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Call for Expression of Interest to attend personalised medicine conference

The Call for Expression of Interest to attend or present at the Conference on Personalised Medicine: Better Healthcare in Cyprus in June 2012 is now open. The deadline is 1 April 2012.

2 Mar 2012

A longer spring allergy season due to winter's warmer-than-average temperatures

While this winter's warmer-than-average temperatures were a nice contrast for people who suffered through to last year's many winter storms, many may now pay for the balmy temperatures with an earlier and longer spring allergy season. For some, symptoms such as runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing, itchy eyes, ears and throat, wheezing and shortness of breath have already begun and may last into early summer.

2 Mar 2012

New American Board of Wound Medicine and Surgery established

On October 20, 2011 the American Board of Wound Medicine and Surgery (ABWMS) was established and incorporated in the State of Ohio. The new Board, according to the President and Chairman of the Board, Richard Simman, MD, FACS, CWS, FACCWS, was established because the time has come to recognize the physician practice of wound medicine and surgery.

2 Mar 2012

Preliminary results from Genentech's ACTEMRA monotherapy study on RA

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, today announced that preliminary results from the ADACTA (ADalimumab ACTemrA) study showed that patients who received ACTEMRA (tocilizumab) as monotherapy achieved a significantly greater reduction in disease activity after 24 weeks than those given adalimumab monotherapy.

2 Mar 2012

Desflurane may be safer anesthetic option for patients with AD

In a study that will appear in Annals of Neurology and has received early online release, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report that administration of isoflurane impaired the performance of mice on a standard test of learning and memory - a result not seen when another anesthetic, desflurane, was administered.

2 Mar 2012

Combining two common cancer-fighting strategies may have 'tremendous synergy'

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found that a molecule found at elevated levels in cancer cells seems to protect them from the "cell-suicide" that is usually triggered by chemotherapy or radiation.

2 Mar 2012

F-DOPA PET/CT imaging alters management plans for patients with brain cancer

Imaging amino acid transporters with positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has been shown to significantly alter intended management plans for patients with brain tumors, according to research in the March issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

2 Mar 2012

Ten symptoms and signs that a child may need a doctor

Unfortunately, kids get sick. Fighting a virus or common cold is good for a child's immune system and can help build antibodies that protect them from dangerous illnesses. Still, there are times when that tummy ache or cough may require medical attention.

2 Mar 2012

Blood, urine markers can predict heart surgery patients at higher risk for worse AKI

Blood and urine markers can indicate which patients with an abrupt kidney injury following heart surgery will experience progressive kidney problems, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

2 Mar 2012

Researchers discover critical placental niche cell and signaling pathway

UCLA stem cell researchers have discovered a critical placental niche cell and signaling pathway that prevent blood precursors from premature differentiation in the placenta, a process necessary for ensuring proper blood supply for an individual's lifetime.

2 Mar 2012

Memory training strategy can help patients with MCI

If someone has trouble remembering where the car keys or the cheese grater are, new research shows that a memory training strategy can help. Memory training can even re-engage the hippocampus, part of the brain critical for memory formation, the results suggest.

2 Mar 2012

$DXA scan should be done at shorter intervals for women at high risk for fracture$

DXA scan should be done at shorter intervals for women at high risk for fracture

Although a recent study suggests that women with normal results on dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans at ages 67 and older may wait up to 15 years for a second test, a Viewpoint article published today in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research (JBMR) cautions that such a lengthy interval is inappropriate for many adults.

2 Mar 2012

HDFT scan can show broken neural connections caused by TBI

A powerful new imaging technique called High Definition Fiber Tracking (HDFT) will allow doctors to clearly see for the first time neural connections broken by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other disorders, much like X-rays show a fractured bone, according to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh in a report published online today in the Journal of Neurosurgery.

2 Mar 2012

UCSD first to treat glioma with investigational viral vector

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center researchers and surgeons are among the first in the nation to treat patients with recurrent brain cancer by directly injecting an investigational viral vector into their tumor. The treatment is being developed by a local San Diego Company, Tocagen Inc.

2 Mar 2012

Inexpensive test, treatment for syphilis could save nearly 1M infants annually

An inexpensive test and single-dose treatment could help save the lives of nearly one million infants annually if pregnant women in low-income countries were offered rapid tests for syphilis, experts from the Global Congenital Syphilis Partnership said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

2 Mar 2012

Poor neighborhoods linked with worse chronic pain for young adults

Living in a poor neighborhood was linked with worse chronic pain for young adults, according to a study by the University of Michigan Health System, but young black patients faced difficulties with pain management no matter where they lived.

2 Mar 2012

First study to focus on platelet genetics in African Americans

Researchers, led by scientists from Johns Hopkins, have found five previously unknown gene mutations believed to be associated with elevated blood platelet counts in African-Americans, findings they say could someday lead to the development of new drugs to help prevent coronary artery disease.

2 Mar 2012

Study shows decline in obesity rates among California school children

After years of increases in the rates of childhood obesity, a new UC Davis study shows that the increase slowed from 2003 to 2008 among California school children.

2 Mar 2012

Surgeon education can reduce unnecessary spinal hardware wastage

An educational program for surgeons can reduce unnecessary hardware "explantations" during spinal surgery, reports a study in the March 1 issue of Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

2 Mar 2012

Planarian flatworms reveal new insights into stem cell biology

Devising a novel method to identify potential genetic regulators in planarian stem cells, Whitehead Institute scientists have determined which of those genes affect the two main functions of stem cells. Three of the genes are particularly intriguing because they code for proteins similar to those known to regulate mammalian embryonic stem cells. Such genetic similarity makes planarians an even more attractive model for studying stem cell biology in vivo.

2 Mar 2012