Health News

Innovative technique seeks to prevent lymphedema in breast cancer patients

Date: Jul-24-2013
A team of surgeons and members of the breast cancer program of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center is conducting a two-year pilot study of an innovative microsurgery technique coupled with imaging technology to not only prevent lymphedema but also potentially detect and treat it early...

Kiadis Pharma to receive GMP manufacturing license and GMP certificate

Date: Jul-24-2013
Kiadis Pharma B.V., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for blood cancers, has announced that its Quality Control (QC) laboratory and the associated Quality system has been inspected for good-manufacturing-practice (GMP) by the Dutch Health Care Inspectorate (IGZ) and has fully met the EU GMP standards. As a result, Kiadis Pharma will receive a GMP manufacturing license and GMP certificate for its QC laboratory from the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport...

Think before you drink: Erosion of tooth enamel from soda pop is permanent

Date: Jul-24-2013
You may be saving calories by drinking diet soda, but when it comes to enamel erosion of your teeth, it's no better than regular soda.  In the last 25 years, Kim McFarland, D.D.S., associate professor in the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry in Lincoln, has seen an increase in the number of dental patients with erosion of the tooth enamel - the protective layer of the tooth. Once erosion occurs, it can't be reversed and affects people their whole life.  "I'd see erosion once in a while 25 years ago but I see much more prevalence nowadays," Dr. McFarland said...

Physician bonuses help drive increases in laparoscopic colon cancer surgery with minimal benefits for patients, says McMaster study

Date: Jul-24-2013
Financial incentives for Ontario surgeons are likely a key factor driving greater use of laparoscopic colon cancer surgery, says a study led by a McMaster University surgeon.  The research, published online by the Annals of Surgical Oncology, found that between 2002 and 2009 there was an increase in laparoscopic versus traditional open techniques for colon and rectal cancer surgery. These increases were associated with only minimal decreases in how long patients stayed in hospital after surgery and no changes in the survival of patients...

OPP launches MBTI report for healthcare professionals, UK

Date: Jul-24-2013
Leading workplace psychologists, OPP, have launched a dedicated personality report for those working on the frontline of healthcare. The Myers-Briggs Report for Healthcare Professionals applies Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) insights to help doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants and other clinical staff foster a more mutually rewarding patient-centred service...

Aquinox Pharmaceuticals commences phase II clinical trial of AQX-1125 in bladder pain syndrome / interstitial cystitis

Date: Jul-24-2013
Aquinox Pharmaceuticals Inc., a private, venture-backed, pharmaceutical company developing novel and targeted small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of inflammatory disease, have announced that it has begun dosing patients in a Phase II clinical trial of its lead clinical candidate, AQX-1125, a potent SHIP1 activator, for the treatment of bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis (BPS/IC). The trial, known as the LEADERSHIP study, is being conducted at community and academic sites across Canada evaluating the safety and efficacy of AQX-1125 in approximately 70 BPS/IC patients...

146 contemporary medical practices identified that offer no net benefits

Date: Jul-24-2013
While there is an expectation that newer medical practices improve the standard of care, the history of medicine reveals many instances in which this has not been the case. Reversal of established medical practice occurs when new studies contradict current practice. Reporters may remember hormone replacement therapy as an example of medical reversal. A new analysis published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings documents 146 contemporary medical practices that have subsequently been reversed...

Managing concussions

Date: Jul-24-2013
Concussions, the most common traumatic brain injury, can have serious long-term health effects; therefore, diagnosis and management of these injuries are important. A primer published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) provides physicians with current approaches to diagnosing and managing concussions in patients. "The importance of accurate and timely recognition and management stems from the consequences of misdiagnosis or faulty management that can lead to major disability or death, in both the short and long term," writes Dr...

Study suggests that turning on a gene may prevent diabetes

Date: Jul-24-2013
Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90 % of cases of diabetes around the world, afflicting 2.5 million Canadians and costing over 15 billion dollars a year in Canada. It is a severe health condition which makes body cells incapable of taking up and using sugar. Dr. Alexey Pshezhetsky of the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center, affiliated with the University of Montreal, has discovered that the resistance to insulin seen in type 2 diabetics is caused partly by the lack of a protein that has not previously been associated with diabetes...

Key brain circuits identified that control compulsive drinking in rats

Date: Jul-24-2013
A research team led by scientists from the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco has identified circuitry in the brain that drives compulsive drinking in rats, and likely plays a similar role in humans. The scientists found they could reduce compulsive drinking in rats by inhibiting key neural pathways that run between the prefrontal cortex, which is involved with higher functions such as critical thinking and risk assessment, and the nucleus accumbens, a critical area for reward and motivation...