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Protecting HIV patients from Hep B

Since the transmission of HIV and Hepatitis B virus (HBV) are so similar, individuals infected with one of these viruses are at a significantly increased risk for contracting the other.

19 Jul 2007

New study explains placebo effect

Why do some people experience a “placebo effect” that makes them feel better when they receive a sham treatment they believe to be real — while other people don't respond at all to the same thing, or even feel worse?

19 Jul 2007

Researchers pinpoint brain region linked to placebo effect

Researchers have pinpointed a brain region central to the machinery of the placebo effect, the often controversial phenomenon in which a person's belief in the efficacy of a treatment such as a painkilling drug influences its effect.

19 Jul 2007

Preventive techniques greatly reduce pressure ulcers

Working together to reduce the occurrence of pressure ulcers in patients throughout various care settings, members of the New Jersey Hospital Association's Pressure Ulcer Collaborative have reported a 70 percent reduction in the incidence of new pressure ulcers after nearly two years of applying shared best practices and preventive techniques.

18 Jul 2007

Heart patches that stimulate regeneration

When human hearts are injured, as during a heart attack, healthy tissue normally can't regrow.

18 Jul 2007

Correcting birth defects

Traditionally when a baby was born with a malformation of the lung or esophagus, they had to undergo open surgery involving a large chest incision with risk for serious complications.

18 Jul 2007

Special patch improves heart function after heart attacks

Researchers in the U.S. have developed a special patch which regenerates cardiac cells after a heart attack; when the patch is placed on the damaged area of the heart it improves heart function.

17 Jul 2007

New technique restores the smile to faces of those with facial paralysis

Surgeons in the United States have used a new procedure to partially restore the muscle movement in the faces of patients with severe long-term facial paralysis.

17 Jul 2007

Pump iron to help that heart pump!

The American Heart Association (AHA) says weight lifting or resistance training, is beneficial for patients with heart disease provided it is safely performed and certain guidelines are adhered to.

17 Jul 2007

Temporalis tendon transfer reanimates paralyzed faces

A surgical technique known as temporalis tendon transfer, in conjunction with intense physical therapy before and after surgery, may help reanimate the features of those with facial paralysis, according to a report in the July/August issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

17 Jul 2007

Insulin resistance in skeletal muscle can be countered through exercise

Abdominal fat, the spare tire that many of us carry, has long been implicated as a primary suspect in causing the metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that includes the most dangerous heart attack risk factors: prediabetes, diabetes, high blood pressure, and changes in cholesterol.

17 Jul 2007

Scientists link brain function to knee injuries

A torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is among an athlete's most-dreaded injuries, often requiring surgery and months of rehab, as has been the case with Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.

17 Jul 2007

Sports hernia repair technique coupled with innovative rehabilitation program speeds return to play

Surgical repair of athletic hernia using tension-free mesh and a standardized rehabilitation protocol are successful in returning athletes to competition, according to new research released at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine at the Telus Convention Center.

16 Jul 2007

Sports hernia repair surgery plus innovative rehab program helps athletes return to play

In recent years, sports hernias have sidelined many high-level athletes for months and, occasionally, prevented a return to competitive sports all together.

16 Jul 2007

New target for muscular dystrophy drug therapy

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report how the gene for utrophin, which codes for a protein very similar to dystrophin, the defective protein in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), puts the brakes on its own expression in muscle cells, thereby suggesting a new target for treatment.

13 Jul 2007

Get off the sofa and go for a walk!

These days, it's easy for people to get confused about exercise -- how many minutes a day should they spend working out, for how long and at what exertion level?

12 Jul 2007

New evidence of very recent human adaptation

A Cornell study of genome sequences in African-Americans, European-Americans and Chinese suggests that natural selection has caused as much as 10 percent of the human genome to change in some populations in the last 15,000 to 100,000 years, when people began migrating from Africa.

12 Jul 2007

British doctor accused of behaviour "tantamount to euthanasia" cleared

A British doctor who was accused of actions "tantamount to euthanasia" with regard to the deaths of two premature babies has been cleared of any misconduct.

12 Jul 2007

Genetically engineered herpes simplex virus keeps arteries free-flowing

A genetically engineered herpes simplex virus, primarily known for causing cold sores, may help keep arteries "free-flowing" in the weeks following angioplasty or stent placement for patients, according to research published early in the online edition of PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America).

11 Jul 2007

Adiponectin serves as energy-conserving signal to the brain

A fat-derived protein known for its effects on the liver and skeletal muscle might also serve as an energy-conserving signal to the brain during periods of starvation, suggests a new study in the July issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press.

11 Jul 2007