Therapy News and Research

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TB globe-trotter flies home alone!

Globe trotting tuberculosis victim, American lawyer Andrew Speaker, has been released from hospital and has returned home.

30 Jul 2007

Sexual problems of long-term cancer survivors merit more attention

The first study to look at sexual function in very long-term female survivors of genital-tract cancer found that these women were pleased with the quality of their cancer care but less satisfied with the emotional support and information they received about dealing with the effects of the disease and treatment on sexuality.

27 Jul 2007

Europe approves MIRCERA to treat anaemia

Roche has announced that the European Commission has approved its innovative drug MIRCERA to treat anaemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

27 Jul 2007

FDA statement on gene therapy trial

On July 24, 2007 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was informed by Targeted Genetics Corporation of Seattle about the death of a patient who received an investigational gene therapy product in a clinical trial for the treatment of active inflammatory arthritis.

27 Jul 2007

Thiazolinediones increase risk of heart failure

A class of drugs commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes may double the risk of heart failure, according to a new analysis by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues.

27 Jul 2007

Circumcision may not actually effect sensation

According to a new study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, sexual sensation in circumcised and uncircumcised men may not be so different after all.

27 Jul 2007

Scientits devise dimmer swith to regulate gene expression in mammal cells

Three Boston University biomedical engineers have created a genetic dimmer switch that can be used to turn on, shut off, or partially activate a gene's function. Professor James Collins, Professor Charles Cantor and doctoral candidate Tara Deans invented the switch, which can be tuned to produce large or small quantities of protein, or none at all.

27 Jul 2007

Long-term herpes treatment may reduce HIV infectivity

Long-term anti-herpes treatment of women infected with both HIV and HSV2, the virus that causes genital herpes, may reduce the proportion of women with detectable HIV virus in their genital secretions according to the results of a trial in Tanzania presented the International AIDS Society Conference in Sydney.

26 Jul 2007

New understanding of Sly Syndrome

The scientist who discovered “Sly Syndrome” nearly four decades ago and a team of colleagues at Saint Louis University are a step closer to finding an approach to treat the rare genetic disease.

26 Jul 2007

Combination of blood pressure-lowering drugs stops loss of kidney function in rare genetic disease

A combination of two types of blood pressure-lowering drugs, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) plus an angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB), added to enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with agalsidase-beta (Fabrazyme, Genzyme Corporation, Cambridge, MA) is the first treatment shown to stop progressive loss of kidney function in patients with severe kidney involvement due to the rare genetic disorder Fabry disease, reports a study in the September Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

26 Jul 2007

Biologic agents valuable treatment option for patients with inflammatory bowel disease

The use of biologic agents for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may benefit patients, but doctors need to consider the potential associated side effects in determining treatment course, according to a consensus paper published in this month's issue of Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

26 Jul 2007

High-dose chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant cures testicular cancer

Testicular cancer patients who do not respond to traditional therapy can be cured with high-dose chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, according to an Indiana University School of Medicine report in the July 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

26 Jul 2007

The future of Alzheimer's disease research

Imagine the day when a routine visit to the family doctor includes a simple blood test to predict the risk for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD).

26 Jul 2007

Children with HIV early antiretroviral therapy study

Hundreds of thousands of babies around the world are born each year with HIV--more than half a million in 2006 alone.

26 Jul 2007

Electronics that interface with biological systems

Imagine a chip, strategically placed in the brain, that could prevent epileptic seizures or allow someone who has lost a limb to control an artificial arm just by thinking about it.

26 Jul 2007

New hope for aortic dissection survivors

Each year, 10,000 Americans suffer a sudden tear in the lining of their body's largest blood vessel, the aorta.

26 Jul 2007

New gene therapy for 200 inherited forms of blindness

An improved approach to gene therapy may one day treat some of the nearly 200 inherited forms of blindness, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest.

26 Jul 2007

Radiation therapy combined with microsurgery shows promise for curing injured spinal cord

Research on rats with crushed spinal cords, similar to human injury, reveals that treatment soon after injury combining radiation therapy to destroy harmful cells and microsurgery to drain excess fluids significantly increases the body's ability to repair the injured cord leading to permanent recovery from injury, according to the study published in the July 18 peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE.

25 Jul 2007

Link between breast cancer and hormone therapy confirmed

A sharp drop in breast cancer rates from 2003 to 2004 is linked to an even larger drop in women's use of hormone therapy that began around 2000, according to a Kaiser Permanente study in the August 1, 2007, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that confirms the connection between breast cancer, hormone therapy and mammography screening over the past 25 years.

25 Jul 2007

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator effective in preventing sudden cardiac death in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

High-risk patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy appear to have reduced risk of sudden cardiac death with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator that terminates dangerous heart rhythm disorders, according to a study in the July 25 issue of JAMA.

25 Jul 2007