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Diet alone cannot control type 2 diabetes

Despite strong evidence that type 2 diabetes can be prevented or at least delayed by a combination of lifestyle changes and good dietary advice, a team of Cochrane Researchers found that there is no indication whether dietary advice alone can prevent the disease.

16 Jul 2008

Culturally tailored education can improve blood sugar control in type 2 diabetes

Using community-based health advocates, delivering information within same-gender groups or adapting dietary and lifestyle advice to fit a particular community's likely diet can help people with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar levels, certainly for up to six months, following health education.

16 Jul 2008

Metrifonate and praziquantel for urinary schistosomiasis

In 2000 the World Health Organization (WHO) stopped recommending metrifonate for treating urinary schistosomiasis because the drug did not appear to be as effective as the treatment of choice, praziquantel.

16 Jul 2008

New understanding of fetal hemoglobin regulation in patients with sickle cell disease

Although sickle cell disease is a single-gene disorder, its symptoms are highly variable. In a study published online July 14 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists at Children's Hospital Boston and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), in collaboration with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, report five gene variants that could potentially be helpful in predicting sickle cell disease severity, perhaps even leading to better treatment approaches in the future.

15 Jul 2008

Improving understanding of cell behaviour in breast cancer

The invasion and spread of cancer cells to other parts of the body, known as metastasis, is a principal cause of death in patients diagnosed with breast cancer. Although patients with early stage, small, breast tumours have an excellent short term prognosis, more than 15 to 20 per cent of them will eventually develop distant metastases, and die from the disease. Vascular invasion - through lymphatic and blood vessels - is the major route for cancer spreading to regional lymph nodes and to the rest of the body.

15 Jul 2008

Diabetes could be a hidden condition for heart disease patients

Researchers at the University of Warwick have discovered diabetes could be a hidden condition for some patients with coronary heart disease.

15 Jul 2008

Exposure to PCBs decreases likelihood of giving birth to boys

Women exposed to high levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls - a group of banned environmental pollutants) are less likely to give birth to male children.

15 Jul 2008

An inflamed response

Paul Martin, Professor of Cell Biology in the University of Bristol Departments of Physiology and Pharmacology, and Biochemistry, talked to Cherry Lewis about the discovery made in his lab that speeds up wound healing and reduces the size of the wound scar. She was interested not only in the discovery itself, but also in the processes and years of research that led up to it.

15 Jul 2008

Chemo pill shows promise for advanced lymphoma

A new chemotherapy pill for people with stubborn lymphomas is showing promise in early clinical studies, according to scientists at the University of Rochester's James P. Wilmot Cancer Center. Doctors reported that the drug is halting disease in nearly half of the patients with two forms of lymphoma participating in early clinical trials in Rochester and across the country.

15 Jul 2008

Closing coal-fired power plants directly improves cognitive development in children

Closing coal-fired power plants can have a direct, positive impact on children's cognitive development and health according to a study released by the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

14 Jul 2008

Huntington's disease brain damage linked to overactive immune response in the bloodstream

The damage to brain tissue seen in Huntington's disease may be caused by an overactive immune response in the bloodstream and the brain, according to new findings from two teams of researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle and University College London. The findings will be published online July 14 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

14 Jul 2008

Prehypertension in adults aged 18 to 30 common and associated with coronary atherosclerosis

Prehypertension during young adulthood is common and is associated with subsequent coronary atherosclerosis, according to a study published in today's issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

14 Jul 2008

Study examines heparin use following cardioembolic stroke

The common practice of administering heparin soon after cardioembolic stroke is associated with an increased risk for serious bleeding, according to an article posted online today that will appear in the September 2008 print issue of Archives of Neurology. However, it appears that anticoagulation with warfarin therapy may safely begin shortly after stroke.

14 Jul 2008

Plant sterols to lower cholesterol have risks

Plant sterols have been touted as an effective way to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. However, a research study in the July JLR has uncovered that these compounds do have their own risks, as they can accumulate in heart valves and lead to stenosis.

14 Jul 2008

Researchers step closer to delivering cancer-killing drugs to pediatric brain tumors

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, led by Karen L. Wooley, Ph.D., James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, is a step closer to delivering cancer-killing drugs to pediatric brain tumors, similar to the tumor that Senator Ted Kennedy is suffering from.

14 Jul 2008