Health News

Multiple Steps Should Be Taken Before Ethical Pediatric Anthrax Vaccine Trials Can Be Considered By The US Government

Date: Mar-19-2013
In a report released today, 19-Mar-2013, the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues concluded that the federal government would have to take multiple steps before anthrax vaccine trials with children could be ethically considered. The Bioethics Commission was responding to a request from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius who last year asked the members to study the question of anthrax vaccine trials with children after receiving a recommendation from another federal committee that such research be initiated, pending ethical review...

Lifestyle That Protects Heart May Also Reduce Cancer Risk

Date: Mar-19-2013
A lifestyle that conforms to 7 steps recommended to protect against heart disease may also reduce risk of cancer, according to new research published online this week in the American Heart Association (AHA) journal Circulation...

How Drosophila Recovers The Neurotransmitter Histamine

Date: Mar-19-2013
In the fruit fly Drosophila, the functions of the three enzymes Tan, Ebony and Black are closely intertwined - among other things they are involved in neurotransmitter recycling for the visual process. RUB researchers from the Department of Biochemistry showed for the first time that flies cannot see without this recycling. Their analysis of the enzyme Black also raises new questions as to its function. Anna Ziegler, Florian Brüsselbach and Bernhard Hovemann report in the Journal of Comparative Neurology, which chose this topic as cover story...

Tool Lets Any Clinician Contribute Information About Patients For Genetic Analysis

Date: Mar-19-2013
A new online database combining symptoms, family history and genetic sequencing information is speeding the search for diseases caused by a single rogue gene. As described in an article in the May issue of Human Mutation, the database, known as PhenoDB, enables any clinician to document cases of unusual genetic diseases for analysis by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine or the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston...

Incidence And Mortality Of PCa After Termination Of PSA-Based Screening

Date: Mar-19-2013
Men who participate in biennial PSA based screening have a lower risk of being diagnosed as well as dying from prostate cancer up to 9 years after their last PSA test, according to the results of a new study presented at the 28th Annual EAU Congress in Milan A joint Swedish-UK study aimed to examined the risk of developing prostate cancer after last invitation to screening...

In Prostate Cancer, PCa Markers Improve Predictive Performance Of Existing Clinical Variables

Date: Mar-19-2013
A genetic score based on PCa risk-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is an independent predictor of prostate biopsy outcomes, suggest the results of a new study conducted by a group from the Department of Urology Huashan Hospital, Fudan University in Shanghai, China. The authors, who relate their findings to the male population in China, also suggest that this score can improve predictive performance of existing clinical variables, especially for patients with a total PSA levels "Genetic susceptibility to prostate cancer (PCa) is well established," write the authors...

Epigenetic Changes Found To Play A Key Role In Development Of Chemo Resistance In Bladder Cancer

Date: Mar-19-2013
At the 28th Annual EAU Congress W. Tan and colleagues presented their study on neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy which showed that epigenetic changes are potential key drivers in the development of chemo resistance in bladder cancer. Neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy is recommended for patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer. Cisplatin-based regimes have similar efficacy with complete response in 30% a survival advantage if 16% (HR, 0.84;CI 0.72 to 0.99), wrote Tan of the UCL, Dept. of Surgery and Interventional Science in London, the UK...

A Protein Helps Prostate Cancer Cells Resist Hormone Therapy Making It An Attractive Biomarker And Therapeutic Target

Date: Mar-19-2013
Hormonal therapies can help control advanced prostate cancer for a time. However, for most men, at some point their prostate cancer eventually stops responding to further hormonal treatment. This stage of the disease is called androgen-insensitive or castration-resistant prostate cancer. In a study published in Cancer Cell, a team led by researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) found a mechanism at play in androgen-insensitive cells that enables them to survive treatment...

Lymph Node And Distant Metastases Occur Even In Small Kidney Tumors, New Study Advocates Treatment

Date: Mar-19-2013
Small kidney tumours have an agressive potential and should be treated, according to the results of a large multicentre study presented at the 28th Annual EAU Congress in Milan. "Many clinicians regard small renal cell cancer as having a benign biologic behavior and non-operative surveillance protocols are often being used in patients with small renal tumours," write the authors in the findings...

News From The Annals Of Family Medicine: March/April 2013

Date: Mar-19-2013
False-Positive Mammography Results Cause Significant Long-Term Psychological Harm False-positive results are a common unintended harmful effect of breast cancer screening mammography - the cumulative risk in Europe and the United States of false positives in 10 screening rounds ranges from 20 to 60 percent - and they have long-term psychosocial consequences...