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Fish oils appear to reduce breast cancer risk

Researchers who found that fish oils appear to reduce breast cancer risk have now discovered that the oils may especially benefit women with particular genetic makeups.

21 Sep 2004

Experimental drug PKC412 may be the key to treating myeloproliferative disease

Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital have prolonged the lives of mice with a rare blood disorder by using an experimental drug that blocks signals promoting runaway growth of blood cells.

21 Sep 2004

New gene therapy technique may help treat Alzheimer's disease

Investigators at Rush University Medical Center have successfully initiated a new technique that uses gene therapy to deliver nerve growth factor into regions of the brain where neurons are degenerating, in order to prevent cell death and reverse cell atrophy, two hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease.

21 Sep 2004

Mediterranean diet lowers risk of all-causes of death

Individuals 70 to 90 years old who adhered to a Mediterranean-type diet and several healthy lifestyle habits had a more than 50 percent lower death rate than those who did not, according to a study in the September 22/29 issue of JAMA.

21 Sep 2004

Walking helps elderly men stave off dementia and Alzheimer's disease

Elderly men who are sedentary or walk less than a quarter of a mile per day are nearly twice as likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer's disease compared to men who walk more than two miles per day, according to a study of over 2,200 Japanese-American men in Hawaii.

21 Sep 2004

Broken bones often mean lifelong disability in the developing world

Broken bones often mean lifelong disability in the developing world, due to a lack of access to simple, inexpensive initial treatment, says the director of the University of Toronto's international surgery program.

21 Sep 2004

Evidence pointing to chronic cellular inflammation as the precursor of heart disease and diabetes

Endocrinologists from the University at Buffalo are providing one more link in the growing chain of evidence pointing to chronic cellular inflammation as the precursor of heart disease and diabetes.

21 Sep 2004

Novel strategy for stimulating the production of utrophin

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report a novel strategy for stimulating the production of utrophin – an important muscle protein in young mice – for muscular dystrophy therapy.

21 Sep 2004

Scientists have corrected a flaw in cancer cells that lets them evade the normal cell-death process

Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have corrected a flaw in cancer cells that lets them evade the normal cell-death process, and as a result they eliminated leukemia cells from mice.

21 Sep 2004

Why eyes seem to follow viewers in some paintings

You’ve seen it in horror movies, or even in real-life at the local museum: a painting in which the eyes of the person portrayed seem to follow you around the room, no matter where you go.

21 Sep 2004

Stress response proteins offer a promising target for a novel drug guidance system

Their study, published in the September issue of the journal Cancer Cell, demonstrates how researchers can find protein tags that are unique to cancer cells and then tweak a drug delivery system to zero in on those tags and destroy the cells.

21 Sep 2004

HER-2 cell surface receptors tun on genes associated with carcinogenesis

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center now have evidence that receptors found on tumors that were believed to function only on the surface of cells can actually switch on genes inside a cell's nucleus, thus promoting cancer development in two distinct ways.

21 Sep 2004

Intravenous access for ear tube placement surgery has no added benefit

Children who had intravenous (IV) access for ear tube placement surgery spent more time in the operating room and in the hospital and required more pain medication than children who underwent the same procedure without IV access

21 Sep 2004

Laser therapy and tacrolimus ointment best for vitiligo

Patients with vitiligo, a skin disorder characterized by patches of white, or de-pigmented skin, had better repigmentation of these patches when they were treated with a combination of laser therapy and tacrolimus ointment than patients treated with laser therapy alone

21 Sep 2004

Obesity makes surgery more difficult and risky

Critically injured obese trauma patients have higher rates of death than nonobese trauma patients, according to an article in the September issue of The Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

21 Sep 2004

Cosmetic surgery less risky and less painful than plastic surgery

Cosmetic surgery is perceived as less risky with a shorter recovery time and less pain than plastic or reconstructive surgery, according to an article in the September issue of The Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

21 Sep 2004

World's most powerful magnetic resonance imaging machine for human studies

The University of Illinois at Chicago unveiled today the world's most powerful magnetic resonance imaging machine for human studies, capable of imaging not just the anatomy but metabolism within the brain.

21 Sep 2004

Streptococcus bacteria uses sword and shield to fight white blood cells

A single gene called cylE within the important bacterial pathogen Group B Streptococcus (GBS), controls two factors that act together as a “sword” and “shield” to protect the bacteria from the killing effects of the immune system’s white blood cells

21 Sep 2004

Half of patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma fail to receive the recommended dose and schedule of chemotherapy

Approximately half of patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) fail to receive the recommended dose and schedule of chemotherapy, reducing their chances for remission or cure.

20 Sep 2004

A low salt diet can be extremely dangerous for elderly people

Professor Füsgen presented his findings at the European Geriatrics Congress in Vienna, which ended yesterday (September 19). They show that the symptoms of hyponatraemia (low sodium level in the blood), which are tiredness, difficulty in concentrating and loss of balance, can develop into confusion and even coma if left untreated.

20 Sep 2004