Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

No significant difference in patient outcomes with RBC transfusions using lower threshold levels

The level at which red blood cells are transfused, a common treatment in clinical practice, is often deliberated among physicians. Guidelines for blood transfusion levels were only recently issued in March 2012 diminishing some of the debate. Today, in a new section called JAMA Clinical Evidence Synopsis, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), published a summary of the systematic review of the 19 clinical trials that compare higher versus lower hemoglobin thresholds in red blood cell transfusion.

3 Jan 2013

Electroconvulsive therapy releases opiate-like substances

Researchers used electricity on certain regions in the brain of a patient with chronic, severe facial pain to release an opiate-like substance that's considered one of the body's most powerful painkillers.

3 Jan 2013

Banning thimerosal from vaccines could hinder achievements in global childhood immunization

"Thanks to a herculean effort by health advocates, 78 percent of children in low-income countries receive the basic set of childhood vaccines, covering diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza," a Bloomberg View editorial states.

3 Jan 2013

Crofelemer receives FDA approval for treatment of HIV associated diarrhea

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration has provided Marketing approval to its partner in US, Salix Pharmaceuticals Limited, for Crofelemer 125 mg delayed-release tablets for the symptomatic relief of non-infectious diarrhea in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/ acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) on anti-retroviral therapy (ART).

2 Jan 2013

New insights into devastating second impact syndrome

Physicians at Indiana University School of Medicine and the Northwest Radiology Network (Indianapolis, Indiana) report the case of a 17-year-old high school football player with second impact syndrome (SIS). A rare and devastating traumatic brain injury, SIS occurs when a person, most often a teenager, sustains a second head injury before recovery from an earlier head injury is complete.

2 Jan 2013

Early problems in processing knowledge-based information linked to Alzheimer's disease

People who study or treat Alzheimer's disease and its earliest clinical stage, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), have focused attention on the obvious short-term memory problems. But a new study suggests that people on the road to Alzheimer's may actually have problems early on in processing semantic or knowledge-based information, which could have much broader implications for how patients function in their lives.

29 Dec 2012

Heart transplant patient becomes unexpected ambassador for organ donation

Kevin Riepl arrived at Cedars-Sinai in October 2010, suffering from sudden heart failure that left him fighting for his life. Surgeons swiftly installed a heart pump and later transplanted a new heart, saving his life and turning him into an unexpected ambassador for organ donation.

29 Dec 2012

Antibiotics do not help lower-respiratory tract infections

The antibiotic amoxicillin fares no better at reducing symptoms in patients with lower-respiratory tract infections than a placebo drug, indicate data from a dozen European countries.

28 Dec 2012

Winter is not a good excuse to give up fitness routines

The weather outside might be frightful, but sitting by that fire might make your fitness routine frightful. Though your body may be layered under sweatshirts and coats, staying active and healthy is important no matter what the temperature is outside.

27 Dec 2012

Genome sequencing may help identify new targets to treat Pneumocystis pneumonia

Scientists have sequenced the genome of the fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii, an advancement that could help identify new targets for drugs to treat and prevent Pneumocystis pneumonia, a common and often deadly infection in immunocompromised patients.

26 Dec 2012

NanoViricides to advance influenza drug candidate with completed $5M funding

NanoViricides, Inc., announced today that it has received the final tranche of $2.5M from Seaside 88, LP, thereby completing the total of a $5M financing. This raise, and the receipt of the initial $2.5M tranche, was previously announced on June 29, 2012.

25 Dec 2012

Cause of recurrent infections in MECP2 duplication syndrome identified

US study results show that the genetic abnormality underlying the pediatric condition methyl-CpG binding protein 2 duplication syndrome also causes immune dysfunction.

24 Dec 2012

Genetic innovations for pneumonia diagnosis in children

Polymerase chain reaction could help diagnose Mycoplasmia pneumonia infection in children, researchers say.

24 Dec 2012

Pneumococcal disease risk increased in mental health patients

Patients with severe mental illness are at increased risk for pneumococcal disease, results from a UK study suggest.

22 Dec 2012

Autism genome not shy about tinkering with important genes

An international team, led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, has discovered that "random" mutations in the genome are not quite so random after all. Their study, to be published in the journal Cell on December 21, shows that the DNA sequence in some regions of the human genome is quite volatile and can mutate ten times more frequently than the rest of the genome. Genes that are linked to autism and a variety of other disorders have a particularly strong tendency to mutate.

21 Dec 2012

CHPA praises signing into law of anti-methamphetamine bill

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) today applauded Ohio Governor John Kasich for signing into law House Bill 334, an anti-methamphetamine bill authored by Representative Terry Johnson (R-Portsmouth) and Representative Danny Bupb (R-West Union). With the new law, Ohio now becomes the 25th state to adopt real-time, stop-sale technology known as the National Precursor Log Exchange (NPLEx).

21 Dec 2012

Reviewing G-FINDER report findings

Nick Chapman, a policy analyst at Policy Cures, writes in a guest post on the Global Health Technologies Coalition's "Breakthroughs" blog about "the results of the latest G-FINDER survey on global funding of [research and development (R&D)] for neglected diseases."

21 Dec 2012

Voluntary moratorium on H5N1 avian flu research likely to end soon

Following the conclusion of a two-day meeting at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) this week -- meant "to gather feedback from flu researchers, others in the science community, and the public on its draft framework for funding H5N1 gain-of-function studies and to continue an international dialogue on issues related to benefits and risks of the research" -- "experts anticipated that a voluntary moratorium on work with lab-modified strains that have increased transmissibility might end soon," CIDRAP News reports.

21 Dec 2012

Slushy spares kidney during partial nephrectomy

US researchers report the success and feasibility of a novel method of carrying out partial nephrectomy in kidney patients, using minimally invasive surgery.

20 Dec 2012

Antibiotic amoxicillin ineffective for treating cough according to European trial

The antibiotic amoxicillin, that doctors typically prescribe for common lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) such as cough and bronchitis, is no more effective at relieving symptoms than the use of no medication, even in older patients. The findings from the largest randomised placebo controlled trial of antibiotics for acute uncomplicated LRTI to date are published Online First in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

20 Dec 2012