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Breakdown of myelin may be the cause of Huntington's disease

Last month, Dr. George Bartzokis, director of the UCLA Memory Disorders and Alzheimer's Disease Clinic, suggested in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia that the breakdown of a type of myelin that develops late in life promotes the buildup of toxic amyloid plaques long associated with Alzheimer's disease.

16 Jun 2007

Tumor vessels identified by unique molecular markers

Results from a new study have made it easier for scientists to distinguish between growing blood vessels in healthy tissues and those that are associated with tumors.

16 Jun 2007

U.S. DOJ investigation of Bristol-Myers Squibb in Plavix patent settlement resolved

Bristol-Myers Squibb has pleaded guilty to two counts of violating 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. This guilty plea resolved as to the company the previously disclosed investigation by the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice into the proposed settlement of the Plavix patent litigation with Apotex Inc., and Apotex Corp. (Apotex).

16 Jun 2007

Tougher gun show controls in California slash sales of weapons linked to crime

California has succeeded in drastically reducing anonymous and undocumented gun sales and sales of military-style weapons by introducing tighter controls to gun shows reveals a study in the June issue of Injury Prevention.

16 Jun 2007

New era of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis

Three new drugs for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have ushered in a new era of treatment for this difficult and debilitating condition.

16 Jun 2007

Childbirth-related hospitalizations among adolescent girls

The rate of teenage and younger girls giving birth in U.S. hospitals dropped by a quarter between 1997 and 2004 - from 55 to 41 admissions per 100,000 girls under age 18 - according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

16 Jun 2007

The big donor shortage

Associate Professor Catherine Waldby of the University of Sydney looks at the fraught and often frightening world of organ donation in an opinion piece.

16 Jun 2007

The unexpected connection of two gene regulation mechanisms points to new ways for the fight against leukemia

When the activity of individual genes it is longer required, there are two main mechanisms responsible for the “switching off”, mainly DNA methylation and the Polycomb protein complex. Sometimes, these mechanisms lose their efficiency and some of the genes that should be "switched off" remain active.

16 Jun 2007

Targeted HIV testing more effective than mass testing

A targeted campaign of testing and counseling aimed at those who are at high risk for HIV would be more effective than the mass patient screening proposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to an analysis by David Holtgrave, PhD, an expert on HIV prevention at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

16 Jun 2007

Don't flush old or unused medications

Your spring cleaning is done. Or is it? Did you clean out your medicine cabinet? Before you flush old or unused medication, precautions need to be taken.

16 Jun 2007

Folic acid supplements do not reduce risk of precancerous colon tumors

Taking folic acid supplements does not reduce the risk of developing precancerous tumors in the colon and may even increase the risk, a new study has found.

16 Jun 2007

Swift system for heart attack care improves treatment

Heart attack patients received lifesaving care up to an hour sooner after an Indiana hospital implemented a novel protocol to rapidly activate the cardiac catheterization lab, researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

16 Jun 2007

Scientists extend life of fruit fly

In a triumph for pests, scientists have figured out how to make the fruit fly live longer.

16 Jun 2007

Early life sun exposure linked to melanomas with BRAF gene mutations

Skin cancers often contain different gene mutations, but just how these mutations contribute to the cause of melanomas has been a mystery.

16 Jun 2007

Newer breast cancer drug may protect heart

By uncovering how one breast cancer drug protects the heart and another does not, Duke University Medical Center researchers believe they may have opened up a new way to screen drugs for possible heart-related side effects and to develop new drugs.

16 Jun 2007

Sonographically-guided alcohol injections for Morton's neuroma highly successful

Sonographically-guided alcohol injections has a high success rate and is well tolerated by patients with Morton?s neuroma, a common cause of foot pain, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and Kingston Hospital NHS Trust in Middlesex, United Kingdom.

16 Jun 2007