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Research may re-define management of heart failure in diabetes

Control of oxidised copper levels in the body may be as important as lowering blood glucose levels in preventing cardiovascular complications in diabetes mellitus, according to New Zealand researchers.

28 Apr 2005

Cancer treatment - timing is everything

Research led by a cancer biologist at The Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute has identified a molecular mechanism that links the body's internal clock to daily variations in how a patient responds to cancer treatment.

28 Apr 2005

New centre launched to investigate link between human sugars and disease

A multidisciplinary centre launched today will promote a far broader understanding of the role sugars play in human disease, scientists say.

28 Apr 2005

$Taking extra vitamin D and calcium will not prevent fractures in seniors$

Taking extra vitamin D and calcium will not prevent fractures in seniors

Surprising new research has found that taking vitamin D or calcium does not help prevent repeat fractures in elderly people. In two studies by teams at Aberdeen and York universities, researchers looked at people who had already had a fracture due to osteoporosis, a condition which increases a person's risk of bone fractures.

28 Apr 2005

School nurses are having to treat pupils of 14 who are HIV positive

Nurses at the Royal College of Nursing conference in the UK, say that school nurses are having to deal with children as young as 14 who are HIV positive, involved in prostitution and addicted to drugs.

27 Apr 2005

20 million working Americans are without health insurance

A survey in the U.S. has found that more than 20 million working Americans have no health insurance and as many as one in four employed people are without health care in some states. The report also found that 41 percent of these uninsured report having trouble seeing a doctor when they need to compared to 9 percent of insured adults.

27 Apr 2005

Australian clinical trial of potent new anticancer drug (CYT997)

Up to 30 patients with advanced incurable solid-tumours are to be involved in clinical trials of a potent new anticancer drug (CYT997), developed by Australian biotechnology company, Cytopia Limited.

27 Apr 2005

Clues about the causes of dementia in Huntington's disease

Scientists at Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have uncovered a clue about the causes of dementia in Huntington's disease, one of the disease's symptoms, by showing that mice susceptible to Huntington's disease have problems with learning and memory before the diseases' typical movement problems appear.

27 Apr 2005

Research offers hope for treatment of age-related blindness

Rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with anti-inflammatory drugs are 10 times less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common form of blindness in people over 55, researchers at the University of British Columbia and University of Saskatchewan have found.

27 Apr 2005

Black cohosh may interfere with breast cancer drugs

Black cohosh, an herb widely used by breast cancer patients to alleviate hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms, may alter the way that cells respond to drugs commonly used to treat breast cancer, according to a Yale School of Medicine study in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.

27 Apr 2005

New guidelines for managing chronic kidney disease in patients living with HIV infection

The HIV Medicine Association has released guidelines for managing chronic kidney disease in patients living with HIV infection. They are published in the June 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

27 Apr 2005

$Giving elderly people regular supplements of vitamin D and calcium to prevent secondary bone fractures is ineffective$

Giving elderly people regular supplements of vitamin D and calcium to prevent secondary bone fractures is ineffective

Elderly people who have osteoporosis have a high risk of bone fractures and those who previously had a fracture are at an increased risk of having another. Vitamin D and calcium, alone or in combination, are often recommended for the prevention of osteoporotic fractures.

27 Apr 2005

International coalition works to develop a cocktail of drugs to combat Malaria

As Africa marks its own Malaria Day in recognition of the fact that it bears 90% of the deadly disease’s burden, an international research coalition is working to develop a cocktail of drugs that overcomes increasing resistance to conventional treatment exhibited by the elusive parasite.

27 Apr 2005

Patients' lives at risk from substandard drugs say heart specialists

Global action is needed to counter the dangers of substandard life-saving drugs that are putting patients' lives and health at risk, according to heart specialists writing in the new (19 April) issue of Europe's leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal.

27 Apr 2005

National study to evaluate the effectiveness Targacept

Wake Forest University School of Medicine is one of 15 centers nationwide recruiting participants for a research study to evaluate the effectiveness of an investigational drug as an oral treatment for age associated memory impairment (AAMI), a condition that is marked by memory loss and poor concentration.

27 Apr 2005

Report reveals urgent need to improve physical health of people with Schizophrenia

People with schizophrenia often die prematurely. However researchers from the University of Glasgow and NHS Greater Glasgow assert that much of the excess mortality of schizophrenia is preventable through lifestyle changes and the treatment of common diseases.

27 Apr 2005

Drug adverts are a haphazard approach to health promotion

As California State Assembly Bill 95 (Koretz, D-West Hollywood), designed to reign in drug marketing costs in California by requiring manufacturers of drugs for life-threatening chronic conditions to pay the state a rebate equal to the drug marketing cost, moves to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) -- cites a study and accompanying editorial published today in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) that demonstrates the influence that Direct to Consumer Advertising (DTCA) has on physicians' prescribing decisions.

26 Apr 2005

The power of advertising means you may get medications you don't need

A study published this month confirms what has often been suspected, that prescription drug advertising not only persuades patients to ask for certain medications but also has a profound influence on what doctors prescribe.

26 Apr 2005

Moderate alcohol consumption enhances the formation of new nerve cells

Moderate alcohol consumption over a relatively long period of time can enhance the formation of new nerve cells in the adult brain. The new cells could prove important in the development of alcohol dependency and other long-term effects of alcohol on the brain. The findings are published by Karolinska Institutet.

26 Apr 2005

Direct-to-consumer advertising may influence physicians' prescribing decisions

Patients requesting specific medications can have a profound effect on physicians prescribing medications for major depression, according to a new study in the April 27 issue of JAMA.

26 Apr 2005