Health News

Suspected Sports Concussion - Treat Athletes Individually

Date: Mar-19-2013
The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has released its guideline for evaluating and managing sports people with concussion. The AAN says that over one million athletes in the USA experience a concussion annually. Their new guideline replaces the 1997 one. According to the AAN, which published the new guideline in Neurology (March 18th, 2013 issue), Americans now have an objective, evidence-based review of the literature by a committee of experts from various fields...

European Commission Approves New Pre-Treatment Options For QUTENZA™ (8% Capsaicin Patch) In Peripheral Neuropathic Pain

Date: Mar-19-2013
Approval allows for more flexible approach to 8% capsaicin patch treatment of peripheral neuropathic pain The European Commission (EC) has approved expanded options for pre-treatment prior to use of QUTENZA (8% capsaicin patch). Before application the patient may now take an oral analgesic, or the treatment area may be pre-treated with a topical anaesthetic.1 The 8% capsaicin patch is the first and only licensed high concentration (8%) capsaicin cutaneous patch for the treatment of peripheral neuropathic pain in Europe...

Depression-Related Symptoms In Adolescents Reduced By Mindfulness At School

Date: Mar-19-2013
Mindfulness is a form of meditation therapy focused on exercising 'attentiveness'. Depression is often rooted in a downward spiral of negative feelings and worries. Once a person learns to more quickly recognise these feelings and thoughts, he or she can intervene before depression sinks in. While mindfulness has already been widely tested and applied in patients with depression, this is the first time the method has been studied in a large group of adolescents in a school-based setting, using a randomised controlled design...

Increase In Number Of Parents Who Won't Vaccinate Daughters Against HPV

Date: Mar-19-2013
A rising percentage of parents say they won't have their teen daughters vaccinated to protect against the human papilloma virus, even though physicians are increasingly recommending adolescent vaccinations, a study by Mayo Clinic and others shows. More than 2 in 5 parents surveyed believe the HPV vaccine is unnecessary, and a growing number worry about potential side effects, researchers found. The findings are published in the new issue of the journal Pediatrics. In all, researchers looked at three vaccines routinely recommended for U.S...

Cord Blood Transplants May Be An Effective Alternative To Matched Donor Stem Cells For Children With Rare Metabolic Disorder

Date: Mar-19-2013
Transplants of blood-forming stem cells from umbilical cord blood may be an effective alternative to transplants of matched donor bone marrow stem cells to treat children with a rare, debilitating disease known as Hurler's syndrome (HS), according to results of a study published online last week in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH). HS is an inherited metabolic disease characterized by the lack of a critical metabolic enzyme (lysosomal α-L-iduronidase) that breaks down long chains of sugar molecules in the body...

In Control Of Red Blood Cell Levels White Blood Cells Key; Findings Could Lead To Novel Therapies

Date: Mar-19-2013
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have found that macrophages - white blood cells that play a key role in the immune response - also help to both produce and eliminate the body's red blood cells (RBCs). The findings could lead to novel therapies for diseases or conditions in which the red blood cell production is thrown out of balance. The study, conducted in mice, is published today in the online edition of the journal Nature Medicine...

Researchers Say NSAIDs Can Boost Stem Cells For Transplants For Cancer Patients

Date: Mar-19-2013
Scientists say that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may be a boon to doctors gathering stem cells for transplants to treat patients with blood or bone marrow cancers, including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma. The compounds, known as NSAIDs and which include aspirin, ibuprofen and other painkillers, increased the number of stem and progenitor cells harvested from the blood in animal testing and a small human study, according to work published online Wednesday in the journal Nature by a research team led by Indiana University School of Medicine scientists...

Data Suggest Lower Risk Of Cardiovascular Events Or Deaths In Prostate Cancer Patients Treated With Degarelix Compared To LHRH Agonists

Date: Mar-19-2013
Data presented last week at the European Association of Urology (EAU) 2013 annual meeting in Milan, indicate that the gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist degarelix (brand name: FIRMAGON®) may be associated with lower risk of a cardiovascular (CV) event or death compared to commonly prescribed luteinising hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists.1 These data are based on a pooled analysis of 2,328 men with prostate cancer from six prospective, randomised trials...

New Data Highlight Considerable Burden Of Nocturia

Date: Mar-19-2013
Chronic condition associated with disturbed sleep and notable loss of productivity and non-work related activityNew data presented at the European Association of Urology (EAU) congress show that nocturia (waking up one or more times to void at night) is associated with significant reductions in work productivity and leisure activity in line with other common chronic disorders such as asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and GERD (gastro-esophageal reflux disease).1 Nocturia was found to reduce work productivity by almost 25% in the working population...

New Treatment For Advanced HER2+ Breast Cancer Patients As Perjeta® (Pertuzumab) Gets Regulatory Green Light

Date: Mar-19-2013
Perjeta works synergistically with Herceptin® (trastuzumab) to extend survival and stall disease progression for longer than the gold standard of care[i] From now on, patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer could benefit from the new personalised breast cancer treatment, Perjeta - which is now authorised for use in the UK. Perjeta has been granted a licence by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), for patients with previously untreated advanced HER2-positive breast cancer in combination with the current gold standard-of-care, Herceptin and chemotherapy (docetaxel)...