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Bypass surgery more likely than angioplasty to relieve coronary artery disease pain

Patients with mid-range coronary artery disease are more likely to get relief from painful angina and less likely to have repeat procedures if they get bypass surgery rather than balloon angioplasty with or without a stent, according to a new report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

17 Oct 2007

Breakbone fever a growing public health threat

Dengue fever, known as “breakbone fever” because of the excruciating back and joint pain that accompanies this infectious disease, is a growing public health threat for people living in tropical countries, as well as travelers to destinations such as Thailand, Brazil and Puerto Rico, according to research being presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), Nov. 4-7.

17 Oct 2007

Little difference in risk rates for angioplasty, bypass procedures

Patients with heart disease who undergo coronary angioplasty have an equivalent risk of death and heart attack as patients who undergo coronary bypass surgery, according to Stanford University School of Medicine researchers.

17 Oct 2007

Severely mentally ill at high risk for cardiovascular disease

A psychiatrist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis writes in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that although mortality from cardiovascular disease has declined in the United States over the past several decades, patients with severe psychiatric illness are not enjoying the benefits of that progress.

17 Oct 2007

Discovery of new antibody that helps detect type 1 diabetes

Researchers at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes and University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center's School of Medicine have discovered a fourth antibody in human blood which will help more accurately predict who is predisposed to type 1 diabetes.

17 Oct 2007

Scientists reassess heart disease causes

Almost 3,000 Northern Ireland people are to take part in a Queen's study analysing their risks of developing heart disease in the future.

17 Oct 2007

Lidocaine lollipop helps prepare for upper GI endoscopy

Researchers at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) in Lebanon have found that administering a lidocaine lollipop as a single-agent anesthetic to patients undergoing an upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy procedure eliminated the need for sedation in the majority of patients.

17 Oct 2007

Oral antibiotics effective to treat severe urinary tract infections

Although doctors routinely use IV antibiotics to cure patients with severe urinary tract infections (UTI), a new review from suggests that oral antibiotics work just as well - from treating acute symptoms to preventing long-term complications of UTI.

17 Oct 2007

Myositis featured on Discovery Channel

LaShan Davis, featured this week on The Discovery Channel's “Mystery Diagnosis” spent three 10-hour days filming the segment and reliving the terrifying time she spent waiting for her “mystery disease” to be diagnosed.

17 Oct 2007

Blood modulates how neurons process information

MIT scientists propose that blood may help us think, in addition to its well-known role as the conveyor of fuel and oxygen to brain cells.

17 Oct 2007

Nanorods of gold blast tumor cells

Researchers have shown how tiny "nanorods" of gold can be triggered by a laser beam to blast holes in the membranes of tumor cells, setting in motion a complex biochemical mechanism that leads to a tumor cell's self-destruction.

17 Oct 2007

Garlic boosts hydrogen sulfide to relax arteries

Eating garlic is one of the best ways to lower high blood pressure and protect yourself from cardiovascular disease.

17 Oct 2007

Findings could lead to new therapy for spinal cord injury

Research led by scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine has identified a target with potential as an effective new therapy for chronic spasticity and rigidity, a painful condition that often results from spinal cord injury.

17 Oct 2007

FDA approves raltegravir new HIV drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved raltegravir tablets for treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-1 infection in combination with other antiretroviral agents in treatment-experienced adult patients who have evidence of viral replication and HIV-1 strains resistant to multiple antiretroviral agents.

17 Oct 2007