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First North American trial to evaluate the role of an aromatase inhibitor in the prevention of breast cancer

Today, a new clinical trial evaluating a novel approach to breast cancer prevention launched in the United States and Canada. Called the ExCel research study, this is the first North American clinical trial to evaluate the role of an aromatase inhibitor in the prevention of breast cancer.

30 Mar 2005

Device may offer alternative for stroke patients

As the most common cause of adult disability in the United States, stroke leaves many survivors unable to perform tasks that were once part of their daily routine. Much of the time the disabilities are treatable, but the high cost of rehabilitation therapy leaves many patients to cope on their own.

30 Mar 2005

High-rise homes have the highest levels of cockroach allergens

Roaches like to live high in the sky in places like Chicago, New York City and the Bronx, according to a recent study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The study, conducted by an allergist affiliated with Children's Medical Center Dallas, found high-rise homes in Northeastern cities had the highest levels of cockroach allergens -- leading to a higher incidence of asthmatic episodes.

30 Mar 2005

Conventional wisdom could be wrong in primary care

A study by Mark Hall, J.D., professor of law and public health sciences at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Centre, is suggesting that conventional wisdom could be wrong in that primary care doctors who coordinate the care of their patients by specialists may actually have lower liability risk than primary care doctors who do not attempt care coordination.

29 Mar 2005

Smack that bottom - it can cure everything !!

Russian scientists at the Novosibirsk Institute of Medicine are claiming a beating on the naked buttocks with a cane is the perfect way to cure everything from depression to alcoholism.

29 Mar 2005

Clinical study of mirror neurons provides insights into autism and other disorders

Seeing is doing – at least it is when mirror neurons are working normally. But in autistic individuals, say researchers from the University of California, San Diego, the brain circuits that enable people to perceive and understand the actions of others do not behave in the usual way.

29 Mar 2005

Coordinating care of chronically ill patients does not increase liability

Conventional wisdom is wrong: primary care doctors who coordinate the care of their patients by specialists may actually have lower liability risk than primary care doctors who do not attempt care coordination.

29 Mar 2005

Important link between kidney damage and cardiac problems

Scientists have identified an important link between kidney damage and cardiac problems, creating new possibilities for treating the primary cause of death in kidney disease patients.

29 Mar 2005

Weather forecasts may help predict West Nile virus

Weather forecasts could become barometers for predicting the potential threat of West Nile virus to humans and wildlife, according to scientists at two state agencies based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

29 Mar 2005

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) can successfully identify the characteristics of coronary plaques

A catheter-based imaging technology called optical coherence tomography (OCT) can successfully identify the characteristics of coronary plaques in patients with various cardiac symptoms. The report from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) will appear in the journal Circulation.

29 Mar 2005

Protecting children from industrial chemicals in the environment

American children are likely to face serious health consequences from new and existing industrial chemicals in the environment, argue a group of researchers in a report in this month's premier open-access global health journal PLoS Medicine.

29 Mar 2005

DNA sequencing made portable and faster by "colour-blind" technology

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and Rice University have developed a"colour-blind" method of fluorescence detection which could open new doors that would take DNA sequencing to the patient's bedside, the doctor's office and even the scene of a crime or a battlefield.

29 Mar 2005

Marker for new blood vessel formation in tumors

In a paper in this month's freely-available online global health journal PLoS Medicine, Roland Haubner and colleagues describe how a compound they have developed can be used together with highly sensitive positron emission tomography (PET) scanning to measure the amount of new blood vessel growth in some tumors.

29 Mar 2005

Role of uric acid in heart disease

In this month's premier open access medical journal PLoS Medicine, John Danesh and colleagues from the University of Cambridge, along with investigators from the Icelandic Heart Association, report the single largest prospective study addressing the role of uric acid in heart disease.

29 Mar 2005

Cells that might be able to suppres cat allergies

In a paper in this month's premier open-access medical journal PLoS Medicine, Mark Larche and colleagues from Imperial College London describe a subset of cells that might be able to suppress cells that cause cat allergy.

29 Mar 2005

An overconfident physician will not seek help or may ignore help that is offered

Physicians' often do not have correct perceptions of the accuracy of their diagnoses at the time they make them, and in significant numbers of cases they may be overconfident - wrong when they believe they are right; or underconfident - right when they believe they are wrong--about their diagnostic assessments, according to a University of Pittsburgh study.

29 Mar 2005

Pcsk9 gene - new target for cholesterol-lowering drugs

Mice lacking a key protein involved in cholesterol regulation have low-density lipoprotein, or "bad" cholesterol, levels more than 50 percent lower than normal mice, and researchers suggest that inhibiting the same protein in humans could lead to new cholesterol-lowering drugs.

29 Mar 2005

Surprising discovery about natural immunity to pneumococcus

Since 2000, U.S. infants have been routinely immunized against pneumococcal (Streptococcus pneumoniae) infection. Now, Boston researchers have made a surprising discovery about natural immunity to pneumococcus.

29 Mar 2005

Massive weight loss conference hits Dallas

While massive weight loss surgery is increasingly becoming the treatment of choice for the morbidly obese, many patients are unaware that additional plastic surgery – body contouring – will likely be necessary to achieve their desired body shape.

29 Mar 2005

Girls more active with sports they enjoy

The more enjoyable a physical education program can be made for adolescent girls, the more likely they are to be physically active, according to new research in the March issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise®, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

29 Mar 2005