Health News

Cancer patients could benefit from the combining of Chinese and Western medicine

Date: Oct-01-2013
Combining traditional forms of Chinese and Western medicine could offer new hope for developing new treatments for liver, lung, colorectal cancers and osteosarcoma of the bones. Experts from Cardiff University's School of Medicine have joined forces with Peking University in China to test the health benefits of a traditional Chinese medicine. The team also set-out to examine how by combining it with more traditional methods like Chemotherapy could improve patient outcomes and potentially lead to the development of new cancer treatments and therapies...

Immune cells identified that promote growth of beta cells in type 1 diabetes

Date: Oct-01-2013
Joslin researchers have identified immune cells that promote growth of beta cells in type 1 diabetes. This study provides further evidence of a changed role for immune cells in type 1 diabetes pathology. The study is published online and will appear in the January issue of Diabetes. "In type 1 diabetes, the immune system infiltrates pancreatic islets and destroys insulin-producing beta cells...

A leveling off in psychotropic medication use, including stimulants, in young children

Date: Oct-01-2013
The use of psychotropic prescription medications to treat ADHD, mood disorders, anxiety and other mental health disorders in very young children appears to have leveled off. A national study of 2 to 5 year olds shows that overall psychotropic prescription use peaked in 2002-2005, then leveled off from 2006-2009. The researchers also discovered increased use of these medications among boys, white children and those without private health insurance during the 16-year study period, 1994-2009...

Focus on genomic signature of a tumor may lead to personalized therapy

Date: Oct-01-2013
Clinical trial design for new cancer therapies has historically been focused on the tissue of origin of a tumor, but a paper from researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center published in Nature Genetics supports a new approach: one based on the genomic signature of a tumor rather than the tissue of origin in the body...

'Optic flow' is especially important for people with low vision

Date: Oct-01-2013
Blurred images that are unidentifiable as still pictures become understandable once the images are set in motion. That's because of a phenomenon called "optic flow" - which may be especially relevant as a source of visual information in people with low vision, reports a study 'With an Eye to Low Vision: Optic Flow Enables Perception Despite Image Blur' published online ahead of print in the October issue of Optometry and Vision Science official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health...

The importance of telomere length in prostate cancer prognosis

Date: Oct-01-2013
Like the plastic caps at the end of shoelaces, telomeres protect - in their case - the interior-gene containing parts of chromosomes that carry a cell's instructional material. Cancer cells are known to have short telomeres, but just how short they are from cancer cell to cancer cell may be a determining factor in a prostate cancer patient's prognosis, according to a study led by Johns Hopkins scientists...

Reliable blood flow imaging system fifty times less expensive than standard equipment

Date: Oct-01-2013
Tracking blood flow in the laboratory is an important tool for studying ailments like migraines or strokes and designing new ways to address them. Blood flow is also routinely measured in the clinic, and laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) is one way of measuring these changes; however, this technique requires professional-grade imaging equipment, which limits its use...

Scientists are unraveling the secrets of the mechanism that snips our genes

Date: Oct-01-2013
Certain diseases such as cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy are linked to genetic mutations that damage the important biological process of rearranging gene sequences in pre-messenger RNA, a procedure called RNA splicing. These conditions are difficult to prevent because scientists are still grasping to understand how the splicing process works. Now, researchers from Brandeis University and the University of Massachusetts Medical School have teamed up to unravel a major component in understanding the process of RNA splicing...

Survival in head and neck cancer patients improved using hyperfractionated radiotherapy

Date: Oct-01-2013
The use of an intensified form of radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancers can improve overall survival rates compared with standard radiation therapy, according to results from a large study to be presented at the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1]. A comparison of altered fractionation radiotherapy (AFRT) with standard fractionation radiotherapy (SFRT) in a meta-analysis of more than 11,000 patients showed an eight percent reduction in the risk of death in the AFRT group, as well as a nine percent reduction in the risk of progression or death...

The benefits of strength training as physical exercise in older seniors

Date: Oct-01-2013
After doing specific training for 12 weeks, people over the age of 90 improved their strength, power and muscle mass. This was reflected in an increase in their walking speed, a greater capacity to get out of their chairs, an improvement in their balance, a significant reduction in the incidence of falls and a significant improvement in muscle power and mass in the lower limbs...