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Low dose medication best for treating high blood pressure

A newly published study found patients actually have more control of their high blood pressure (hypertension) when treated with less medication.

20 Mar 2009

Prostate cancer expert say keep screening in face of contradicting data

New data evaluating the impact of screening on mortality provides mixed messages on the value of prostate cancer screening.

20 Mar 2009

Lab-grown nerves promote nerve regeneration after injury

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have engineered transplantable living nerve tissue that encourages and guides regeneration in an animal model. Results were published this month in Tissue Engineering.

20 Mar 2009

Social scientists say having kids does not increase happiness

As the nation prepares to celebrate motherhood, a University of York economist is claiming that the idea that parenting makes us happy is an illusion.

20 Mar 2009

Heightened level of amygdala activity may cause social deficits in autism

Something strange is going on in the amygdala - an almond-shaped structure deep in the human brain - among people with autism.

20 Mar 2009

Heart bypass surgery better than angioplasty for certain patients

After three years working with investigators from 10 different clinical trials around the world from Brazil to London to Pittsburgh, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have pooled enough individual patient data to compare the effectiveness of coronary artery bypass surgery with the less-invasive angioplasty procedure on specific groups of patients for the first time.

20 Mar 2009

Long-term storage of green tea lessens health benefits

Green tea leaves produce antioxidant organic compounds called catechins that reportedly have beneficial health effects, such as fighting bacteria, viruses and cancer.

20 Mar 2009

Gleevec reduces risk of cancer returning in patients with life-threatening gastrointestinal stromal tumors

Data published online and in an upcoming print issue of The Lancet show that Gleevec (imatinib mesylate) tablets, when taken after surgery, substantially reduces the rate of recurrence of Kit-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) compared with placebo.

20 Mar 2009

First time portable CT used for skull base endoscopic transnasal surgery

When Susan Dailey was 11 years old, she was admitted to a hospital by her loving parents, who assumed she would get a routine tonsillectomy to cure her chronic sore throat.

20 Mar 2009

Fetal alcohol syndrome testing expands

Improved technology, partnerships and collaboration across two provinces have allowed Queen's University scientists to dramatically expand the use of eye-movement tests that help identify and assess children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

20 Mar 2009

FDA Advisory Committee Recommends Approval of Multaq(R) (dronedarone)

Sanofi-aventis has announced that the Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee voted 10 to 3 in favor of the approval of Multaq by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat patients with non-permanent atrial fibrillation (AF).

20 Mar 2009

New camera images blood circulation in real time

Burns or other disorders that disrupt the blood flow in tissues will soon be easier to assess thanks to a camera that is capable of imaging blood circulation in real time.

20 Mar 2009

Factors associated with proteinuria identified

Characteristics associated with proteinuria - a predictor of decline in child kidney function - have been identified, according to a study appearing in the March 2009 issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

20 Mar 2009

Insecticide exposure may play role in obesity epidemic among some women

Prenatal exposure to an insecticide commonly used up until the 1970s may play a role in the obesity epidemic in women, according to a new study involving several Michigan State University researchers.

20 Mar 2009

Epigenetic mark guides stem cells toward their destiny

Not all stem cells are completely blank slates. Some, known as adult stem cells, have already partially embraced their fates, and are capable of becoming only cells of a particular type of tissue.

20 Mar 2009

Compound is key coordinator of clock and metabolism

Our circadian clock, or biological timing system, governs our daily cycles of feeding, activity and sleep.

20 Mar 2009

Cognitive decline can begins in late 20s

A new study indicates that some aspects of peoples' cognitive skills - such as the ability to make rapid comparisons, remember unrelated information and detect relationships - peak at about the age of 22, and then begin a slow decline starting around age 27.

20 Mar 2009

Interventions helped reduce MRSA rates up to 62% in study hospitals

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the Plexus Institute (Plexus) has announced results from an analysis of a multifaceted methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) prevention program that employed positive deviance (PD), a novel approach to social and behavioral change, to trigger significant reductions in MRSA incidence ranging from 26 to 62 percent at participating hospitals.

20 Mar 2009