Health News

New Freezing Procedure Increases Availability Of Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplants For Patients

Date: Feb-11-2013
A large enough number of stem cells are needed to ensure the success of a cord blood transplant. However, the quantity of stem cells isolated from umbilical cord blood is not always sufficient to meet that requirement. Researchers from the Etablissement Français du Sang, Aquitaine-Limousin (France) have established a method to multiply cord blood stem cells to required quantity levels. In the current study Dr...

Early Hip Replacement Cost-Effective

Date: Feb-11-2013
European Health Technology Institute research finds early access to hip replacement significantly improves patients quality of life and does not impact the required healthcare resources Delaying Total Hip Replacement surgery (THR) in people with osteoarthritis (OA) as a way to cut costs is ineffective and denies patients the benefits of an active and healthy life. Moreover, young adults do not benefit from postponing the treatment to avoid revision surgery in later life as the majority of younger people will never have to undergo revision surgery with current technology...

Nerve Stimulator May Provide Effective Drug-Free Migraine Treatment

Date: Feb-11-2013
A nerve stimulator could be a promising new form of treatment for migraine sufferers, suggests a recent study published in in the journal Neurology. Results from a clinical study of Cefaly(R) appear to indicate that electrical stimulation of the supraorbital nerve using a stimulator device placed on the forehead is extremely effective at helping prevent the onset of a migraine. Migraines are characterized as being a form of moderate to severe recurrent headaches - lasting for hours or even days - that cause excessive throbbing pain, nausea and extreme sensitivity to light...

New Technology Helps Physicians Diagnose Quickly & Accurately

Date: Feb-11-2013
Giving Doctors an Important Diagnostic Tool - LA BioMed Scientists Contributed to Creation of VisualDxWhen Noah Craft, MD, PhD, first saw the unusual skin condition two years ago, he secured the patient's consent to take photographs to educate others about a new national problem: a disfiguring skin condition caused by ingesting cocaine "cut" with a deworming medication for sheep...

Implementation Of Fizzy Drinks Tax Is 'Essential', Claims Charity

Date: Feb-11-2013
The British Dental Health Foundation has joined more than 60 organisations backing recommendations for a tax on sugary drinks. The report, compiled by Sustain entitled 'A Children's Future Fund - How food duties could provide the money to protect children's health and the world they grow up in', makes three main recommendations for Budget 2013 it believes would help to improve children's health...

Researchers Find Gene Variant Linked To Aortic Valve Disease

Date: Feb-11-2013
NIH-funded consortium finds connection between lipoprotein(a) and valve calcificationA newly identified genetic variant doubles the risk of calcium buildup in the heart's aortic valve. Calcium buildup is the most common cause of aortic stenosis, a narrowing of the aortic valve that can lead to heart failure, stroke, and sudden cardiac death. An international genomics team called CHARGE (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology) found the variant in the gene for lipoprotein(a), a cholesterol-rich particle that circulates in the blood...

Researcher Taking Shot At Flu Vaccine That's More Effective, Easier To Make

Date: Feb-11-2013
In the midst of an unusually deadly flu season and armed with a vaccine that only offers partial protection, a Purdue University researcher is working on a flu vaccine that overcomes the need to predict which strains will hit each year and eliminates the common causes of vaccine shortages. This year's vaccine is 62 percent effective or "moderately" effective against the current flu strains, according to early estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Flu-related deaths this season have reached an epidemic level and include 45 children, according to the most recent report...

Key Protein Revealed As Trigger For Stem Cell Development

Date: Feb-11-2013
A natural trigger that enables stem cells to become any cell type in the body has been discovered by scientists. Researchers have identified a protein that kick-starts the process by which stem cells can develop to into different cells in the body, for instance liver or brain cells. Their discovery could help scientists improve techniques enabling them to turn stem cells into other cell types in the laboratory. These could then be used to test drugs or help create therapies for degenerative conditions such as Parkinson's disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis and liver disease...

VAXIMM Reports Positive Topline Data From First Oral Cancer Vaccine Trial

Date: Feb-11-2013
Study meets endpoints and demonstrates safety and tolerability of VXM01 VAXIMM AG, a Swiss-German biotech company focusing on oral cancer vaccines, announced today topline data from the first clinical trial of its investigational oral cancer vaccine VXM01. The randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind Phase I/II dose escalation study met all key endpoints and demonstrated safety and tolerability. The study code-named VXM01-01-DE enrolled 45 patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer at the Heidelberg University Hospital (Heidelberg, Germany)...

Even With Brain Mapping, Damage To Inner Brain Structures Can Occur During Conscious Brain Surgery

Date: Feb-11-2013
Injury to the subcortical structures of the inner brain is a major contributor to worsening neurological abnormalities after "awake craniotomy" for brain tumors, reports a study in the February issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. During a procedure intended to protect critical functional areas in the outer brain (cortex), damage to subcortical areas - which may be detectable on MRI scans - is a major risk factor for persistent neurological deficits...