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Todays kids good at media multi-tasking

The increasing amount of time using "new media" like computers, the Internet and video games spent by children and teenagers is not affecting the time they spend with "old" media like TV, print and music, according to a new study released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

9 Mar 2005

Finding may open new horizons for understanding the initiation of chemically induced cancers

A team from the chemistry and biology departments of New York University, in collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), has uncovered a conformational switch - a change in shape in a carcinogen-damaged DNA site - in tumor suppressor genes altered by a known cancer-causing chemical found in cigarette smoke.

9 Mar 2005

New chemotherapy gives hope to brain tumour patients

A large international study conducted by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC) Clinical Trials Group demonstrated that the addition of a novel chemotherapy agent, Temozolomide (brand name: Temodal®) to radiation therapy increases survival in patients suffering from glioblastoma, a very aggressive form of a brain tumour.

9 Mar 2005

Investigational drug may help prevent recurrence of ovarian cancer

A drug that may help prevent recurrence of ovarian cancer by inhibiting development of new blood vessels essential to cancer growth is under study at the Medical College of Georgia.

9 Mar 2005

Efforts to improve the quality of post-heart attack care working better for men than for women

Efforts to improve the quality of post-heart attack care in hospitals are working - but they appear to be working better for men than for women, new research shows.

9 Mar 2005

First reliable measure of neurobehavioral functioning during coma from severe brain injury

A Northwestern University researcher has developed the first truly reliable measure of neurobehavioral functioning during coma from severe brain injury that predicts recovery of consciousness up to one year after injury, with up to 86 percent certainty.

9 Mar 2005

Commonly used anesthetic regimen appears to have no negative effects on the developing brain of the fetus

An anesthetic regimen commonly used during surgery on pregnant mothers appears to have no negative effects on the developing brain of the fetus, according to a new study on sheep conducted by Duke University Medical Center researchers.

9 Mar 2005

Income, not just race, explains much of the health gap between groups of Americans

Income, not just race, explains much of the health gap between groups of Americans, and a “health equity impact” statement should accompany government policy proposals, suggests a Harvard professor in the current edition of the prestigious journal Health Affairs.

9 Mar 2005

Study examines lessons learned at Africa's first public antiretroviral treatment clinic

A public clinic offering antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to people with HIV/AIDS, recently established in Botswana, has had its share of trials and errors.

9 Mar 2005

Blood clotting combo saves heart patients lives

Two studies presented Wednesday at the American College of Cardiology's annual scientific sessions in Orlando, Fla. have found that the clot-preventing drug Plavix when added to the treatment of people with severe heart attacks helps reopen their clogged arteries and saves lives.

9 Mar 2005

Common anesthetics appear safe for developing fetal brain

A group of Dartmouth researchers has learned that the brain's auditory cortex, the part that handles information from your ears, holds on to musical memories.

9 Mar 2005

Dental medicine is on the brink of profound change

Advances in stem cell biology will improve our understanding of degenerative diseases and assist in developing therapies for replacing damaged or diseased parts/tissues.

9 Mar 2005

Study examines consequences of Thailand's "War on Drugs"

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Chiang Mai University Research Institute for Health Sciences and the Northern Drug Treatment Centre in Thailand conducted the first study on the effect of Thailand’s aggressive war on illicit drugs and the war’s impact on injection drug users.

9 Mar 2005

Infertility - discovery could mean new treatment

A team of Japanese scientists at Osaka University led by Dr Masaru Okabe have discovered a protein essential for human sperm to fuse to an egg. The findings could well lead to new methods of treating infertility and the development of new contraceptive strategies.

9 Mar 2005

Diabetes "cured" by transplant

61-year-old businessman and community activist, Richard Lane, has become Britain's first fully successful islet cell transplant recipient.

9 Mar 2005

Body image a worry - even when you're only 5!

Researchers at Adelaide's Flinders University have found that girls as young as six are already worrying about their weight and thinking about diets.

9 Mar 2005

UN votes to ban human cloning

By a vote of 84 in favor, 34 against and 37 abstaining, with 36 absent, the UN today approved a declaration calling on all UN Member States to ban all forms of human cloning, including cloning for medical treatment, as incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life.

9 Mar 2005

Pregnant women who smoke risk their child getting cancer

Smoking has a wide range of possible consequences during and after pregnancy, such as infertility, coagulation problems, obstetric complications such as extrauterine pregnancy and placenta previa, and intrauterine growth retardation, according to background information in a recent study.

8 Mar 2005

New MS drug withdrawn from the market

Two patients involved in clinical trials of Tysabri, have contracted a rare and fatal disease, Elan’s multiple sclerosis (MS); one has already died. Withdrawal of the drug, eliminates all hope that it will be allowed back on the market this year, or ever.

8 Mar 2005

Thalidomide - new treatment for cancer

Thalidomide, famous in the 60's because of limb deformities in babies born to women who had taken it for morning sickness, was withdrawn in 1961. Now doctors say it could be used as a treatment for cancer.

8 Mar 2005