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Improving palliative care

Palliative care clinicians are increasingly faced with the problem of treating a wider range of diseases, and treating patients in all settings, not just in hospices or specialist units. This has created new challenges in the treatment of symptoms, which in turn creates a need for new research and practical recommendations to help palliative care clinicians and improve patient care.

2 Jun 2008

By-products of water chlorination linked to birth defects

Drinking water disinfected by chlorine while pregnant may increase the risk of having children with heart problems, cleft palate or major brain defects, according to a study published today in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health.

2 Jun 2008

Royal seal of approval for Breakthrough Breast Cancer's world-class research unit in Edinburgh

A pioneering new breast cancer research unit set up by leading UK charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the University of Edinburgh will be officially opened on Thursday 5 June 2008 by HRH The Prince of Wales (also known as The Duke of Rothesay while travelling in Scotland), the charity's Patron.

2 Jun 2008

How advanced prostate cancer becomes resistant to androgen-deprivation therapy

For the past 70 years the treatment of choice for advanced, metastatic prostate cancer has been androgen-deprivation therapy. That is, the suppression of circulating testosterone - the hormone that fuels prostate-cancer growth - via surgical castration (orchiectomy) or medical castration with testosterone-blocking drugs. While such therapy buys time for patients, it is not a cure, as inevitably the cancer becomes resistant to the androgen deprivation and continues to grow.

2 Jun 2008

Simple infection control intervention in elementary schools reduces student absenteeism

A study from researchers at Children's Hospital Boston published in Pediatrics found that a simple infection control intervention in elementary schools - disinfecting frequently-touched surfaces and using alcohol-based hand sanitizers - helped reduce illness-related student absenteeism.

2 Jun 2008

Prevalence of pre-cancerous masses in the colon same in patients in their 40s and 50s

The prevalence of pre-cancerous masses in the colon is the same for average-risk patients who are 40 to 49 years of age and those who are 50 to 59 years of age, reports a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

2 Jun 2008

Overheating newborns can increase the risk of SIDS

New research at the University of Calgary shows that smoking while pregnant, as well as thermal stress, can lead to an increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Increased ambient temperature such as over-wrapping a baby at night time or increasing the room temperature can affect the baby's pattern of breathing

2 Jun 2008

Anti-rejection drug sirolimus may prolong organ life in noncompliant kidney transplant patients

New research from the University of California, San Diego Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, shows that the anti-rejection drug sirolimus (brand name Rapamune) may help prolong the clinical benefit of transplanted kidneys and delay rejection, especially in patients who do not regularly take their prescribed medications (are "non-compliant"). While the transplant field has been highly successful at reducing rejection and graft loss in the first year, post-transplant, reducing risk for graft rejection in the long-term has proved more difficult.

2 Jun 2008

Waiting room touch pad device may prove to be a life-saver

Technology may be the key to identifying high-risk behaviors among adolescents. Injury risk, depressive symptoms and drug and alcohol use are the leading causes of adolescent morbidity and mortality; yet pediatricians often lack the time to screen for these behavioral concerns.

2 Jun 2008

Are bunk bed safe?

Bunk bed-related injuries are not an issue of concern solely for parents of young children according to a study conducted by investigators at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital.

2 Jun 2008

First study to examine vitamin D insufficiency in pediatric patients with low bone density

Vitamin D insufficiency is common in adults and is emerging in the world of pediatrics. A mild degree of vitamin D deficiency, also known as vitamin D insufficiency, causes rickets in children and can be treated with increased amount of nutritional vitamin D intake as well as increased sun exposure.

2 Jun 2008

UT Southwestern mouse model mimics hyperglycemia, aids in diabetes research

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have genetically engineered a laboratory mouse in which pancreatic beta cells can regenerate after being induced to die. The new animal model's regenerative ability may provide future insights into improved treatments of diabetes, which affects millions of Americans.

2 Jun 2008

Novel chemo drug helps treat prostate cancer

Men with a certain type of prostate cancer have been shown to respond to a new chemotherapy drug, Sagopilone, plus prednisone in an international trial led by Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers.

1 Jun 2008

US soldiers in high-tuberculosis areas face new epidemic: false positives

U.S. Army service members are increasingly deployed in regions of the world where tuberculosis (TB) is rampant, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and the military now faces a growing medical problem. But it is not TB itself that is on the rise-instead, the problem lies with the growing number of "pseudoepidemics," or clusters of false-positives for TB that are the result of universal testing with a notoriously inaccurate tuberculin skin test (TST) and inconsistent procedures for interpreting those tests in low-risk populations.

1 Jun 2008

Expert cautions against rushing into genetic testing

Just because scientific advances now allow individuals to learn their genetic make-up doesn't mean they should rush into genetic testing in hopes of making revolutionary improvements to their health, cautions a geneticist and practicing physician at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

1 Jun 2008

Acupuncture reduces pain and dysfunction in head and neck cancer patients after neck dissection

New data from a randomized, controlled trial found that acupuncture provided significant reductions in pain, dysfunction, and dry mouth in head and neck cancer patients after neck dissection. The study was led by David Pfister, MD, Chief of the Head and Neck Medical Oncology Service, and Barrie Cassileth, PhD, Chief of the Integrative Medicine Service, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). Dr. Pfister presented the findings today at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology.

1 Jun 2008

Yale researchers block transforming growth factor to clear up amyloid plaques in mice

Blocking a common immune system response cleared up plaques associated with Alzheimer's Disease and enabled treated mice to recover some lost memory, Yale University researchers report Friday in the journal Nature Medicine.

1 Jun 2008

Researchers pinpoint gene mutations responsible for 10 percent of non-familial cases of schizophrenia

Scans of the genome of patients with schizophrenia have revealed rare spontaneous copy number mutations that account for at least 10 percent of the non-familial cases of the disease.

1 Jun 2008

Soil bacteria may offer potential treatments for MRSA and cancer

Big pharma gave up on soil bacteria as a source of antibiotics too soon, according to research published in the June issue of Microbiology. Scientists have been mining microbial genomes for new natural products that may have applications in the treatment of MRSA and cancer and have made some exciting discoveries.

1 Jun 2008

Smoking during pregnancy and SIDS

A new study provides the most direct evidence that there exists a causal link between smoking during pregnancy and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

1 Jun 2008

Medicine News and Research

Improving palliative care

By-products of water chlorination linked to birth defects

Royal seal of approval for Breakthrough Breast Cancer's world-class research unit in Edinburgh

How advanced prostate cancer becomes resistant to androgen-deprivation therapy

Simple infection control intervention in elementary schools reduces student absenteeism

Prevalence of pre-cancerous masses in the colon same in patients in their 40s and 50s

Overheating newborns can increase the risk of SIDS

Anti-rejection drug sirolimus may prolong organ life in noncompliant kidney transplant patients

Waiting room touch pad device may prove to be a life-saver

Are bunk bed safe?

First study to examine vitamin D insufficiency in pediatric patients with low bone density

UT Southwestern mouse model mimics hyperglycemia, aids in diabetes research

Novel chemo drug helps treat prostate cancer

US soldiers in high-tuberculosis areas face new epidemic: false positives

Expert cautions against rushing into genetic testing

Acupuncture reduces pain and dysfunction in head and neck cancer patients after neck dissection

Yale researchers block transforming growth factor to clear up amyloid plaques in mice

Researchers pinpoint gene mutations responsible for 10 percent of non-familial cases of schizophrenia

Soil bacteria may offer potential treatments for MRSA and cancer

Smoking during pregnancy and SIDS

Everything there is to know about biosimilars eBook

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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