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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

Going in to hospital provides an opportunity to stop smoking

A Cochrane Systematic Review has found that the chance of successfully quitting can be enhanced if patients receive smoking cessation counselling during their stay, and then have at least one month of supportive contact after going home.

18 Jul 2007

Early education key to preventing melanoma

Melanoma is killing young people as never before, and a new educational program created in part by a group of medical students and dermatology faculty from Saint Louis University School of Medicine is hoping to reverse this deadly trend.

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

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

Colitis caused by Clostridium difficile more common now

The rate of cases of colitis (colon inflammation) caused by the bacteria Clostridium difficile more than doubled among patients hospitalized in the United States between 1993 and 2003, and the illness was more severe and associated with an increased mortality rate, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Surgery.

17 Jul 2007

Children at birthday party paid by 'MMR row' doctor for their blood

The General Medical Council (GMC) in Britain has heard that Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who is facing allegations of serious professional misconduct with regard to research on the triple measles-mumps-rubella MMR vaccine, paid children £5 to take their blood samples at his son's birthday party.

16 Jul 2007

Experts in Britain wholeheartedly back MMR jab

A disciplinary hearing due to begin this week in the UK may well settle the debate over any link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) and autism.

16 Jul 2007

Venous thromboembolism in the U.S.

Venous thrombosis (VTE), the formation of blood clots in a vein, is a major health problem for hospitalized patients in the United States.

16 Jul 2007

Warwick first new medical school to join MRC strategic partnership

Warwick Medical School has become the first new medical school to join a strategic partnership with the Medical Research Council (MRC).

16 Jul 2007

Selenium and type 2 diabetes

Selenium, an antioxidant included in multivitamin tablets thought to have a possible protective effect against the development of type 2 diabetes, may actually increase the risk of developing the disease, an analysis by researchers at the University at Buffalo has shown.

16 Jul 2007

A suntan is the body's best effort to fend off ultraviolet light

For years, the official word on tanning has been … don't. Health organizations have driven home the message that the sun exposure needed to get a tan increases your chances of getting skin cancer.

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

Uninsured adults increase Medicare costs

While the overall cost-effectiveness of Medicare benefits have been much-debated, new data now show that people who were uninsured before receiving benefits at age 65 required more intensive and costlier care than those who had been privately insured prior to receiving Medicare.

12 Jul 2007

Some smokers have genetic predisposition to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Some people have a genetic variation that makes them more susceptible to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) if they smoke tobacco, according to new research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues.

12 Jul 2007

Diabetes researcher honored with prestigious Novartis prize

John E. Gerich, M.D., professor of Medicine and program director of the General Clinical Research Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center, has been awarded the Novartis Prize for Long-Standing Achievement in Diabetes.

11 Jul 2007

Master switch for the production of brown fat discovered

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a long-sought "master switch" in mice for the production of brown fat, a type of adipose tissue that generates heat and counters obesity caused by overeating.

11 Jul 2007

Court rules in favor of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) has announced that the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Judge William G. Young, following a Nov. 6, 2006 jury decision, ruled in favor of MEEI on claims of unjust enrichment and unfair trade practices against QLT Inc.

11 Jul 2007

Selenium supplements may do more harm than good

In a British trial examining the benefit of selenium supplements it has been found that in some cases the supplement can do more harm than good.

11 Jul 2007

Percentage of inappropriate PSA screenings increases significantly with the age of male health care providers

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests to screen for prostate cancer are frequently performed among patients for whom the PSA test is not shown to be beneficial, and clinicians with certain characteristics are more likely to order such inappropriate screening tests, according to a report in the July 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

10 Jul 2007