Health News

Scientists improve popular chemotherapy drug

Date: Sep-19-2013
Scientists have discovered a way to make significant improvements to a popular cancer cell-killing drug called vinblastine, according to a study published in the journal ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters. Researchers from the The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) say that their modified versions of the drug revealed 10 to 200 times greater potency, compared with standard vinblastine, and it even overcame the drug-resistance that some vinblastine users experience. They add that their modifications may also boost the effectiveness of vincristine, a drug closely related to vinblastine...

Wide variation in UK sleep disorders services which doesn't match need

Date: Sep-19-2013
The provision of services to treat an increasingly common sleep disorder linked to serious ill health varies widely across the UK and does not match current need, indicates research published online in Thorax. Furthermore, demand is set to rise as the population's age and girth increase, both of which are risk factors for the disorder, known as obstructive sleep apnoea or OSA for short...

Beware of TV drug ads

Date: Sep-19-2013
Consumers should be wary when watching those advertisements for pharmaceuticals on the nightly TV news, as six out of 10 claims could potentially mislead the viewer, say researchers in an article published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Researchers Adrienne E. Faerber of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice and David H. Kreling of The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy found that potentially misleading claims are prevalent throughout consumer-targeted prescription and non-prescription drug advertisements on television...

More than 40 million episodes of poor care in hospitals every year worldwide

Date: Sep-19-2013
There are almost 43 million instances of harm caused by medical care in hospitals around the world every year, indicates an analysis of unsafe care published online in BMJ Quality & Safety. Two thirds of these occur in low and middle income countries, the figures suggest. The authors base their findings on 4000 articles written in English and published from 1976 onwards, which looked at substandard medical care given to hospital patients around the globe...

Vitamin B may reduce risk of stroke

Date: Sep-19-2013
Researchers have uncovered evidence that suggests vitamin B supplements could help to reduce the risk of stroke, according to a study published in the journal Neurology. Vitamin B supplements are said to be beneficial for many health issues, including stress, anxiety, depression, dementia, Alzheimer's disease and heart disease. However, according to Xu Yuming of Zhengzhou University in Zhengzhou, China, previous studies have conflicting findings regarding the use of vitamin B supplements and stroke or heart attack...

How body temperature is affected by thyroid hormone

Date: Sep-19-2013
Researchers say they have discovered how thyroid hormone affects blood vessels to determine body temperature, potentially explaining why people who have disorders of the thyroid gland have higher sensitivity to environmental temperature. An overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) can cause a person to feel too hot, while an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) can cause a person to feel too cold. The researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden said that previous studies have attributed this to how thyroid hormone affects the metabolism within cells...

Sedentary adults motivated to exercise through financial incentives

Date: Sep-19-2013
A review study just published finds that financial incentives - as modest as $5 per week - can increase the amount of exercise people do. Lead author Marc Mitchell, University of Toronto PhD candidate and Cardiac Rehabilitation Supervisor at Toronto Rehab, worked under the leadership of University of Toronto exercise psychologist Guy Faulkner and exercise physiologist Jack Goodman to publish these findings in the September online publication of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The review study looked at 1,500 patients...

FDA-approved hyaluronic acid injections can help improve function and pain in mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis

Date: Sep-19-2013
A new meta-analysis of 29 randomized studies involving more than 4,500 patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) found that intra-articular hyaluronic acid (HA) injections provided significant improvement in pain and function compared to saline injections...

Each year, kids' food allergies cost US $25 billion

Date: Sep-18-2013
Living with a food allergy can be quite difficult, but now a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics shows that it can be quite costly - for both families and the US as a whole - totaling nearly $25 billion annually. The study, led by Dr. Ruchi Gupta of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, analyzed 1,643 caregivers of children with food allergies from November 2011 to January 2012 to estimate medical, out-of-pocket and lost work productivity costs involved...

Cell based assays: novel technologies in cell based assay platforms, 18-19 November 2013, London, UK

Date: Sep-18-2013
Following on from its hugely successful Cell-Based Assays conference in 2012, this year's event, taking place on the 18th-19th of November 2013 in London, UK, will feature over 16 innovative presentations delivered by some of the leading names in the Pharma industry, discussing 3D cell culture, future screening tools and primary phenotypic assays, drug design, targeting ION channels and novel technologies in the latest Cell Based Assays platforms. According to event's chairman Dr...