Health News

Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease And Muscular Degeneration Could Be Impacted By Stem Cell Study

Date: Jun-05-2013
Scientists have taken a vital step forward in understanding how cells from skin tissue can be reprogrammed to become stem cells. New research could pave the way to generate these stem cells efficiently to better understand and develop treatments for diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and muscular degeneration. The study of how these cells - known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) - were reprogramed was led by the University of Edinburgh and is published in the journal Nature...

Blocking Immune Overreaction

Date: Jun-05-2013
The immune system can run awry in many ways. Some examples of undesirable immune responses include those directed against the host (autoimmunity), transplanted organs (transplant rejection), or a harmless substance (allergies). In each case, the immune system is reacting to the presence of a molecule known as an antigen. Currently, the best treatment options involve broad spectrum suppression of the immune system, which increases susceptibility to infection. A preferable solution would be to specifically turn off the immune cells that respond to non-threatening objects...

Treatment Decisions: Doctor's Advice For Cancer Patients

Date: Jun-05-2013
Patients' desire for participation changes over the course of the disease What treatment a doctor recommends for advanced cancer not only depends on medical aspects. His relationship to the individual patients and his own view of their life situation at their age play a role. This was found out by a research team led by Dr. Jan Schildmann of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) together with colleagues from the University of Oxford. The RUB researchers also explored how patients perceive and evaluate the information they receive for clarification and decision making...

Change In Gut Microbiota May Predict Diabetes

Date: Jun-05-2013
Intestinal bacteria may have a greater influence on us than was previously thought. In a study published in the prestigious journal Nature, researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden and Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, show that patients with type 2 diabetes have an altered gut microbiota. Their findings have led to a new model to identify patients at increased risk of developing diabetes. The human body contains ten times more bacteria than human cells. Most of these bacteria comprise the normal gut microbiota...

Sleep Apnea A Greater Risk For Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Or Hypertension

Date: Jun-05-2013
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) is advising anyone with Type 2 diabetes or hypertension to be evaluated for sleep apnea by a board-certified sleep medicine physician. The recommendation comes as the group of international clinicians and researchers meets in Baltimore for SLEEP 2013, the foremost gathering of sleep experts annually...

Nivolumab Tested For Safety In Kidney Cancer

Date: Jun-05-2013
Researchers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center presented a poster on a phase I clinical trial of Nivolumab, a PD-1 receptor blocking antibody, being used in combination with other drugs in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) at the ASCO Annual Meeting. Metastatic renal cell carcinoma or kidney cancer is the seventh most common cancer, leading to approximately 116,000 deaths annually worldwide. In roughly one-quarter of those with mRCC, the cancer has already spread or metastasized at diagnosis...

ATS Publishes Clinical Practice Guidelines On Sleep Apnea And Driving

Date: Jun-05-2013
The American Thoracic Society has released new clinical practice guidelines on sleep apnea, sleepiness, and driving risk on non-commercial drivers. The new guidelines, which are an update of a 1994 ATS statement on this topic, appear in the June 1, 2013 American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. "Up to 20 percent of crashes that occur on monotonous roads can be attributed to sleepiness, and the most common medical cause of excessive daytime sleepiness is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)," said Kingman P...

Study Finds Bladder Cancer Recurrence And Mortality Could Improve With Better Treatment Compliance

Date: Jun-05-2013
Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center led by Dr. Karim Chamie, assistant professor-in-residence in the department of urology, have found that the burden of bladder cancer on the population is very high, and that more intense surveillance and treatment in the first two years after diagnosis could reduce the number of patients whose cancer returns after treatment and lower the death rate from this disease. The study was published online ahead of press today in the journal Cancer...

Cancer Survivors And Their Partners At Greater Risk Of Anxiety, Not Depression

Date: Jun-05-2013
Long-term cancer survivors are not at a much higher risk of developing depression compared with healthy people, but they are more likely to experience anxiety. The finding was published today in The Lancet Oncology and outlines that not only are the survivors at risk for anxiety, but their partners face similar levels of depression and higher levels of anxiety than the survivors themselves...

Obese Patients Trust Diet Advice From Overweight More Than Normal Weight Doctors

Date: Jun-05-2013
A team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that obese people are more likely to trust weight-related guidance from physicians who are overweight compared to those who are of normal weight. The finding was published in the June 2013 issue of Preventive Medicine. Sara Bleich, PhD, associate professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of Health Policy and Management, said that "with respect to overall trust, our results suggest that overweight and obese patients trust their primary care physicians, regardless of their body weight...