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Researchers double time to store donated cartilage

For years, doctors have been able to treat defects in joint cartilage by grafting cartilage donated from cadavers into patients' bad joints. Using current methods, donated cartilage can be stored for 28 days for a transplant before the tissue becomes too degraded to transplant into a patient. Now, researchers from the University of Missouri have found a way to store donated cartilage more than twice as long.

14 Mar 2012

Consumption of dietary trans fatty acids associated with irritability, aggression

Might the "Twinkie defense" have a scientific foundation after all? Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have shown - by each of a range of measures, in men and women of all ages, in Caucasians and minorities - that consumption of dietary trans fatty acids (dTFAs) is associated with irritability and aggression.

14 Mar 2012

FDA approves Botox injections for overactive bladder

When you think of Botox injections, you probably think of getting rid of unwanted wrinkles around the eyes or forehead, but recently the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved using the injections to help patients with neurological conditions who suffer from incontinence, or an overactive bladder.

14 Mar 2012

Misconception that syphilis has 'disappeared' presents major impediment to preventing infant deaths

In this Globe and Mail opinion piece, columnist Andre Picard examines the efforts of a new group, the Global Congenital Syphilis Partnership -- which includes the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Save The Children, the CDC, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and the WHO -- to "make screening for syphilis a routine part of pregnancy care with the goal of eliminating congenital syphilis."

14 Mar 2012

Earlier start of micronutrient supplementation better for pregnant women and the unborn child

When pregnant women take supplements with micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), the growth of their unborn child improves. The improvement is cumulative, so researchers from the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine report : the earlier in pregnancy the supplementation starts, the better. In developing countries, where women often have a poor diet, these supplements really make a difference.

14 Mar 2012

Biomedical research advances through new Australian Institute

The Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology (BMET) will be officially opened this evening at the University of Sydney, and will significantly advance this highly multidisciplinary research for life sciences and medicine.

14 Mar 2012

Homeopathy could soon be declared “baseless and unethical” in Australia

Homeopathy is a branch of alternative medicine based on the principles of “like-cures-like” and “ultra-dilutions”. The first principle says substances that can cause symptoms can be used in diluted form to treat the same symptom in an illness, and the second says the more dilute a substance is, the more potent it is.

14 Mar 2012

Cooler hands may improve results of work out: Study

Researcher Stacy Sims, a research scientist and exercise physiologist at Stanford University School of Medicine presented her findings Tuesday at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism scientific sessions in San Diego. “If you think about adipose [fat] tissue, it's a great insulator,” Sims said. For people who are obese, that means they often get too hot while exercising. “It would be like Lance Armstrong wearing a wet suit for the entire Tour de France,” she said. “We're trying to address those barriers.”

14 Mar 2012

Another role for protein Mer in novel, targeted cancer treatments

Since the mid-1990s, doctors have had the protein Mer in their sights - it coats the outside of cancer cells, transmitting signals inside the cells that aid their uncontrolled growth.

14 Mar 2012

Both low-carb and low-fat diets help improve blood vessel function in overweight people

Overweight people who shed pounds, especially belly fat, can improve the function of their blood vessels no matter whether they are on a low-carb or a low-fat diet, according to a study being presented by Johns Hopkins researchers at an American Heart Association scientific meeting in San Diego on March 13 that is focused on cardiovascular disease prevention.

14 Mar 2012

Scientists track genetic pathway of prostate cancer in new approach to drug discovery

Tracking the genetic pathway of a disease offers a powerful, new approach to drug discovery, according to scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine who used the approach to uncover a potential treatment for prostate cancer, using a drug currently marketed for congestive heart failure. Their findings are published in the current online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

14 Mar 2012

Researchers crack problem of predicting gene targets for PcG proteins

Cancer is usually attributed to faulty genes, but growing evidence from the field of cancer epigenetics indicates a key role for the gene "silencing" proteins that stably turn genes off inside the cell nucleus. A new study from Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine promises to speed research in the field by rapidly identifying the genes that epigenetic proteins can target for silencing.

14 Mar 2012

Red meat associated with increased risk of death, nuts become the preferred protein substitute

A major new study, "Red Meat Consumption and Mortality" concludes that red meat is associated with a thirteen percent increased risk of death and substitution of other healthy protein sources for red meat lowers mortality risk, with nuts being the top choice. Over half the nuts eaten in the US are peanuts and they have more protein than any other nut.

14 Mar 2012

Wireless asthma inhaler training device could help save thousands of A&E visits and lives

Many asthma patients are not trained adequately to inhale from asthma inhaler devices. This is a problem that can be both serious and expensive considering some 5,000 people visit the emergency room due to and 11 people die from asthma every day, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

13 Mar 2012

Scotland says no to prostate cancer drug Abiraterone

Patients with advanced prostate cancer in Scotland will not get access to a new drug which can extend their lives by more than three months. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer to affect men and the second most common cause of death.

13 Mar 2012

FDA panel favors continued research on novel pain medicine

A panel of experts for the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) this Monday recommended that the federal government should allow continued testing of an experimental class of pain drugs for arthritis, despite links to bone decay and joint failure.

13 Mar 2012

Too much red meat in diet can shorten lifespan: Study

According to Harvard researchers, publishing this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the risk of dying at an early age - from heart disease, cancer, or any other cause, rises in step with red-meat consumption. Eating too much red meat, which is high in saturated fat and cholesterol, has long been seen as unhealthy, especially for the heart. The new study, however, is the first to estimate the effect of red meat in diet on a person's lifespan.

13 Mar 2012

Inovio achieves strong T cell immune responses in PENNVAX-B Phase I HIV study

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has achieved strong T cell immune responses in a Phase I clinical study of PENNVAX-B, its product for the treatment of the HIV subtype prevalent in North America and Europe, in HIV-positive subjects.

13 Mar 2012

EBV can infect and may also contribute to lymphomas in man's best friend

More than 90 percent of humans have antibodies to the Epstein Barr virus. Best known for causing mononucleosis, or "the kissing disease," the virus has also been implicated in more serious conditions, including Hodgkin's, non-Hodgkin's and Burkitt's lymphomas. Yet little is known about exactly how EBV triggers these diseases.

13 Mar 2012

New recovery protocol treats heart failure patients with LVADs

Some patients with advanced heart failure caused by cardiomyopathy, the deterioration of function of the heart muscle, are benefitting from a new recovery protocol at the University of Louisville and Jewish Hospital, a part of KentuckyOne Health.

13 Mar 2012