Health News

Delivery By By C-Section Increases Risk Of Allergies In Childhood

Date: Feb-26-2013
For expectant moms who may contemplate the pros and cons of natural child birth or Caesarian section, a Henry Ford Hospital study suggests that C-section babies are susceptible to developing allergies by age two. Researchers found that babies born by C-section are five times more likely to develop allergies than babies born naturally when exposed to high levels of common allergens in the home such as those from dogs, cats and dust mites. The study was presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology annual meeting in San Antonio...

The Brain's Innate Ability To Protect Itself From Stroke Damage

Date: Feb-26-2013
The origin of an innate ability the brain has to protect itself from damage that occurs in stroke has been explained for the first time. The Oxford University researchers hope that harnessing this inbuilt biological mechanism, identified in rats, could help in treating stroke and preventing other neurodegenerative diseases in the future...

Identification Of New Type Of Gene That Regulates Tumor Suppressor PTEN

Date: Feb-26-2013
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified a new so-called pseudogene that regulates the tumour-suppressing PTEN gene. They hope that this pseudogene will be able to control PTEN to reverse the tumour process, make the cancer tumour more sensitive to chemotherapy and to prevent the development of resistance. The findings, which are published in the scientific journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, can be of significance in the future development of cancer drugs...

Clinical Study Shows Efficacy And Safety Of LINX Reflux Management System For Gastro-Oesophageal Reflux Disease

Date: Feb-26-2013
The results of a study providing clinical evidence of safety and effectiveness for Torax Medical's LINX® Reflux Management System, an innovative approach to treating gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), are published in the current edition of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).1 The LINX System was studied in a prospective and controlled trial involving 14 European and US Medical centres...

Lupin Receives FDA Approval For New Drug Application For SUPRAX® Oral Suspension, 500 Mg/5mL

Date: Feb-26-2013
Approval to add to growing SUPRAX(R) Franchise Pharma major, Lupin Ltd., announced last week that its subsidiary, Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (collectively, Lupin) has received approval for SUPRAX(R) (Cefixime) for Oral Suspension, 500 mg/5mL from the United States Food and Drugs Administration (FDA). Lupin expects to commence shipping the product in the near future. The approval will expand Lupin's range of SUPRAX(R) dosage forms available to treat approved indications in appropriate patients...

Algorithm To Predict How Much Can Be Learned In A Large-scale DNA Sequencing Experiment - With Potential Applications In Every Field Of Science

Date: Feb-26-2013
Two USC scientists have developed an algorithm that could help make DNA sequencing affordable enough for clinics - and could be useful to researchers of all stripes. Andrew Smith, a computational biologist at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, developed the algorithm along with USC graduate student Timothy Daley to help predict the value of sequencing more DNA, published in Nature Methods on February 24...

Phase III Results: Tiotropium Respimat® Is Effective In Symptomatic Asthma Patients Irrespective Of Their Allergic Status

Date: Feb-26-2013
New Phase III data presented for the first time at the 2013 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting Tiotropium delivered once daily via Respimat™ significantly improved lung function and reduced asthma exacerbations in patients who remain symptomatic despite treatment with at least ICS[1]/LABA[2], irrespective of their allergic status...

Genes Linked To Human Neurological Disorders Discovered In Sea Lamprey Genome

Date: Feb-26-2013
Scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have identified several genes linked to human neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury, in the sea lamprey, a vertebrate fish whose whole-genome sequence is reported in the journal Nature Genetics. "This means that we can use the sea lamprey as a powerful model to drive forward our molecular understanding of human neurodegenerative disease and neurological disorders," says Jennifer Morgan of the MBL's Eugene Bell Center for Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering...

UCLA Researchers Further Improve 'Nanovelcro' Device To Isolate And Study Single Cancer Cells From Blood

Date: Feb-26-2013
Researchers at UCLA have further improved a method for capturing and analyzing cancer cells that break away from patients' tumors and circulate in the blood. With the improvements, even single cancer cells can be accurately detected and safely isolated from patient blood samples for continuous analysis. These cells, called circulating tumor cells (CTCs), metastasize or spread from one tumor to other parts of the body and form new tumors, thus propagating cancer in the patient...

Discovery Of General Mechanism That Accelerates Tumor Development

Date: Feb-26-2013
Cancer is characterized by uncontrolled cell division and growth. In order to identify new therapeutic targets through which to tackle the disease, scientists seek to clarify the mechanisms that control the expression of genes that favor the development of tumors, in processes such as uncontrolled cell division. Today, Nature has published a paper by the lab headed by Raúl Méndez, ICREA professor at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona)...