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NSAIDs do not prevent Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia

A new study shows that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as the pain relievers ibuprofen and naproxen, do not prevent Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia.

22 Apr 2009

Organic biosensor detects onset of acute myocardial ischemia

Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have fabricated and tested a unique biosensor that measures concentrations of potassium and hydrogen ions in the human heart with high specificity.

22 Apr 2009

Palliative care skills training needed for health-care staff in sub-Saharan Africa

A new study, led by Lucy Selman and colleagues from King's College London, has found that patients with incurable, progressive diseases and their family carers in sub-Saharan Africa often do not receive enough information about the patient's disease and its management, which impacts negatively on their ability to cope with illness.

22 Apr 2009

Researchers create chemicals that kill the most deadly malaria-causing parasite

Researchers at the University of Leeds have developed chemicals which kill the most deadly malaria-causing parasite, Plasmodium falciparum - including those resistant to existing drugs.

22 Apr 2009

Liquid calorie intake a big cause of weight gain

Liwei Chen, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Public Health, is the lead author of a research paper showing that weight gain and obesity are more linked to an increase in liquid calories, particularly sugar-sweetened beverages, than calories from solid food.

22 Apr 2009

Transplant physicians express serious concern about organ procurement practices in China

The globalization of health care and the growth of "transplant tourism" (traveling abroad to purchase donor organs and undergo organ transplantation) have outpaced the implementation of internationally accepted ethical standards for procurement of organs for transplantation.

22 Apr 2009

Genetic predisposition to impulsivity is a trait predictive of alcoholism

Solving the age-old chicken and the egg dilemma, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis researchers report that genetic predisposition to impulsivity is a trait predictive of alcoholism.

22 Apr 2009

Media ignores health consequences of drink driving among celebrity DUI stories

The recent drinking and driving (DUI) arrests of celebrities - Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie, Michelle Rodriguez and Lindsay Lohan - yielded widespread news coverage, however, very little of it offered any public health context, according to a new report by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Injury Research and Policy.

22 Apr 2009

Lilly granted preliminary injunction to prevent launch of generic Raloxifene

Eli Lilly and Company has announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana today issued a preliminary injunction to prevent the launch of a generic version of Lilly's medicine Evista (raloxifene HCl tablets) by Teva Pharmaceuticals until the Court renders its final ruling.

22 Apr 2009

Hard evidence for SIDS babies

By analysing the brain tissue of babies suspected of having died of SIDS, Dr Rita Machaalani and Dr Karen Waters from the Faculty of Medicine and the University's Bosch Institute have shown that cigarette smoke induces abnormalities in babies' brains, putting them at greater risk.

22 Apr 2009

Hormone therapy may lower colorectal cancer risk in women

In a large study, a national team of researchers led by Mayo Clinic scientists observed that self-reported use of hormone therapy was associated with a significantly lower colorectal cancer risk.

22 Apr 2009

Lymphocytes promote cancer spread

Researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have new evidence that a type of immune system cell thought to be part of the first line of defense against breast cancer may also help promote its spread.

22 Apr 2009

Mitochondrial peptide Humanin linked to neuronal cell survival and regulation of glucose metabolism

Recent studies have shown that the mitochondrial peptide Humanin (HN) protects against neuronal cell death such as happens in Alzheimer's disease.

22 Apr 2009

Scientists make significant strides in identifying cause of bacterial infections

Several bacterial pathogens use toxins to manipulate human host cells, ultimately disturbing cellular signal transduction.

22 Apr 2009

FDA gives 'go ahead' for phase II clinical trials of Bryostatin for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute (BRNI) the go-ahead to conduct Phase II clinical trials of Bryostatin for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease patients.

22 Apr 2009

Genes influence impulsivity, which may then contribute to risk for developing alcoholism

Numerous studies have shown that highly impulsive behavior - defined as the tendency to choose small, immediate rewards over larger, delayed rewards - is more prevalent in drug addicts and alcoholics compared to individuals without addictions.

22 Apr 2009

Genetics may help explain alcohol-related susceptibility and resistance

Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can lead to teratogenesis, the development of embryonic defects.

22 Apr 2009

Double-lung transplants work better than single for long-term survival

Having both lungs replaced instead of just one is the single most important feature determining who lives longest after having a lung transplant, more than doubling an organ recipient's chances of extending their life by over a decade, a study by a team of transplant surgeons at Johns Hopkins shows.

22 Apr 2009

Diabetes, obesity and hypertension increase mortality in hepatitis C patients

The specific impact of metabolic syndrome on mortality in hepatitis C patients has been revealed by new research to be presented on Sunday April 26 at EASL 2009, the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver in Copenhagen, Denmark.

22 Apr 2009

DNA of uncultured organisms sequenced using novel single cell genome sequencing approach

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences have assembled high quality, contamination-free draft genomes of uncultured biodegrading microorganisms using a novel single cell genome sequencing approach.

22 Apr 2009