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Cancer patients not getting live-saving flu and pneumonia shots

Although flu and pneumonia can be lethal for cancer patients, more than one quarter of patients undergoing radiation therapy are not complying with national guidelines to be vaccinated against these potentially life-threatening yet preventable illnesses, according to a study presented October 28, 2007, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 49th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

28 Oct 2007

Attenuation of NASH by stimulation of free fatty acid metabolism

Medically-complicated obesity is a societal problem that needs to be solved. Liver disease, specifically non-alcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH, is just one of the many complications of increased body weight.

28 Oct 2007

Hypertension drugs may prevent Alzheimer's Disease

New research is suggesting that some of the drugs commonly used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure) may offer another benefit.

28 Oct 2007

Nasal flu vaccine given the green light for toddlers

A federal advisory panel in the U.S. has given the recommendation that a nasal influenza vaccine can be use in healthy children as young as two.

28 Oct 2007

Foreign doctors in Britain in danger of being made scapegoats

The British Medical Association (BMA) says that foreign doctors already working in the UK must not be made scapegoats because of government plans to reduce medical immigration.

28 Oct 2007

New and safer infertility treatment produces healthy twins

The treatment known as in-vitro maturation or IVM, enables infertile couples to conceive without the need for the woman to take powerful hormonal drugs to stimulate her ovaries.

28 Oct 2007

Teenage smokers at risk of depression, alcohol abuse and drug use

According to American researchers smoking cigarettes may make teens more prone to depression, alcohol abuse and illegal drug use.

28 Oct 2007

FDA warns about 'stay awake drug' Provigil

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning in connection with the drug Provigil because of dangerous side effects.

28 Oct 2007

Women still face cancer risk 25 years after treatment

Women are still at risk of developing invasive cancer of the cervix or vagina 25 years after being treated for pre-cancerous lesions, according to a study published today on bmj.com.

25 Oct 2007

Scientists discover new causes for neurodegeneration

Diseases that cause neurons to break-down, such as Alzheimer's, Multiple Sclerosis and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (Mad Cow Disease), continue to be elusive to scientists and resistant to treatments.

25 Oct 2007

A new source of islet cells

The shortage of islet cells limits the development of islet transplantation. One new approach was reported in the October 21 issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology because of its great significance in enhancing the output of islet cells.

25 Oct 2007

Emerging cancer therapies and novel targets

What are the cancer drugs of tomorrow and how will they be developed? At the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, researchers will present some answers to these and other pressing questions regarding emerging cancer therapeutics.

25 Oct 2007

Blood markers can help choose best dose for antiangiogenic drugs

Scientists at Sunnybrook have new information that may help to improve the use of anti-cancer drugs designed to block the growth of new blood vessels in tumors, a process called angiogenesis that is critical to tumor growth.

25 Oct 2007

Stanford researchers get precise picture of cell target for drugs

More than half of all drugs given to patients work by targeting a particular type of "docking station," or receptor, found on body cells, to steer the cell's machinery toward healing an illness.

25 Oct 2007

Sigma-Aldrich and Oxford BioMedica win key ruling in Open Biosystems patent case

Sigma-Aldrich and Oxford BioMedica have announced that they received a key order confirming the strength and validity of intellectual property owned by Oxford BioMedica and licensed exclusively in the research field to Sigma-Aldrich.

25 Oct 2007

piRNAs play an important role in controlling gene function

A study by researchers at the Yale Stem Cell Center for the first time demonstrates that piRNAs, a recently discovered class of tiny RNAs, play an important role in controlling gene function, it was reported this week in Nature.

25 Oct 2007

Research sheds new light on how diseases jump across species

Researchers at the University of Leeds have made a breakthrough in understanding a virus which poses one of the greatest global disease threats to wild carnivores including lions, African wild dogs and several types of seal.

25 Oct 2007

New insight into how memory is wired in the human brain

Recognizing someone's name but forgetting how you met them is all in your head

25 Oct 2007

Psychiatrists, parents significantly differ in ADHD, psychiatric comorbidities perceptions

According to a small-scale, in-office, observational study, psychiatrists and parents have significantly different perceptions of the importance of pediatric ADHD and psychiatric comorbidities, particularly regarding the patients' most concerning behavior.

25 Oct 2007

Public not so sure about 'personalized medicine'

Ordinary people worry about the extra, and often burdensome, responsibilities which could come with scientists' promises of 'personalised medicine', according to evidence to be presented at a major two-day showcase of groundbreaking social science research into the whole field of genomics, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

25 Oct 2007