Health News

Delayed Mammography Screening Can Increase Risk Of Breast Cancer Mortality

Date: Apr-09-2013
The time between diagnosis of breast cancer among older women and their last mammogram is associated with a heightened risk of breast cancer mortality, according to new data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2013. The finding highlights the need for continued mammography screening. Michael S. Simon, M.D., M.P.H., leader of the breast multidisciplinary team at Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, Mich...

Motor Skills Research Offers Potential Diagnostic Test

Date: Apr-09-2013
People in their 20s don't have much on their middle-aged counterparts when it comes to some fine motor movements, researchers from UT Arlington have found. In a simple finger-tapping exercise, study participants' speed declined only slightly with age until a marked drop in ability with participants in their mid-60s. Priscila Caçola, an assistant professor of kinesiology at The University of Texas at Arlington, hopes the new work will help clinicians identify abnormal loss of function in their patients...

Immune System Development Influenced By Birth Month

Date: Apr-09-2013
Newborn babies' immune systems and vitamin D levels vary, depending on which month of the year they were born. The findings came from scientists at Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Oxford and were published in the journal JAMA Neurology. The study gives a possible biological platform as to why a person's risk of developing the neurological condition multiple sclerosis (MS) is impacted by the month they were born in. Additionally, it identifies the need for more research into the possible advantages of vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy...

Promising Results For 2-Step Ovarian Cancer Immunotherapy Made From Patients' Own Tumor

Date: Apr-09-2013
As many as three quarters of advanced ovarian cancer patients appeared to respond to a new two-step immunotherapy approach -- including one patient who achieved complete remission -- according research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that was presented in a press conference at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013 (Presentation #LB-335). The immunotherapy has two steps - a personalized dendritic cell vaccination and adoptive T-cell therapy...

The Epigenetic Effects Of Milk

Date: Apr-09-2013
It seems the ads were right. A milk mustache is a good thing to have. Animal and dairy scientists have discovered that drinking milk at an early age can help mammals throughout their lives. But understanding exactly how milk affects the body is a complicated story of hormones, antibodies and proteins, as well as other cells and compounds researchers have not yet identified. Learning how milk affects offspring was the subject of the Lactation Biology Symposium, held as part of the 2012 Joint Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ...

Preventive Measures, Genetic Risks, New Diagnostic Tools Needed To Identify Effects Of Traumatic Brain Injury In Athletes, Soldiers

Date: Apr-09-2013
One of the most controversial topics in neurology today is the prevalence of serious permanent brain damage after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Long-term studies and a search for genetic risk factors are required in order to predict an individual's risk for serious permanent brain damage, according to a review article published by Sam Gandy, MD, PhD, from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in a special issue of Nature Reviews Neurology dedicated to TBI...

Host DNA Used By Vaccine Adjuvant To Boost Pathogen Recognition

Date: Apr-09-2013
Aluminum salts, or alum, have been injected into billions of people as an adjuvant to make vaccines more effective. No one knows, however, how they boost the immune response. In the March 19, 2013, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences researchers at National Jewish Health continue unraveling the mystery of adjuvants with a report that host DNA coats the alum adjuvant and induces two crucial cells to interact twice as long during the initial stimulation of the adaptive immune system...

Mannitol Offers Sweet Future For Parkinson's Disease

Date: Apr-09-2013
Researchers from Tel Aviv University describe experiments that could lead to a new approach for treating Parkinson's disease (PD) using a common sweetener, mannitol. This research was presented at the Genetics Society of America's 54th Annual Drosophila Research Conference in Washington D.C., April 3-7, 2013. Mannitol is a sugar alcohol familiar as a component of sugar-free gum and candies. Originally isolated from flowering ash, mannitol is believed to have been the "manna" that rained down from the heavens in biblical times...

Potential Novel Type Of Therapy For Ovarian Cancer

Date: Apr-09-2013
A new antibody-guided drug has shown promising activity in a phase I trial involving ovarian cancer patients with platinum drug-resistant disease, researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute reported at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. The findings (abstract LB-290) were discussed at a press conference and later at an oral presentation on Tuesday, April 09, 2013, 4:00 p.m. to 4:20 p.m. in room 146, in the Washington Convention Center...

Moving On From Traditional Biopsies, Blood Tests Found To Provide Fuller Picture Of Mutations In Cancer

Date: Apr-09-2013
A new blood test revealed more of the gene mutations that sustain certain digestive-tract tumors than did a DNA analysis of a traditional tumor biopsy, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators report at a special symposium of the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in Washington, April 6-10. The findings (Abstract LB-295) were released at a press conference and later at an oral presentation on Tuesday, April 9, 3:35 - 3:50 p.m., ET, in Salon A-B, East Hall, in the Washington Convention Center...