Medicine News and Research

RSS

Strain of avian influenza highly resistant to Tamiflu

An avian influenza virus isolated from an infected Vietnamese girl has been determined to be resistant to the drug oseltamivir, the compound better known by its trade name Tamiflu, and the drug officials hope will serve as the front line of defense for a feared influenza pandemic.

16 Oct 2005

Family history of alcohol dependency does not relate to age of first drink

Having a first alcoholic drink at the early age of 12, 13 or 14 might be influenced more by a child's tendency to do things like lie, steal or skip school than by a family history of alcohol dependency, according to findings by University of Iowa and other investigators.

16 Oct 2005

Discovery could help make cellular immunotherapy safer

Researchers at the University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered the secret weapon behind the most powerful form of cancer immunotherapy known to medicine.

16 Oct 2005

Alternative methods to create stem cells successful in mice-studies

According to researchers in the U.S. two alternative methods for making embryonic stem cells, work in mice and could lead to a less controversial way to grow them.

16 Oct 2005

Research points way to more effective delivery of medicine around the body

New research showing how drugs stick to a key protein in the bloodstream could help to create drugs that are delivered more effectively to organs in the body.

13 Oct 2005

Remicade can improve psoriasis symptoms

An international team led by a dermatologist at The University of Manchester has found that treatment with the emerging drug infliximab, marketed as Remicade, can quickly and significantly improve psoriasis symptoms.

From The University of Manchester 13 Oct 2005

PCBs found widely in the environment and absorbed in the diet - may damage sperm

Research by an European Union-supported international team of scientists has shown that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) - synthetic organic chemicals found widely in the environment and absorbed in the diet - may damage sperm.

13 Oct 2005

First gene mutation associated with Tourette syndrome

Researchers have identified the first gene mutation associated with Tourette syndrome - opening a new avenue for understanding the complex disorder that causes muscle and vocal tics.

13 Oct 2005

Cancer survivors have unique and long-term cancer-specific side effects.

Patients surviving childhood Hodgkin disease suffer strokes later in life at rates about four times that of the general population, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

13 Oct 2005

Relationship between drinking early in adolescence and later negative outcomes

Alcohol experimentation in late childhood or early adolescence is a common event. An early age of first drink (AFD), however, is associated with a variety of negative outcomes.

13 Oct 2005

Complementary medicine represents an additional cost to usual care with questionable clinical benefit

The cost-effectiveness of using complementary treatments in the United Kingdom has been the subject of much speculation and controversy.

13 Oct 2005

Canadian adolescents and complementary or alternative medical treatment

While the study does not look at the effectiveness of these treatments, "what's concerning is that young people across the country have different levels of access to alternative therapies as publicly-funded services," says Dr. McColl. "There are noticeable differences in access and utilization based on education, income and geographic location."

13 Oct 2005

SLITRK1 gene appears to contribute to some cases of Tourette's Syndrome

In what may be a major milestone in Tourette's Syndrome (TS) research, scientists at Yale School of Medicine and their colleagues have identified a gene called SLITRK1 that appears to contribute to some cases of TS, according to a report in the October 14 issue of Science.

13 Oct 2005

No shred of evidence that HIV-positive men who lose fat in their legs reciprocally gain fat in their bellies

There is no syndrome that causes increased belly fat and decreased facial and limb fat among HIV-positive men who take antiretroviral drugs, according to a study by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

13 Oct 2005

Russian moonshine contributes to very high death rate among Russians

Heavy alcohol consumption contributes to numerous problems in Russia, not the least of which is a very high death rate.

13 Oct 2005

Nanobombs to eradicate cancer

University of Delaware researchers are opening a new front in the war on cancer, bringing to bear new nanotechnologies for cancer detection and treatment and introducing a unique nanobomb that can literally blow up breast cancer tumors.

13 Oct 2005

Infants and adolescents vaccinated against hepatitis B are protected for over 10 years after immunisation

...concludes a study in this week’s issue of The Lancet. The authors state that booster doses of vaccine do not seem necessary to ensure long-term protection.

13 Oct 2005

Whooping cough vaccine 90 percent effective

A vaccine to protect adults and adolescents against illness due to Bordetella pertussis infection--or whooping cough--has proved more than 90 percent effective in a national, large-scale clinical study, according to research results published in this week's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

12 Oct 2005

Why breast black cancer patients experience lower survival rates than other women

Black women with stage I or II breast cancer are more likely than their counterparts of other races to abandon chemotherapy before completing their full course of treatment, according to a recent Columbia University Medical Center study.

12 Oct 2005

Innovative therapy lowering body temperature slows down the injury process caused by birth asphyxia

Infants born with oxygen loss who are given an innovative therapy that lowers their entire body temperature by four degrees within the first six hours of life, have a better chance of survival and lower incidence of brain injury

12 Oct 2005