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People with SLE more likely to develop hematologic malignancies

People with systemic lupus erythematosus are 1.15 times as likely to develop cancer as the general population and more than 2.5 times as likely to develop hematologic malignancies, such as lymphoma and leukemia, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

8 Nov 2010

Statin drugs do not benefit pediatric lupus patients

Lupus puts children at higher risk for coronary artery disease when they become adults, but routinely using statins doesn't provide enough benefit to warrant their regular use in children and adolescents, according to the largest study of pediatric lupus patients to date.

8 Nov 2010

Chronic lower back pain may be linked to axial spondyloarthritis: Research

Chronic lower back pain may be linked to a recently defined form of inflammatory arthritis known as axial spondyloarthritis, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

8 Nov 2010

SGN-35 drug reduces tumor growth in Hodgkin's lymphoma

An experimental drug for Hodgkin's lymphoma, studied at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, showed beneficial effects in stopping tumor growth with moderate side-effects, according to findings published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

8 Nov 2010

Gout and hyperuricemia continue to rise in the U.S.

Gout rates and related cases of hyperuricema have increased over the past two decades, according to research presented at the Nov 2010, American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

8 Nov 2010

AccuVein receives QTDP grant for AV300 vein illumination system

AccuVein LLC, the developer of the first non-contact, handheld vein illumination system, announced today that it had been awarded the maximum grant amount from the Qualifying Therapeutic Discover Project (QTDP) program. This Federal grant program supports projects that show significant potential to produce new therapies, address unmet medical needs, and reduce the long-term growth of health care costs.

8 Nov 2010

Researchers identify gene linked to melanoma metastasis

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a gene linked to the spread of eye melanoma.

8 Nov 2010

Resveratrol in grapes may help fight severe malaria: Study

A compound found in the skin of grapes and used to make red wine may help fight severe malaria, raising hopes of finding a new adjunctive therapy against an illness that kills an estimated 1 million people a year, according to a study presented today at The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 59th Annual Meeting.

8 Nov 2010

New malaria drug can save millions of lives: Study

A landmark trial showed that the replacement of the standard malaria drug Quinine with the newer drug Artesunate for children with severe malaria could save 100,000 lives a year. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended that artesunate derived from a Chinese plant called sweet wormwood, replace the four-century-old remedy of quinine for treating severe malaria in adults in 2006. Similar recommendations were not made for children with further trial results pending.

8 Nov 2010

Skin to blood transformation in the lab

In a new study scientists have successfully transformed human skin cells into blood without first being sent through a primordial, stem-cell-like state. The findings were published online in the journal Nature. Earlier work has shown that fibroblast cells from mouse skin, treated with the right cocktail of chemicals, can be transformed into neurons and heart muscle. This is a first with human cells.

7 Nov 2010

Sudden epilepsy death explained

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is a condition that kills about 150 Australians a year. Now researchers have discovered the reasons behind such deaths. The study was conducted by scientists at the Centenary Institute at the University of Sydney who looked at blood samples taken from epilepsy suffers who had died suddenly and found that there were genetic faults in the heart and brain.

7 Nov 2010

Scientists discover new way to create human blood from adult skin

In an important breakthrough, scientists at McMaster University have discovered how to make human blood from adult human skin. The discovery, published in the prestigious science journal Nature today, could mean that in the foreseeable future people needing blood for surgery, cancer treatment or treatment of other blood conditions like anemia will be able to have blood created from a patch of their own skin to provide transfusions.

7 Nov 2010

Americans sicker but live longer than the English: Study

According to a new study in the journal Demographics, and elderly American is not quite as healthy as his English counterpart, but does live just as long, if not longer. The study found that Americans aged 55 to 64 and 70 to 80 had higher rates of chronic diseases than same-aged English people, but they died at about the same rate. Americans aged 65 and older could be sicker than their English peers but lived longer.

5 Nov 2010

Melanoma drug breakthrough

Two latest drugs useful in melanoma are termed as the biggest breakthrough in the last five decades say cancer experts. These drugs are the first ones to be effective in advanced forms of the cancer.

5 Nov 2010

Higher-quality medical care in the U.S. than in England, says study

Older Americans are less healthy than their English counterparts, but they live as long or even longer than their English peers, according to a new study by researchers from the RAND Corporation and the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London.

4 Nov 2010

CaPre drug candidate effective in managing impaired glucose tolerance

Neptune Technologies & Bioressources Inc. subsidiary Acasti Pharma Inc. reports preclinical results showing that its leading drug candidate CaPre, performed significantly better than the currently marketed drug, Lovaza, at managing impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) a serious pre-diabetic state associated with increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.

4 Nov 2010

Novel serum test may help diagnose early pregnancy location and outcome

Researchers may have identified a promising novel diagnostic biomarker for ectopic pregnancy, according to a study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). In the western world, deaths from ectopic pregnancy are not common but in the developing world one in ten women who are admitted with an ectopic pregnancy die.

4 Nov 2010

Gender-related disparity in outcomes of lower extremities peripheral arterial disease continues: Study

Researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine report that despite overall improvement, there is still gender-related disparity in outcomes of lower extremities peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Details of their study appear in the November issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery®, published by the Society for Vascular Surgery®.

4 Nov 2010

Phase III study suggests CYCLOSET tablets improve glycemic control

Santarus, Inc. and VeroScience LLC today announced that analyses of 379-patient subset data from a 3,070-patient Phase III safety study conducted with CYCLOSET (bromocriptine mesylate) tablets suggested that CYCLOSET as an add-on to oral antidiabetes drugs produced improvements in glycemic control irrespective of baseline duration of disease.

4 Nov 2010

Beginner's guide to cancer

An academic from The University of Nottingham has written the first introductory guide to cancer, covering everything from the biology of the disease and why some people are more at risk of developing it than others, to the latest research into prevention, treatment and cure.

4 Nov 2010