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Healthy 3 and 4-year-olds drive flu epidemics

Current immunization policies recommend universal flu vaccination for children aged 6-23 months, but shots are advised for older children only if they have high-risk medical conditions.

3 Oct 2005

Concerta, a once-daily form of the drug methylphenidate, successfully controlled ADHD symptoms

A new study has found that an all-day, extended-release stimulant for treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) remains effective for up to two years without significant side effects.

3 Oct 2005

Clinical trials of daily oral antiretroviral dosing as pre-exposure prophylaxis

Writing in the journal Science, an international team of researchers, clinicians and others explains that a promising, relatively new approach is for people not infected but at high risk to take drugs that might prevent them from contracting HIV. But debate over the particulars of the strategy has slowed progress.

3 Oct 2005

MRI may better enable physicians to plan care for infants with heart defects

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques can provide real-time measurements of volume in a fetal heart, and may better enable physicians to plan care for infants with heart defects, according to a new study.

3 Oct 2005

Grant for private, secure, electronic medical records search system

A Boston consortium has been awarded one of two national grants to form a CDC Center of Excellence in Public Health Informatics.

28 Sep 2005

HeartMate XVE left ventricular assist device

Nine years ago this week, a team of University of Michigan doctors gave a dying heart patient a second chance at life by implanting a high-tech pump in his chest. The high-risk procedure was the first in Michigan performed using a new blood-pumping device called a HeartMate XVE left ventricular assist device, which helped the patient live until he received a heart transplant five weeks later.

28 Sep 2005

Fever of unknown origin might be a marker of occult cancer

Fever of unknown origin is characterised by a fever of more than 3 weeks’ duration, temperatures of more than 38.3°C and a failure to identify the origin of the fever. Underlying causes of these fevers are difficult to diagnose, but proposed causes are infections, cancers and collagen-vascular diseases.

28 Sep 2005

Time-to-treatment is important to success of angioplasty treatment

An in-depth look at hospitals that reduced treatment delays highlights steps other hospitals could take to provide rapid angioplasty treatment to heart attack patients, according to a new study in the Oct. 4, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

28 Sep 2005

Quality-improvement improves mortality in hospital

Heart attack death rates dropped significantly at hospitals that participated in a quality-improvement process that increased the use of evidence-based therapies, according to a new study in the Oct. 4, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

28 Sep 2005

Flaviviruses immune system defenses in different ways depending on whether they are transmitted by mosquitoes or ticks

"Flaviviruses exact an enormous toll in terms of illness and death worldwide," notes NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "Because this is a relatively new field of study, everything we learn about how these viruses operate is significant.

28 Sep 2005

Chicken virus helps develop novel vaccines

Researchers at the University of South Australia are developing novel vaccines by using a chicken virus to either stimulate or suppress the body's immune system.

28 Sep 2005

Hair loss and self-confidence

Hair loss in women or female pattern baldness can have devastating psychological effects on sufferers, two Monash University researchers have found.

28 Sep 2005

Possible new therapy for lymphoma and leukemia patients

Marty Holmes, a landscaper from Stockton, Calif., had never heard of a regulatory T cell before his doctor suggested that it could be the key to helping him survive his cancer.

28 Sep 2005

Common form of thalassaemia can be managed without blood transfusion

Haemoglobin E â thalassaemia - the commonest form of severe thalassaemia in many Asian countries - can be managed without transfusion in many patients, suggests a research letter published online today (Thursday September 29, 2005) by The Lancet.

28 Sep 2005

Training at risk in market-led NHS new junior doctors' leader says

Increased competition in the NHS in the UK could jeopardise the quality of doctors’ training, the new leader of the UK’s 49,000 junior doctors warns today (Thursday 29 September, 2005).

28 Sep 2005

Bleak outlook for overweight Australians

International research into the relationship between obesity and heart failure has uncovered a bleak outlook for already overweight Australians. The research shows that obesity is set to be one of the biggest risks for heart disease over the next decade.

28 Sep 2005

The immune mechanisms of atherosclerosis

Scientists are depicting a novel scheme for atherosclerosis development, suggesting that this pathology might result from an imbalance between pro-inflammatory processes and calming ones.

28 Sep 2005

Revolutionary new study into the psychology of disfigurement

The Centre for Appearance Research (CAR) at the University of the West of England, Bristol has been awarded a record-breaking half a million pounds by a new charity called the Healing Foundation to fund a new study into the psychology of disfigurement.

28 Sep 2005

Tuberculosis infection prevention by quick testing

With a new DNA test, tuberculosis infection can be revealed so quickly that a patient doesn’t have time to infect others. This can be an important key to effective control of the disease.

28 Sep 2005

Robots to shed light on sexual disease

It won’t be long before automated DNA test contribute to providing more knowledge about the up to now nearly unknown sexually transmitted mycoplasma – truly more widespread than chlamydia. Mycoplasma is a bacterial infection of the genitals.

28 Sep 2005