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Magic Mushroom’s compound may help in some mental disorders: Study

There has been little research on the mechanism of action of “magic mushrooms” on the brain. A growing number of studies suggested that perhaps the mushrooms' key ingredient could work magic for certain mental disorders. New research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sheds light on why one of the mushrooms' hallucinogenic chemical compounds, psilocybin, may hold promise for the treatment of depression.

24 Jan 2012

Dutaseride may help prevent progression of early stage prostate cancer: Study

A new study suggests that men with early stage prostate cancer may benefit with drugs that can slow or stop the cancer’s progress. Less than 10 percent of the 100,000 men each year who are diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer and have the option of leaving the cancer in place. Rest get it removed using surgery or radiation. But those treatments can have serious side effects like impotence and incontinence.

24 Jan 2012

Alzheimer’s disease may be kept at bay with regular brain stimulation: Study

A new study shows that regularly doing puzzles and reading books could be linked to a decreased risk of Alzheimer's disease. It says that these activities reduce the accumulation of harmful proteins in the brain.

24 Jan 2012

Stem cells show promise in treating blindness

A medical breakthrough was reported Monday in the journal The Lancet wherein the results of a therapy using human embryonic stem cells in two legally blind patients was described.

24 Jan 2012

Moral imagination helps dirty workers to overcome profession-related stigmas

There are some jobs ("dirty work", in Anglo-Saxon terminology) that, because of their characteristics, produce a certain amount of social rejection towards the people who perform them, due to the fact that they are subjected to moral conflicts and ethical decisions related to performing those duties.

24 Jan 2012

Medicaid: North Carolina's good news, bad news; Georgia considering managed care

There are cost savings associated with a nationally-recognized health care initiative for the state designed to manage better outcomes for Medicaid consumers. The networks help 1.2 million patients with treatments for chronic and special conditions, ensure they aren't overprescribed drugs and encourage them to go to a primary-care doctor

24 Jan 2012

KSU professor turns to nutrition to tackle prostate cancer

A Kansas State University professor is turning to nutrition to tackle prostate cancer. Brian Lindshield, assistant professor of human nutrition, is helping men make more informed diet decisions by studying foods and dietary supplements that may reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer among men in the United States.

24 Jan 2012

PERC-led study recognized as one of Canada's top achievements in health research

You could call it paying it forward. A trip to the Emergency Department (ED) is every parent's worst nightmare. But what if the information documented as a result of your child's visit could help a child with similar symptoms a few provinces away? Terry Klassen and his research team of leading pediatric emergency physicians at Pediatric Emergency Research of Canada (PERC) have done just that and the impact of their research is today recognized as one of the Top Canadian Achievements in Health Research in 2011.

24 Jan 2012

Dutasteride delays prostate cancer progression in men

For men diagnosed with low-risk, localized prostate cancer, being treated with the drug dutasteride delays disease progression and initiating active treatment, and also reduces anxiety, show the results of a three-year international clinical trial led by Dr. Neil Fleshner, Head of the Division of Urology, University Health Network.

24 Jan 2012

Targeting a single protein can help fight both breast cancers and leukemias

Targeting a single protein can help fight both breast cancers and leukemias, according to two reports published online on January 23 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

24 Jan 2012

State news: Rate hikes approved in Mass., Va. families still wait for autism coverage, health IT booming

State regulators have approved premium increases averaging 2.3 percent for health insurance covering hundreds of thousands of residents, the most modest hikes in at least a decade and a sign that years of efforts to control costs may be working. The new rates are in Massachusetts' "small group'' market, which includes tens of thousands of small businesses as well as self-employed and formerly uninsured individuals.

24 Jan 2012

The costs of cancer care

But an economic drama that neither [political party] wants to confront is playing itself out in cancer wards and oncologists' offices across the country.

23 Jan 2012

Study describes new pharmacological resistance to colon cancer

Doctors and researchers of Hospital del Mar and its research institute, the IMIM, have lead a study describing a new pharmacological resistance to cancer. This new mechanism is a mutation in an oncogene called EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) causing resistance to treatment using a drug called cetuximab, a monoclonal antibody which specifically attacks the EGFR.

23 Jan 2012

Chronic inflammation combines with DNA methylation to promote development of colorectal cancer

Chronic inflammation combines with DNA methylation, a process that shuts down cancer-fighting genes, to promote development of colorectal cancer, scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report today in the advance online publication of the journal Nature Medicine.

23 Jan 2012

Multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya under investigation by FDA and EMA

The US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) are looking at the pros and cons of using Gilenya (fingolimod) in treating the neurological autoimmune disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

23 Jan 2012

Researchers create first 3D structure of key cancer protein

Cancer Research UK scientists have created the first 3D structure of a key protein that protects against the development of cancer, according to research published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology today.

22 Jan 2012

SSRI use raises risk of fall among elderly with dementia: Study

A new study reveals that nursing home residents with dementia who use selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have an increased risk of having a fall that causes injury compared with those who do not use SSRIs. Additionally those using average doses have 3 times the risk compared with nonusers, the authors, led by Carolyn S. Sterke, from Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, report. Authors write, “Even at low doses, SSRIs are associated with increased risk of an injurious fall in nursing home residents with dementia.”

22 Jan 2012

Sex declared safe for heart patients

A doctors’ group on Thursday suggested that sex may be safe for most heart patients. The American Heart Association added that having sex only slightly raises the chance for a heart attack. And that’s true for people with and without heart disease. Despite the higher risk for a heart patient to have a second attack, there’s no evidence that they have more sex-related heart attacks than people without cardiac disease. The updated advice was released online Thursday in the heart association journal, Circulation.

22 Jan 2012

Risperdal lawsuit settlement: Largest Medicaid fraud case in Texas

Texas and Janssen Pharmaceuticals reach a $158 million settlement on a suit claiming that the company lied about the efficacy of the anti-psychotic medicine.

21 Jan 2012

Scientists develop new way to create electromagnetic T-rays for medical scanners

Scientists have developed a new way to create electromagnetic Terahertz (THz) waves or T-rays - the technology behind full-body security scanners. The researchers behind the study, published recently in the journal Nature Photonics, say their new stronger and more efficient continuous wave T-rays could be used to make better medical scanning gadgets and may one day lead to innovations similar to the 'tricorder' scanner used in Star Trek.

21 Jan 2012