Medicine News and Research

RSS

Researchers validate two parasite enzymes as potential anti-malarial drug targets

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Monash University, and Virginia Tech have used a set of novel inhibitors to analyze how the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, uses enzymes to chew up human hemoglobin from host red blood cells as a food source.

28 Sep 2011

More predictability in the chaos of infectious Chagas disease transmission

Despite what Hollywood would have you believe, not all epidemics involve people suffering from zombie-like symptoms--some can only be uncovered through door-to-door epidemiology and advanced mathematics.

28 Sep 2011

Asians struggling with alcoholism may benefit from naltrexone

New UCLA psychology research indicates that Asians who are struggling with alcoholism may benefit especially from naltrexone, one of three medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of alcoholism.

28 Sep 2011

Study sheds light on when to start antiretroviral therapy

Findings from a study published in the current issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, when "taken together with other studies published over the last few years," show that beginning people living with HIV on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) when their CD4 cell count is between 350 and 500 "appears to be beneficial over the long term.

28 Sep 2011

Scientists identify proteasome phosphatase that appears to regulate removal of damaged proteins

A study by scientists at the University of California, San Diego and UC Irvine has identified an enzyme called a proteasome phosphatase that appears to regulate removal of damaged proteins from a cell. The understanding of how this process works could have important implications for numerous diseases, including cancer and Parkinson's disease.

28 Sep 2011

A Daddy’s heart is healthier: Study

A new study shows that fathers are less likely to die of heart disease than men who’ve never had kids. This raises questions about a possible biological link between male infertility and overall health. Other recent studies have found a connection between testicular and prostate cancer and infertility.

27 Sep 2011

Coffee reduces risk of depression in older women: Study

A new study shows that risk of depression decreases as coffee consumption increases. The findings however apply only to post-menopausal women who smoke.

27 Sep 2011

$Hip fracture may increase short-term mortality for women ages 65 to 79 years$

Hip fracture may increase short-term mortality for women ages 65 to 79 years

Hip fracture is associated with an increase in short-term mortality (death within one year) for women ages 65 to 79 years and healthy women ages 80 years and older, although the risk returns to previous levels after one year for women ages 70 years and older, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

27 Sep 2011

Methodist Hospital internist offers few simple suggestions to prevent cold and flu

The first few breezes of fall bring with them not only the promise of a welcome change in season, but also the threat of colds and flu. Dr. Joshua Septimus, an internist at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, offers a few simple suggestions to protect you and your family this cold and flu season. "The most useful tip I can pass along is to wash your hands," says Septimus. "It sounds so simple, but it is truly the most important thing you can do to protect yourself."

27 Sep 2011

Double balloon enteroscopy safe and effective for detection of small intestine diseases

A large-scale data review by researchers in China of double balloon enteroscopy (DBE) over the last decade showed the endoscopic procedure to be safe and effective for detection of diseases of the small intestine.

27 Sep 2011

Close link between SF3B1 mutation and specific feature of myelodysplastic syndromes

Geneticists have discovered that a gene involved in the modification of ribonucleic acid (RNA) is mutated in a significant proportion of people with a collection of blood cancers called myelodysplastic syndromes.

27 Sep 2011

CHRI second quarter revenues increase to $8 million

China Health Resource, Inc., a producer and supplier of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) products, announced robust quarterly earnings for June 2011.

27 Sep 2011

Subtle and unspoken clues exchanged by patients, doctors exert an influence on medical care

Subtle and unspoken clues exchanged by patients and doctors exert an influence on medical care, according to a new study by the University of Michigan Health System. Researchers analyzed video recordings of routine checkups and conducted follow-up interviews with participants to help elucidate signals sent and received on both sides of the examination table.

27 Sep 2011

Lead compound activates infection-fighting REDD1 protein and kills flu strain

A compound tested by UT Southwestern Medical Center investigators destroys several viruses, including the deadly Spanish flu that killed an estimated 30 million people in the worldwide pandemic of 1918.

27 Sep 2011

UCLA researchers sequence complete genomes of 17 strains of mice

For decades, laboratory mice have been widely used in research aimed at understanding which genes are involved in various illnesses. But actual variations in past gene sequences of mice were unknown. While researchers were able to determine that a variant affecting disease was in a certain region, they couldn't pinpoint the exact set of variants in that region.

27 Sep 2011

New Banner MD Anderson center to deliver unprecedented cancer care in Arizona

Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, a unique collaboration between Banner Health and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, opens today, ushering in a new era of unprecedented cancer care in Arizona.

27 Sep 2011

Arena, Eisai announce new data from lorcaserin Phase 3 clinical trial program

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Eisai Inc. announced today that new data analyses from the lorcaserin Phase 3 clinical trial program will be presented in poster sessions at Obesity 2011, the 29th Annual Scientific Meeting of The Obesity Society in Orlando, Florida.

27 Sep 2011

Medical ethics and comedy

Doctors and other medical professionals occasionally joke about their patients' problems. Some of these jokes are clearly wrong, but some joking between medical professionals is not only ethical, it can actually be beneficial, concludes an article in the Hastings Center Report.

27 Sep 2011

$Women ages 65-69 with hip fracture more likely to die within a year$

Women ages 65-69 with hip fracture more likely to die within a year

Women ages 65-69 who break a hip are five times more likely to die within a year than women of the same age who don't break a hip, according to a Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published online today in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

27 Sep 2011