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Measurement of metal strontium found in bird feathers could provide bird flu clues

Measurements of different forms of the metal strontium found in bird feathers could unravel mysteries of their migration patterns and help predict the arrival of avian carried diseases such as bird flu.

15 Mar 2007

Trial of new therapy for pancreatic cancer

Patients in Liverpool are to trial a new therapy for pancreatic cancer - a disease which sees most sufferers die within a year of diagnosis.

15 Mar 2007

Cancer Research UK and Cancerbackup form strategic partnership

Cancer patients seeking facts about their diagnosis and treatment will soon be able to receive information prescriptions thanks to a new partnership between Britain's leading cancer charities, Cancer Research UK and Cancerbackup.

15 Mar 2007

Obesity at the time of prostate-cancer diagnosis dramatically increases the risk of dying from the disease

Obese men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer have more than two-and-a-half times the risk of dying from the disease as compared to men of normal weight at the time of diagnosis, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

15 Mar 2007

Growing number of young people have fatty liver disease

Indiana University School of Medicine researchers are taking a closer look at a disease whose incidence is rising as obesity in children increases.

15 Mar 2007

Protein duo maintains communication among nerves

Frustration gave way to satisfaction when an experiment that seemed to foil St. Jude researchers actually brought them a step closer to understanding how the brain maintains healthy lines of communications among its nerves.

15 Mar 2007

Asthmatic children still not breathing easier

"The bottom line is that there's much work that needs to be done in making sure that children with asthma receive appropriate and effective care; it's more complex than one might think."

15 Mar 2007

Researchers use poliovirus to destroy neuroblastoma tumors in mice

The cause of one notorious childhood disease, poliovirus, could be used to treat the ongoing threat of another childhood disease, neuroblastoma.

15 Mar 2007

Large-scale Japanese study finds soy protective against localized prostate cancer, but not advanced

The largest study examining the relationship between the traditional soy-rich Japanese diet and development of prostate cancer in Japanese men has come to a seemingly contradictory conclusion: intake of isoflavone chemicals, derived largely from soy foods, decreased the risk of localized prostate cancer but increased the risk of advanced prostate cancer.

15 Mar 2007

No-line bifocals slows myopia progression in some children

Certain children who wear a special kind of no-line bifocal lenses show signs of slower progression of myopia than those who wear more conventional lenses according to a new study published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS).

14 Mar 2007

Exposure to phthalates linked to abdominal obesity and insulin resistance in adult males

Exposure to phthalates, a common chemical found in everything from plastics to soaps, already has been connected to reproductive problems and now, for the first time, is linked to abdominal obesity and insulin resistance in adult males, according to a study by the University of Rochester Medical Center.

14 Mar 2007

Chronic headache study

Eight out of ten people who took part in a study carried out by a specialist headache centre felt they were much less effective at work and 91 per cent said they felt hampered by headaches on a daily basis, according to the March issue of Cephalalgia.

14 Mar 2007

Clinical trial of a medication to treat kleptomania

A small clinical trial of a medication to treat kleptomania has failed to find any conclusive benefit for patients with the impulsive stealing disorder, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

14 Mar 2007

New anti-cancer target in enzyme MAP4K3

Scientists working at the Institute for Cancer Research have found a new anti-cancer target in MAP4K3, an enzyme which is able to 'switch on' the growth-promoter mTOR.

14 Mar 2007

Discovery of new cell involved with cancer

Scientists have discovered a new type of cell that appears to play a role in the development of cancer – a highly volatile, precancerous stem cell that can either remain benign or become malignant, depending upon environmental cues.

14 Mar 2007

Arsenic in drinking water can lead to miscarriages and sudden infant death

For the first time, researchers have been able to show that mothers who drink water containing arsenic run an increased risk of having a miscarriage or losing their child in its first year. This has been demonstrated by a research team from Sweden and Bangladesh in an article published last Saturday in the Net edition of American Journal of Epidemiology.

14 Mar 2007

Call for health coverage for women of childbearing age and children

Dr. Marina L. Weiss, senior vice president, public policy and government affairs of the March of Dimes, made the following statement as the Senate Committee on Finance held a hearing entitled "Charting a Course for Health Care Reform: Moving Toward Universal Coverage".

14 Mar 2007

Sedative-hypnotic drugs to get stronger warning labels

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested that all manufacturers of sedative-hypnotic drug products, a class of drugs used to induce and/or maintain sleep, strengthen their product labeling to include stronger language concerning potential risks.

14 Mar 2007

Tykerb (lapatinib) - new anti-cancer treatment approved

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Tykerb (lapatinib), a new targeted anti-cancer treatment, to be used in combination with capectabine (Xeloda), another cancer drug, for patients with advanced, metastatic breast cancer that is HER2 positive (tumors that exhibit HER2 protein).

14 Mar 2007

Researchers uncover genetic sequence responsible for rare form of pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is an almost uniformly fatal disease regardless of the stage at time of diagnosis. However, a small percentage of patients develop a form of ductal adenocarcinoma associated with cystic lesions that can be detected earlier, is less aggressive and has a 50 percent long-term survival rate.

14 Mar 2007