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Risk factors for severe RSV infection in immunocompromised children

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators and collaborators have shown how to predict if a child who is infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) while being treated for cancer or another catastrophic disease is at high risk for developing severe infection. The finding will help clinicians improve guidelines for managing these infected children.

4 Feb 2008

Aspirin resistance and heart attack - stroke risk

Being resistant to aspirin makes patients four times more likely to suffer a heart attack, stroke or even die from a pre-existing heart condition, according to a study published on bmj.com.

21 Jan 2008

Preventing transfusion-transmitted infections through improved blood screening methods

The blood transfusion community should consider pathogen inactivation methods as an alternative way to assure the safety and availability of the nation's blood supply, a pathologist wrote in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology (AJCP).

2 Jan 2008

Drug effective for hepatitis C patients with low platelets

For patients with hepatitis C, having a low blood platelet count is a frequent complication associated with advanced disease.

2 Jan 2008

Great-grandparent of all the cells of the blood identified

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have isolated a human blood cell that represents the great-grandparent of all the cells of the blood, a finding that could lead to new treatments for blood cancers and other blood diseases.

13 Dec 2007

Cocktail of blood products boosts odds of surviving trauma

Chances of surviving a car accident or other traumatic injury where large amounts of blood are lost are increasing thanks to research conducted by trauma specialists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

13 Dec 2007

Researchers advance stem cell gene therapy

Ireland Cancer Center of University Hospitals Case Medical Center researchers have recently made great strides in stem cell gene therapy research by transferring a new gene to cancer patients, via their own stem cells, with the ultimate goal of being able to use stronger chemotherapy treatment with less severe side effects.

13 Dec 2007

Bosutinib safe, effective for chronic myelogenous leukemia

A new drug for chronic myelogenous leukemia works for patients who have developed resistance to frontline therapy and causes fewer side effects than other medications in its class, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports at the 49th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

12 Dec 2007

Depression nearly triples the risk of death following a heart attack

...even when accounting for other heart attack risk factors, according to research presented at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) annual meeting, which showed that among 360 depressed, post myocardial infarction patients followed for more than six years, those who did not recover from their depression in the first six months were more than twice as likely to die.

10 Dec 2007

Nilotinib and Dasatinib show promise as therapy for chronic myelogenous leukemia

Two drugs approved for use as second line therapy for chronic myelogenous leukemia are showing promising results as frontline therapy for newly diagnosed patients in two clinical trials, research teams led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report at the 49th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

10 Dec 2007

Eltrombopag studied in Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura

There are estimated to be between 50,000 -- 100,000 individuals in the U.S. diagnosed with chronic Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), an autoimmune disease that dramatically reduces the number of platelets in their blood -- causing bruises, nosebleeds and, sometimes, life-threatening brain hemorrhages.

29 Nov 2007

New drug, eltrombopag boosts platelets in hepatitis C patients

It's not a cure, but this may be some of the best news patients infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) have heard in a long time: A new drug, eltrombopag, appears to be effective in boosting low platelet counts, one of the major reasons why patients can't endure antiviral treatments.

29 Nov 2007

Lenalidomide - dexamethasone combination effective against multiple myeloma

Pairing a new thalidomide derivative with a steroid slows progress of multiple myeloma, an incurable bone marrow cancer, and prolongs the lives of patients who have relapsed from previous treatment, researchers report in the Nov. 22 New England Journal of Medicine.

21 Nov 2007

Diesel exhaust fumes increase clot formation and blood platelet activity

Increased roadway pollution produced by diesel fuel in vehicles is leading to a cascade of conditions that could result in heart attack or stroke, researchers suggested in the report of a small study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2007.

6 Nov 2007