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Active surveillance of prostate cancer patients encouraged

Active surveillance is an effective way of monitoring patients with low-risk prostate cancer and is associated with a low risk for systemic progression, say researchers.

31 Dec 2012

Bumping up appendicitis diagnostic accuracy

It is well worth emergency doctors asking patients with abdominal pain how they were affected by driving over speed bumps on their way to hospital, research suggests.

28 Dec 2012

FDA clears Cepheid Xpert CT/NG molecular diagnostic test

Cepheid today announced that it has received clearance from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to market Xpert CT/NG. Running on Cepheid's GeneXpert Systems, Xpert CT/NG is a qualitative in vitro molecular diagnostic test for the detection and differentiation of Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae. For the first time, same-day patient consultation and treatment is possible for the two most common sexually transmitted bacterial infections in the United States.

28 Dec 2012

New cost-effective, less invasive MRI method for diagnosis of dementia

A new way to use MRI scans may help determine whether dementia is Alzheimer's disease or another type of dementia, according to new research published in the December 26, 2012, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

27 Dec 2012

Use of CT scans for children suspected of having appendicitis varies among hospitals

Children suspected of having appendicitis are more likely to receive CT scans, which involve radiation, if they are evaluated at a general hospital, a new study by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has shown.

25 Dec 2012

Genetic innovations for pneumonia diagnosis in children

Polymerase chain reaction could help diagnose Mycoplasmia pneumonia infection in children, researchers say.

24 Dec 2012

A screening tool to evaluate pre-menstrual disorders

Even though there are many women who do not notice any special symptoms, there are some whose pre-menstrual disorders hamper their everyday lives: depressive mood, anxiety, excessive emotional sensitivity, fatigue, lack of concentration, headache, etc.

21 Dec 2012

Venaxis seeks CE Mark approval for blood-based appendicitis test

Venaxis, Inc., an in vitro diagnostic company, today announced it has filed for CE Mark approval in Europe for APPY1, the Company's blood-based appendicitis test.

21 Dec 2012

Molecule imitating a virus may trigger inappropriate immune response

Why would our immune system turn against our own cells? This is the question that the combined Inserm/CNRS/ Pierre and Marie Curie University/Association Institut de Myologie have strived to answer in their "Therapies for diseases of striated muscle", concentrating in particular on the auto-immune disease known as myasthenia gravis.

21 Dec 2012

CAC test can identify diabetes patients at high risk of fatal cardiovascular disease

People with Type 2 diabetes have two to four times the risk of cardiovascular disease compared to people without the disease. The best way for doctors to predict which diabetes patients are at the greatest risk for heart disease is to use a coronary artery calcium (CAC) test in addition to the most commonly used assessment tool, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

21 Dec 2012

Researchers develop game-changing diagnostic and prognostic genetic tests for prostate cancer

Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson (KCC) have developed potentially game-changing diagnostic and prognostic genetic tests shown to better predict prostate cancer survival outcomes and distinguish clinically-relevant cancers.

21 Dec 2012

Proteins detected in urine may enable diagnosis of Kawasaki disease

A set of proteins detected in urine by researchers at Boston Children's Hospital may prove to be the first biomarkers for Kawasaki disease, an uncommon but increasingly prevalent disease which causes inflammation of blood vessels that can lead to enlarged coronary arteries and even heart attacks in some children.

20 Dec 2012

Men with fibromyalgia symptoms less likely to receive diagnostic tests

Fibromyalgia is a complex illness to diagnose and to treat. There is not yet a diagnostic test to establish that someone has it, there is no cure and many fibromyalgia symptoms -- pain, fatigue, problems sleeping and memory and mood issues -- can overlap with or get mistaken for other conditions. A new Mayo Clinic study suggests that many people who have fibromyalgia, especially men, are going undiagnosed.

20 Dec 2012

Study focuses on hormone-sensitive breast tumours

Gene expression in breast cancer provides valuable biological information for better determining the diagnosis, treatment, risk of relapse and survival rate. However, the most common form of characterizing breast cancer is by histopathological techniques. This study, headed by Dr Aleix Prat, Head of the Translational Genomics Group at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and an oncologist at the Breast Cancer Unit of the Vall d´Hebron University Hospital, focused on hormone-sensitive breast tumours known as luminals.

20 Dec 2012

Investigators report non-coding miRNAs as appealing biomarkers for cancer malignancy

As many as 50 percent of all human protein-coding genes are regulated by microRNA (miRNA) molecules. While some miRNAs impact onset and progression of cancer, others can actually suppress the development of malignant tumors and are useful in cancer therapy. They can also serve as potential biomarkers for early cancer detection. In a new issue of Cancer Biomarkers, investigators report on non-coding miRNAs as appealing biomarkers for malignancy.

20 Dec 2012

Malaria progress at risk as funding for global response levels off, WHO report states

"The remarkable gains made in the treatment of malaria over the past decade are under threat because of insufficient increases in funding over the past two years, according to an annual progress report by the World Health Organization," the Guardian reports.

20 Dec 2012

Enlarged lymph nodes may warn of cancer

Enlarged lymph nodes are a marker for both occult cancer and a long-term risk for malignancy, confirms research published in the British Journal of Haematology.

19 Dec 2012

Ethnic disparities remain in glaucoma testing

A decade’s worth of data show that Hispanic men and women are less likely than individuals of other race or ethnicity to undergo ocular imaging for glaucoma.

19 Dec 2012

Documented prevalence of autism on the rise in New Jersey

Newly published research led by Walter Zahorodny, PhD, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), shows that over a four year period in the past decade, the documented prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) rose substantially in a sampling of four New Jersey counties.

19 Dec 2012

Ortho Kinematics closes more than $2 million in Series B financing

Ortho Kinematics‚ Inc. (OKI), a privately held healthcare diagnostics company focused on spine imaging informatics, announced today the close of more than $2 million in its Series B financing.

18 Dec 2012