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‘Low’ toxicity for phase I cancer trials

Advanced cancer patients participating in phase I clinical trials at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center experienced a low rate of toxicity, researchers say.

13 Aug 2012

Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass ‘acceptable long term’

Obese patients who undergo laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass retain a fair quality of life 9 years later, research suggests.

13 Aug 2012

Researchers discover gene mutations linked to spinocerebellar ataxia

A global hunt for the cause of a crippling inherited nerve disorder has found its target. The discovery opens the door for better diagnosis and treatment of this particular disease - but also for better understanding of why nerves in the brain's movement-controlling center die, and how new DNA-mapping techniques can find the causes of other diseases that run in families.

13 Aug 2012

Popular class of diabetes drugs increase risk for bladder cancer

A popular class of diabetes drugs increases patients' risk of bladder cancer, according to a new study published online this month in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

13 Aug 2012

Insight into ubiquitin system

A faulty gene linked to a rare blood vessel disorder has led investigators to discover a mechanism involved in determining the fate of possibly thousands of proteins working inside cells.

13 Aug 2012

Johns Hopkins CIDR receives NIH contract to study genetic diseases

The Johns Hopkins Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR) program contract, which provides up to $101 million in research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the genetic contribution to human diseases, has been renewed for another five years.

13 Aug 2012

Research focuses on evolution of sex and gamete function

The propagation of every animal on the planet is the result of sexual activity between males and females of a given species. But how did things get this way? Why two sexes instead of one? Why are sperm necessary for reproduction and how did they evolve? These as-yet-unresolved issues fascinate Timothy Karr, a developmental geneticist and evolutionary biologist at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute.

13 Aug 2012

Scientists discover how pten gene causes brain changes that lead to autism-like behavior

Scientists affiliated with the UC Davis MIND Institute have discovered how a defective gene causes brain changes that lead to the atypical social behavior characteristic of autism. The research offers a potential target for drugs to treat the condition.

13 Aug 2012

Migraines not associated with cognitive decline

Migraines currently affect about 20 percent of the female population, and while these headaches are common, there are many unanswered questions surrounding this complex disease. Previous studies have linked this disorder to an increased risk of stroke and structural brain lesions, but it has remained unclear whether migraines had other negative consequences such as dementia or cognitive decline.

12 Aug 2012

Daily aspirin use may reduce overall cancer mortality

Daily aspirin usage is associated with lower overall cancer mortality, but the association may be smaller than what was previously believed, according to a study published August 10 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

12 Aug 2012

Depressed patients at risk of developing peripheral artery disease

Depression was linked with an increased risk of peripheral artery disease (PAD) in a study of more than one thousand men and women with heart disease conducted by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

10 Aug 2012

Two-drug combination helps combat cocaine addiction

A combination of two existing pharmaceutical drugs may soon be used to treat cocaine addiction, findings from an animal study in Science Translational Medicine suggest.

10 Aug 2012

Statins: cardiovascular benefits outweigh diabetes risk

The benefits of taking statins to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease outweigh the increased risk of developing diabetes experienced by some patients who take these cholesterol-lowering drugs, according to an Article published Online First in The Lancet.

10 Aug 2012

Risk model predicts illness after ambulatory surgery

A marked proportion of patients undergoing ambulatory surgery suffer postdischarge nausea and vomiting, say US scientists who have developed a simplified risk score to identify patients who may benefit from long-acting prophylactic therapy.

9 Aug 2012

Borderline personality disorder ‘not linked to psychosis transition’

The presence of borderline personality disorder is not associated with an increased risk for transition to full-blown psychosis in ultra-high risk patients, research shows.

9 Aug 2012

Herceptin® could potentially be delivered via a standard injection

A new method of delivering a commonly used breast cancer drug could result in considerably less time spent in hospital for some women undergoing breast cancer treatment, according to the results of a Phase 3 trial published Online First in The Lancet Oncology.

9 Aug 2012

Sirtuins help fight off obesity-linked diseases

A protein that slows aging in mice and other animals also protects against the ravages of a high-fat diet, including diabetes, according to a new MIT study.

9 Aug 2012

Newborn death risk increases with maternal obesity in sub-Saharan Africa

New research published Online First in The Lancet indicates that babies born to mothers who are overweight or obese in sub-Saharan Africa, where rates of obesity are projected to increase at an alarming rate during the next two decades, are significantly more likely to die in the first two days after their birth. The study is the first to shed light on the role of maternal obesity in neonatal death (during the first 28 days of life) in developing countries.

9 Aug 2012

Link between chronic exposure to staph bacteria and risk of lupus

Chronic exposure to even small amounts of staph bacteria could be a risk factor for the chronic inflammatory disease lupus, Mayo Clinic research shows. Staph, short for Staphylococcus aureus, is a germ commonly found on the skin or in the nose, sometimes causing infections.

9 Aug 2012

Combination of two existing pharmaceutical drugs shows promise against cocaine addiction

A fine-tuned combination of two existing pharmaceutical drugs has shown promise as a potential new therapy for people addicted to cocaine—a therapy that would reduce their craving for the drug and blunt their symptoms of withdrawal.

9 Aug 2012