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Study finds increased risk of some cancers among HIV-positive people in U.S.

HIV-positive people in the U.S., many of whom are living longer because of antiretroviral drugs, are at an increased risk for certain types of cancers, according to a study published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Reuters reports.

22 May 2008

An alternative strategy for HIV vaccine research

Today, Advanced BioScience Laboratories, Inc. (ABL) and the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) report that their unique HIV vaccine formulation was effective in eliciting strong and balanced immune responses in healthy human volunteers.

22 May 2008

Simple blood test could indicate higher risk for coronary events in women after post-menopausal hormone therapies

A research study has found that a simple blood test may indicate whether post-menopausal hormone therapies present an elevated risk of a heart attack.

22 May 2008

New efforts to improve medical products for patient safety

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced efforts underway at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that will complement each other to improve patient safety and the quality of medical care.

22 May 2008

Knee injuries among most costly high school sports-related injuries

Knee injuries, among the most economically costly sports injuries, are the leading cause of high school sports-related surgeries according to a study conducted at the Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP) of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and published in the June issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

22 May 2008

Yerkes researchers develop first transgenic nonhuman primate model of Huntington's disease

In the first study of its kind, researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, in collaboration with researchers from the Department of Human Genetics at Emory's School of Medicine, have developed the first transgenic nonhuman primate model of Huntington's disease (HD), one of the most devastating human neurodegenerative diseases.

22 May 2008

Quitting smoking a group activity!

The number of smokers who have quit over the last three decades has multiplied as a result of public-health campaigns, but now researchers in the U.S. say people quit smoking as groups and not as individuals.

22 May 2008

Reducing blockage fails to improve access to the bloodstream for kidney dialysis

Reducing early blockages in bloodstream access for kidney failure treatment does not increase the likelihood that the access will function adequately for long-term treatments, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Results were published May 14, 2008, in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

22 May 2008

Smoking is addictive, but quitting is contagious

Over the last 30 years, the number of smokers in the U.S. has steadily decreased-a tribute to the efforts of public-health workers everywhere. And while this fact is unarguable, less obvious are the social and cultural forces that lead an individual to kick the habit. In fact, when someone crumbles that last empty pack of their favorite unfiltered brand and vows to never buy another, he might not realize that he is less like the heroic individual grasping his own boot straps and more like a single bird whose sudden left turn is just one speck in the larger flock.

21 May 2008

High resolution confocal endomicroscopy probe system tells whether colon polyp is benign without removal

A probe so sensitive that it can tell whether or not a cell living within the human body is veering towards cancer development may revolutionize how future colonoscopies are done, say researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla.

21 May 2008

When facelifts go wrong: Stanford expert counsels plastic surgeons on dealing with unhappy patients

Watch for the red flags: the patient who pulls out a photo of Tom Cruise and says he wants to look just like that, or the perfectionist who comes to the initial interview with each hair in place, makeup just so.

21 May 2008

Iraq war and risk of developing bronchiolitis

A large group of soldiers returning from Iraq have been diagnosed with bronchiolitis, a disease affecting the small airways of the lung, according to Vanderbilt University Medical Center physicians who will present their findings at the American Thoracic Society's 2008 International Conference in Toronto on Wednesday, May 21.

21 May 2008

Unique genetic signature alerts physicians to high-risk breast tumors

A unique genetic signature can alert physicians to high-risk breast tumors that are masquerading as low-risk tumors, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions. Although these tumors are apparently estrogen-receptor positive - meaning they should depend on estrogen to grow - they don't respond well to anti-estrogen therapy.

21 May 2008

Low-intensity case management cuts chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-related hospital visits in half

A new study has found that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who are at high risk for hospitalization or emergency room visits from exacerbations or complications benefit from simple low-intensity case management.

21 May 2008

Global food crisis and transport policy are linked

The world's food crisis will not be solved until there is greater recognition that transport policy is inextricably linked to food policy, according to an article in today's Lancet.

21 May 2008

New clinical research and imaging centre for Bristol

The University and United Bristol Healthcare Trust (UBHT) are joining forces to establish a new state-of-the-art Clinical Research and Imaging Centre (CRIC) at St Michael's Hospital on St Michael's Hill

21 May 2008

Having a cat may protect children from developing asthma

A study released by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, shows that cat ownership may have a protective effect against the development of asthma symptoms in young children at age five.

20 May 2008

Mayo Clinic research shows U.S. intensive care units' prevention of pneumonia in critically-ill generally strong; identifies area of improvement

Mayo Clinic researchers found that the frequency with which critically-ill patients developed ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is approximately the same at a multidisciplinary medical center such as Mayo Clinic compared to the average VAP-risk rate for 211 hospitals in the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN).

20 May 2008

Targeted therapy can improve outcomes for lung tumors

The first U.S. clinical trial using genetic screening to identify lung tumors likely to respond to targeted therapies supports the use of those drugs as first-line treatment rather than after standard chemotherapy has failed.

20 May 2008

A loving partner can save your skin

Even couples that have been together for years may be embarrassed to let a spouse or partner see their less than perfect bodies naked in bright light. That shyness can hamper a couple's willingness to do total body skin exams on each other to check for a new or recurring melanoma. Melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, can appear in more than one spot so these checks are important.

20 May 2008