News and Research

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PSA test in obese men can produce false results

Scientists in the United States suggest a blood test widely used to screen for prostate cancer can be misleading in the case of men who are obese.

20 Nov 2007

YKL-40 protein may play a role in severe asthma

A protein measured in a simple blood test may be a new biomarker to identify patients with the most serious form of asthma, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

15 Nov 2007

Your Apo E genotype plays part in likelihood of Alzheimer's and heart disease

We all carry the Apo E gene. It plays a key role in the development of Alzheimer's Disease and heart disease, along with a host of chronic ailments.

6 Nov 2007

What's in a name? Labels like 'normal' and 'abnormal' on test results can affect patients' medical decisions

Patients whose physicians place labels on their test results - such as normal or abnormal, positive or negative - are inclined to make different decisions about their health care than those who receive the same results solely in terms of numbers and other quantifiable measures, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Health System and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System.

5 Nov 2007

Minority patients prefer optical colonoscopy for colorectal cancer screening

The clinical importance of colorectal cancer screening is well established, however the majority of eligible people do not undergo screening tests.

2 Nov 2007

Family ties determine who gets heart disease

The genetic family ties that bind brothers and sisters also link their risk for developing clogged arteries and having potentially fatal heart attacks, scientists at Johns Hopkins report.

31 Oct 2007

HIV combination antiretroviral drug therapy key to saving the lives of African children

Letting nurses and other trained health care workers deliver that therapy and monitor patients, especially when doctors are in short supply, is just as important to saving lives, according to a new study by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

24 Oct 2007

Simple blood test may accurately detect thoracic aneurysm disease

Yale scientists have discovered a way to use a simple blood test that may accurately detect thoracic aneurysm disease (TAA), which gives little warning and is almost always fatal if untreated.

24 Oct 2007

Simple test reveals smokers who are less than honest

Smokers who lie about their habit to their doctors could in future be caught out by a simple blood test.

23 Oct 2007

Discovery of new antibody that helps detect type 1 diabetes

Researchers at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes and University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center's School of Medicine have discovered a fourth antibody in human blood which will help more accurately predict who is predisposed to type 1 diabetes.

17 Oct 2007

Six years advance warning of Alzheimer's

One of the most distressing aspects of Alzheimer's disease is the difficulty in determining whether mild memory problems are the beginning of an inevitable mental decline.

15 Oct 2007

Simple blood test 90% accurate in predicting Alzheimer's

A new blood test which has been developed by scientists in California may enable doctors to predict just who is likely to develop the the degenerative brain disease Alzheimer's.

15 Oct 2007

Immune system protein shows potential as early warning system for lung cancer

An immune system protein could act as an early warning system for lung cancer, reveals research published ahead of print in the journal Thorax.

10 Oct 2007

African-American men have a slightly higher risk of PSA recurrence

African-American men are more likely to have their prostate cancer return after treatment, but their disease is no more aggressive when it does recur than that of their white counterparts, according to a study led by Duke Prostate Center researchers.

10 Oct 2007

Even mildly underactive thyroid doubles risk of heart conditions

Individuals with subclinical hypothyroidism - a mildly underactive thyroid only detectable by a blood test - are twice as likely to develop heart failure, compared to those with normal thyroid levels, according to a new study presented on Thursday, Oct. 4, at the 78th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association (ATA) in New York.

4 Oct 2007

Key to colon cancer prevention is regular screenings

More than 100,000 people will develop colon cancer in 2007, according to the American Cancer Society; the disease currently causes more than 55,000 U.S. deaths annually.

4 Oct 2007

New way to fight hepatitis B

One in four people who are chronically infected with hepatitis B will die from its impact if untreated, but a team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine has identified the most cost-effective way of fighting this treacherous infection.

2 Oct 2007