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Chemoembolization, first-line treatment for liver cancer

New research by Jeff Geschwind, M.D., director of interventional radiology and associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has shown that liver cancer patients, most of whom have inoperable tumours, could benefit from chemoembolization, a nonsurgical treatment option that delivers a high-dose of chemotherapy to the tumour while decreasing blood flow through the arteries feeding the tumour, known as embolization.

4 Apr 2005

Endovenous laser ablation is a safe and highly effective treatment for a common cause of varicose veins

Endovenous laser ablation is a safe and highly effective treatment for a common but under-recognized cause of varicose veins -- reflux in a variety of veins collectively referred to as non-great saphenous veins -- according to results of a study presented today at the 30th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology.

4 Apr 2005

Study shows connection of varicose veins to chronic pelvic pain

Research presented today at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 30th Annual Scientific Meeting found that 16 percent of women with varicose veins in their legs simultaneously had ovarian varicose veins -- a common but often under-diagnosed cause of chronic pelvic pain.

4 Apr 2005

Meth abuse and curbs on cold medicines

As states and Congress rush to put common cold, cough and allergy drugs behind the pharmacy counter to curb illegal methamphetamine production, no one has asked consumers what they think about these restrictions -- until now. Harris Interactive asked nearly 3,000 consumers about these and related issues in a national survey commissioned by the National Consumers League (NCL) and Food Marketing Institute (FMI).

4 Apr 2005

Stent graft outperforms balloon angioplasty

A large, multi-center trial of 190 patients shows a new nonsurgical interventional radiology technique can benefit the more than 287,000 kidney failure patients undergoing dialysis in the United States each year.

4 Apr 2005

California teens do not get regular physical activity

Teenage girls, teens from low-income families, teens with no access to safe parks or open spaces, teens whose schools do not require physical education, and Latino, Asian, and African American teens are particularly at risk according to researchers at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

4 Apr 2005

Oral sex not sex say teens

Many teenagers in the US do not regard oral sex as sex and one in five say they have experience of it.

4 Apr 2005

New ion channel drug targets to emerge in pharmaceutical discovery

The identification and structural determination of channel proteins, and their validation as therapeutic targets using high throughput cell based and multiplexed screening technologies, have furnished an increase role for ion channel targets in the drug discovery and development pipelines in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

4 Apr 2005

Tarvacin shows significant anti-viral activity

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals today announced that there will be two presentations, April 4 and 6, at the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) annual meeting in San Diego, California, indicating the anti-viral potential of its Tarvacin antibody. Dr. Melina Soares of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas will present pre-clinical data titled "Targeting inside-out phospholipids on viruses in a guinea pig model of Lassa fever."

4 Apr 2005

Different antipsychotic medications may have different effects on brain volume in patients with first episode of psychosis

After a first psychotic episode, patients who were treated with an atypical antipsychotic medication had less change in brain volume compared with patients treated with a conventional antipsychotic medication, according to an article in the April issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

4 Apr 2005

Cognitive therapy may be as effective as antidepressant medications in the initial treatment of moderate to severe major depression

Cognitive therapy, when provided by an experienced therapist, may be as effective as antidepressant medications in the initial treatment of moderate to severe major depression, according to an article in the April issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

4 Apr 2005

Brain region recovery possible in former methamphetamine users

Adaptive changes in chemical activity in certain regions of the brain of former methamphetamine users who have not used the drug for a year or more suggest some recovery of neuronal structure and function, according to an article in the April issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

4 Apr 2005

Pediatric use of complementary and alternative medicine

Insured pediatric and adolescent patients account for only a small part of total insurance expenditures for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) but are more likely to use these therapies if their adult family members also use CAM professionals, according to an article in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

4 Apr 2005

Early home environment and television watching influence bullying behavior

Four-year-old children who receive emotional support and cognitive stimulation from their parents are significantly less likely to become bullies in grade school, but the more television four-year-olds watch the more likely they are to bully later, according to an article in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

4 Apr 2005

Midwives credited with reducing C-section rate at New Jersey hospital

Certified nurse-midwives working for a federally qualified health center in New Jersey are credited with helping reduce the Cesarean section rate at one of the state's hospitals, according to a report in the Plainfield Courier-News this week.

4 Apr 2005

Mothers may cause girls to be picky eaters

Researchers at Appalachian State University have found that mothers who consumed more fruits and vegetables are less likely to pressure their daughters to eat and their daughters are less picky, eat more fruits and vegetables, eat fewer fats and sweets and are less likely to be overweight.

4 Apr 2005

GP's often confronted by Internet informed patients

A psychologist, Elaine Brohan, from the University of Surrey in Guildford, England, has found that family doctors are having to redefine their traditional "father figure" role because patients increasingly turn to the internet for medical advice, and GP's are often being confronted by patients armed with website print-outs.

4 Apr 2005

Men who are treated for prostate cancer with radiation may have almost doubled their risk of developing rectal cancer

A study in the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) journal Gastroenterology has found that men who are treated for prostate cancer with radiation may have almost doubled their risk of developing rectal cancer when compared to men who opted to have surgery.

4 Apr 2005

Low levels of oral cannabis induces psychosis

Recreational cannabis use has previously been associated with psychotic reactions even in clinical situations where cannabis is administered orally at low doses, now Swiss researcher Dr. Bernard Favrat and colleagues at Institut Universitaire de Medicine Legale in Lausanne have confirmed this in the first such report, in closely monitored subjects participating in a clinical trial.

4 Apr 2005

$2.6 million complaint filed against Illinois by British Ecosse Hospital Products

Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois has had a legal complaint demanding nearly $2.6 million filed against him by a British wholesaler Ecosse Hospital Products Ltd. for 254,250 doses of a flu vaccine ordered by Blagojevich to provide thousands of flu vaccine doses for Illinois.

4 Apr 2005