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Intensive exercise routines astronauts during long-duration spaceflights

Astronauts have been taking part in short spaceflight missions since 1961. They have only recently begun to spend significantly longer times in space, with missions extending for months, since the days of the Russian Mir space station (1986-2001) and extended stays on the International Space Station.

23 Mar 2012

Verapamil drug may reverse diabetes-related death of pancreatic beta cells

A common high-blood-pressure medication appears to reverse the diabetes-related death of pancreatic beta cells, according to a University of Alabama at Birmingham study published today in the journal Diabetes.

23 Mar 2012

No added benefit from retigabine therapy in adults with epileptic seizures

The drug retigabine was approved in March 2011 as add-on therapy for adults with epileptic seizures. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the "Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products" (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether retigabine offers an added benefit compared with the present standard therapy.

23 Mar 2012

Towards a more comprehensive view of brain-hand relationship

Research at Arizona State University and Columbia University to better understand the intricate sensory and cognitive connections between the brain and the hands has won support from the National Science Foundation. New discoveries about such connections could benefit people with neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and cerebral palsy, and those who need prosthetic hands.

22 Mar 2012

Researchers explain how obscurins suppress breast cancer formation

A new discovery published online in The FASEB Journal may lead to a new tool to help physicians assess breast cancer risk as well as diagnose the disease. In the report, researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, explain how proteins, called "obscurins," once believed to only be in muscle cells, act as "tumor suppressor genes" in the breast.

22 Mar 2012

EMS responders can play a significant role in reducing MCTB time for STEMI patients

Health care practitioners have long understood the importance of "door to balloon" time for heart attack patients-the faster they can get the patient from the door of the hospital to a catheterization lab to open a clogged artery, the better the patient will do.

22 Mar 2012

Researchers identify mechanism involved in positioning nuclei in muscle fibres

In order to move, living beings need muscles, and, more specifically, skeletal muscles that are controlled by the nervous system. Skeletal muscles are composed of cylindrical muscle fibres with a multitude of peripheral nuclei. Until now, little was known about the mechanism used to position nuclei on the edge of muscle fibres. A team of French-American researchers has tried to better understand the reasons behind nuclei layout.

21 Mar 2012

TACT believes that Halo's HT-100 may effectively treat DMD

Halo Therapeutics, LLC, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for rare fibrotic diseases, announced today that the TREAT-NMD Advisory Committee on Therapeutics (TACT) has reviewed HT-100, Halo's drug candidate for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and believes the compound has potential based on the proposed mechanism.

21 Mar 2012

Cardium commences Generx Phase 3 registration study in myocardial ischemia

Cardium Therapeutics today announced the initiation of the ASPIRE Phase 3 registration study to evaluate the therapeutic effects of Cardium's lead product candidate, Generx (Ad5FGF-4) in patients with myocardial ischemia.

21 Mar 2012

Electroconvulsive therapy and how it works in severe depression: Study

Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, has been used in severely and persistently depressed patients from their disabling mood state for more than seven decades. Researchers have searched for the reason why this technique sometimes works in these patients.

20 Mar 2012

Smoking may restore self-control

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., have found that when they deplete a smoker's self control, smoking a cigarette may restore self-control.

20 Mar 2012

New three-step process for DMD newborn screening

Investigators at Nationwide Children's Hospital, working with the DNA Sequencing Core Facility at the University of Utah, have developed an approach to newborn screening (NBS) for the life-threatening genetic disorder, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and potentially other muscular dystrophies.

20 Mar 2012

Gilenya - pill for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis recommended by NICE

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) issued new draft guidance recommending fingolimod (brand name Gilenya) on the NHS for some patients with a form of MS. The new drug can help reduce the number of relapses in adults with highly active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), which is characterized by periods when symptoms worsen and then improve.

19 Mar 2012

Boston Scientific lauds private insurance reimbursement coverage for bronchial thermoplasty

Boston Scientific Corporation welcomes a milestone in private insurance reimbursement coverage for bronchial thermoplasty (BT) performed using the Alair Bronchial Thermoplasty System. Minnesota-based HealthPartners and Michigan-based Priority Health recently issued the first public postings of positive insurance coverage policies providing their respective memberships with reimbursement for this novel procedure to treat severe asthma.

19 Mar 2012

Soy-based S-equol lowers HbA1c, LDL cholesterol and improves vascular stiffness

A 12-week treatment of the fermented soy germ-based nutritional supplement containing S-equol significantly lowered hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), LDL cholesterol and improved vascular stiffness, all factors that occur as part of metabolic syndrome, according to a first-of-its-kind peer-reviewed study reported in a poster at the Women's Health 2012 annual meeting.

19 Mar 2012

Study confirms value of Cambridge Heart's MTWA test for SCA

Cambridge Heart, Inc., a developer of non-invasive diagnostic tests for cardiac disease, today announced that a new study published on-line in the Heart Rhythm Journal confirms the value of Microvolt T-Wave Alternans (MTWA) testing for identifying patients at risk of sudden cardiac arrest.

19 Mar 2012

Westmead Hospital endorse a new medical device designed to increase blood circulation and prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis

A new medical device, the geko™, designed to increase blood circulation through neuromuscular electro–stimulation to the common peroneal nerve, has received the positive endorsement of Westmead Hospital, New South Wales, as an important new development in the prevention of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT).

18 Mar 2012

UM, Shock Trauma partner to train dental students, residents

The University of Maryland's (UM) School of Dentistry has teamed up with the UM School of Medicine's R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center for training future dentists to respond efficiently and effectively to life threatening medical emergencies in a dental setting.

16 Mar 2012

GABA neurons could help restore muscle coordination deficits of Huntington's

Huntington's disease, the debilitating congenital neurological disorder that progressively robs patients of muscle coordination and cognitive ability, is a condition without effective treatment, a slow death sentence. But if researchers can build on new research reported this week in the journal Cell Stem Cell, a special type of brain cell forged from stem cells could help restore the muscle coordination deficits that cause the uncontrollable spasms characteristic of the disease.

16 Mar 2012

Back pain and school children's backpacks

Significant numbers of teens regularly carry rucksacks for school which top 10 to 15 per cent of their body weight and risk back pain and other related disorders, finds research published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

15 Mar 2012