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Chromium 6 in drinking water may cause cancer

Researchers announced today that there is strong evidence a chemical referred to as hexavalent chromium, or chromium 6, causes cancer in laboratory animals when it is consumed in drinking water.

17 May 2007

Culture techniques can significantly affect cell growth and function

When it comes to growing cells in a lab, technique matters. A new Brown University study shows that nerve cells grown in three-dimensional cultures use 1,766 genes differently compared to nerve cells grown in standard two-dimensional petri dishes.

17 May 2007

Increase in fatal car crashes involving young women

Automobile crashes remain the leading cause of death for adolescents and young adults, compounded by the effects of alcohol and failure to use seatbelts.

17 May 2007

Bovine protein called lactoferrin aids in treatment of gastrointestinal disorder

Recent evidence suggests that therapy currently used to treat Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, a major cause of upper gastrointestinal disorders, is unsuccessful in around 25 percent of cases.

17 May 2007

Household smoking restrictions more strongly associated with better health status than workplace smoking restrictions

In the first study of its kind to evaluate how smoking restrictions in the workplace and at home affect health status, researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health found that nonsmokers who live under both a total household and total workplace smoking ban are over two and a half times more likely to report better health than those without smoking bans.

17 May 2007

ACE inhibitors help preserve kidney function in IgA nephropathy

For young patients with the kidney disease IgA nephropathy (IgAN), early treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors can reduce the long-term risk of irreversible kidney damage, suggests a study in the June Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

17 May 2007

Possible neuroprotective effect of testosterone treatment in men

A small pilot study suggests that testosterone treatment is safe, well tolerated and may reduce symptoms, slow brain degeneration and increase muscle mass in men with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, the most common form of the disease, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

17 May 2007

Study revises dynamin's role in nerve cell function

An unexpected finding on how nerve cells signal to one another could rewrite the textbooks on neuroscience, says a collaborative team of researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and Yale University.

17 May 2007

Subtle signs can help doctors predict that a person will develop Huntington's disease

Huntington's disease is a genetic disorder that affects movement, thinking, and some aspects of personality. There is no treatment or cure for the disease.

17 May 2007

Minimally invasive treatment of chronic mesenteric ischemia

Using catheter techniques perfected in the arteries of the heart, interventional cardiologists are successfully treating chronic mesenteric ischemia, a condition akin to intestinal angina.

17 May 2007

Mild asthma can be controlled with once-a-day treatment

According to new research, for some people suffering from mild asthma which is controlled with twice-daily use of inhaled steroids, once a day may be enough.

16 May 2007

Single dose of vitamin D may be enough to boost the immune system to fight against tuberculosis

Their findings came from a study that identified an extraordinarily high incidence of vitamin D deficiency amongst those communities in London most at risk from the disease, which kills around two million people each year.

16 May 2007

Vertical work-stations could help obese lose weight

Vertical work-stations, incorporating a treadmill, could help obese employees shed up to 30 kg in weight every year, suggests a small study published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

16 May 2007

Unfair treatment in life boosts a person's chances of having a heart attack

The findings are based on more than 8,000 senior civil servants working for the British government in London (The Whitehall Study II).

16 May 2007

Cigarette smoking is more strongly associated with head and neck cancers than drinking alcohol

The study found that smoking is responsible for a quarter of head and neck cancers among individuals who do not drink alcohol.

16 May 2007

Testosterone gel helps men multiple sclerosis

Close on the heels of a large-scale clinical trial just underway to confirm that the female hormone estriol combats the effects of multiple sclerosis (MS) in women, a just completed pilot study at UCLA now shows promise for the use of testosterone to combat its effects in men.

16 May 2007

Women are significantly less likely than men to have their LDL cholesterol controlled

The study, to be published in the May/June edition of Women's Health Issues, investigated gender differences in cardiovascular disease prevention, treatment and risk factors based on national health care quality data from commercial and Medicare managed care plans.

16 May 2007

Reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors when discontinuing HRT

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been shown to reduce many cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, but many women have stopped using HRT due to reports from the Women's Health Initiative that HRT may increase the risk of breast cancer and heart disease.

16 May 2007

Multiple myeloma dexamethasone / lenalidomide trial closes

The Southwest Oncology Group, the largest of several National Cancer Institute-sponsored clinical trials networks, has permanently closed enrollment in a trial comparing a standard drug therapy, dexamethasone, with a combined therapy of the same drug plus the drug lenalidomide (Revlimid) for people newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma.

16 May 2007

Mediterranean diet halves risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

A Mediterranean diet halves the chances of developing progressive inflammatory lung disease (COPD), reveals a large study, published ahead of print in Thorax.

16 May 2007