Health News

Pain and gender: Men and women differ in the way they perceive and cope with pain

Date: Oct-15-2013
Women with back pain suffer from depression more frequently than male patients with back pain according to a study from Bochum, Germany, presented at the Congress of the European Pain Federation EFIC in Florence. Researchers suspect that one reason for this difference might be the strategies each gender uses to regulate emotions. Prof Monika Hasenbring from Ruhr University of Bochum, one of the authors of the study: "We detected a strong correlation between the suppression of negative thoughts or feelings, stress and the extent of depressions in patients suffering from chronic back pain...

Improving heart disease therapy by packaging stem cells in capsules

Date: Oct-15-2013
Stem cell therapy for heart disease is happening. Around the world, thousands of heart disease patients have been treated in clinical studies with some form of bone marrow cells or stem cells. But in many of those studies, the actual impact on heart function was modest or inconsistent. One reason is that most of the cells either don't stay in the heart or die soon after being introduced into the body. Cardiology researchers at Emory have a solution for this problem. The researchers package stem cells in a capsule made of alginate, a gel-like substance...

4 genetic variants linked to esophageal cancer and Barrett's esophagus identified

Date: Oct-15-2013
An international consortium co-led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Australia has identified four genetic variants associated with an increased risk of esophageal cancer and its precursor, a condition called Barrett's esophagus. The findings, by corresponding author Thomas L. Vaughan, M.D., M.P.H., a member of the Epidemiology Program in the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutch, are published online ahead of the December print issue of Nature Genetics...

Predictiing outcome in prostate cancer by measuring change in circulating tumor cells

Date: Oct-15-2013
A new study reveals that in the prediction of treatment outcome for castration-resistant prostate cancer, a change in circulating tumour cells detection might be more accurate than the change in prostate-specific antigen levels. The findings of this award-winning study were presented at the recent EAU 13th Central European Meeting in Prague...

Nutritional intervention for pediatric inpatients decrease hospital stay and costs

Date: Oct-15-2013
A new study has found that the use of oral nutritional supplements provided to pediatric patients during hospitalization was associated with a decrease in length of stay of 14.8 percent and a decrease in hospital stay costs of $1,768 per patient...

Ovarian cancer patients may benefit from targeted treatment plus chemotherapy

Date: Oct-15-2013
Conventional chemotherapy could further extend life in some women with ovarian cancer when used in tandem with a new type of targeted treatment, a new international study shows. The research, published in the October issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research, provides important evidence that PARP inhibitor drugs and chemotherapy can both be effective in the same patients, helping women live longer than they would if treated with chemotherapy alone...

Badger Cull: Badgers ultimately responsible for around half of TB in cattle, study estimates

Date: Oct-15-2013
However, only around six per cent of infected cattle catch TB from badgers, with onward transmission between cattle herds accounting for the remainder, the study suggests. The findings are published in the journal PLOS Currents: Outbreaks. The role of badgers in spreading bovine TB has been debated intensely as part of discussions about whether badgers should be culled to control the disease. The Randomised Badger Culling Trial, which ran from 1998 to 2005, found evidence that culling could reduce TB in herds inside culled areas, while increasing TB in areas nearby...

Gene mutation linked to low-risk bladder cancer

Date: Oct-15-2013
An international research team led by scientists from Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center has discovered a genetic mutation linked to low-risk bladder cancer. Their findings are reported online in Nature Genetics. The investigators identified STAG2 as one of the most commonly mutated genes in bladder cancer, particularly in tumors that do not spread...

Rich resource for potential drug therapies discovered in database of disease genes

Date: Oct-15-2013
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have created a massive online database that matches thousands of genes linked to cancer and other diseases with drugs that target those genes. Some of the drugs are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, while others are in clinical trials or just entering the drug development pipeline. The database was developed by identical twin brothers, Obi Griffith, PhD, and Malachi Griffith, PhD, whose interest in pairing drugs with genes is as much personal as it is scientific...

Researchers identify 'master regulators' in gene mutations and disease

Date: Oct-15-2013
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have developed a new way to parse and understand how special proteins called "master regulators" read the genome, and consequently turn genes on and off. Writing in the October 13, 2013 Advance Online Publication of Nature, the scientists say their approach could make it quicker and easier to identify specific gene mutations associated with increased disease risk - an essential step toward developing future targeted treatments, preventions and cures for conditions ranging from diabetes to neurodegenerative disease...