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Implantable hemodynamic monitor may help manage diastolic heart failure

An implantable hemodynamic monitor (IHM) may help to guide medical treatment in a large subgroup of patients with heart failure-those with diastolic heart failure (DHF), reports a study in the December Journal of Cardiac Failure, published by Elsevier.

11 Dec 2008

Transplanted fat cells restore function after spinal cord injury

A study published in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (Vol.17, No. 8) suggests that mature adipocytes - fat cells - could become a source for cell replacement therapy to treat central nervous system disorders.

10 Dec 2008

$Proteolix announces positive data for carfilzomib in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma$

Proteolix announces positive data for carfilzomib in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma

Proteolix, Inc. today announced positive clinical data demonstrating that the company's lead product, carfilzomib, has single-agent activity and promotes durable responses in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.

10 Dec 2008

Pralatrexate shows promise for T-Cell lymphoma

Preliminary results of a pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial of pralatrexate (PDX), a drug that partially works by mimicking folic acid, showed a complete or partial response in 27 percent of patients with recurrent or resistant peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL).

10 Dec 2008

Researchers find inherited genetic variation in nicotine addiction

A new study from the Abramson Cancer Center and Department of Psychiatry in the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine shows that smokers who carry a particular version of a gene for an enzyme that regulates dopamine in the brain may suffer from concentration problems and other cognitive deficits when abstaining from nicotine - a problem that puts them at risk for relapse during attempts to quit smoking.

10 Dec 2008

Nonhormonal treatment regimens improve survival in patients with metastatic breast cancer

Nonhormonal treatment regimens, including anthracycline-based regimens and taxanes, have improved overall survival in women with advanced (metastatic or recurrent inoperable) breast cancer over the last 35 years, according to a systematic review published December 9 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

10 Dec 2008

Hormone therapy for prostate cancer does not appear to increase cardiac deaths

Treating prostate cancer patients with drugs that block hormonal activity does not appear to increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, according to a study led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers.

10 Dec 2008

12 percent of U.S. children use alternative medicine

Approximately 38 percent of adults in the United States aged 18 years and over and nearly 12 percent of U.S. children aged 17 years and under use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), according to a new nationwide government survey.

10 Dec 2008

New research points to possible treatment for Lou Gehrig's disease

There are many ways to die, but amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease must be one of the worst.

10 Dec 2008

FDA grants compassionate case for use of novel wet age-related macular degeneration treatment

NeoVista, Inc., announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved the company's "compassionate case" waiver to utilize its novel wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treatment on a patient with an advanced form of the disease who did not meet criteria for inclusion into current NeoVista investigational treatment protocols.

10 Dec 2008

Blocking immune receptor molecule improves response to HIV-like virus, prolongs survival in monkeys

By blocking PD-1 (programmed death-1), an immune receptor molecule known to inhibit the immune response to chronic viral infections, scientists have safely and significantly reduced the plasma viral load and also prolonged survival of rhesus macaque monkeys severely infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), the nonhuman primate version of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

10 Dec 2008

New class of anti-inflammatory drugs

In the treatment of pain, inflammation and fever, non-steroid anti-rheumatic drugs (NSAR) such as acetylsalicylic acid - more commonly known as Aspirin - or Ibuprofen have always been popular choices.

10 Dec 2008

$Thiazolidinediones doubles risk of fractures in women$

Thiazolidinediones doubles risk of fractures in women

New findings out of Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of East Anglia show that long-term use of a popular class of oral diabetic drugs doubles the risk of fractures in women with type 2 diabetes.

10 Dec 2008

UK kidney cancer patients face toxic, out-dated treatments with little hope of change

Leading oncologist Professor Tim Eisen has expressed concerns that patients with advanced kidney cancer could be condemned to toxic, barely effective, 20 year-old treatments because the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is likely to rule out using all four of the new treatments it has assessed.

10 Dec 2008

UK's first prostate cancer patient treated using RapidArc radiotherapy

65-year-old grandfather of six, Graham McCormack has become the first cancer patient in the UK to be treated using RapidArc radiotherapy technology from Varian Medical Systems.

10 Dec 2008

Experimental drug successfully blocks mutation in bone marrow cancers

Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute researchers have found that an experimental drug successfully blocks an enzyme that causes some bone marrow cancers.

10 Dec 2008

Advances in tissue engineering

Some patients wish they had a second skin - for instance because their own skin has been burnt in a severe accident.

10 Dec 2008

Potential breakthrough for T-cell lymphoma

10 Dec 2008

Portola Pharmaceuticals starts phase 2 trial of P2Y12 ADP receptor antagonist in non-urgent percutaneous coronary intervention

Portola Pharmaceuticals has announced that it has initiated patient enrollment in INNOVATE-PCI, a large Phase II clinical trial of PRT060128, the Company's novel P2Y12 ADP receptor antagonist, in patients undergoing non-urgent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

10 Dec 2008

New data on ZOLINZA (vorinostat) in combination with Bortezomib

Results from two Phase 1 studies of ZOLINZA (vorinostat), Merck's oral histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, administered in combination with bortezomib, showed early anti-tumor activity in patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma, including those previously treated with and no longer responding to bortezomib.

10 Dec 2008