Health News

New Point Of Attack Discovered For Alzheimer's Drug Therapy

Date: Jan-28-2013
Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of late-life dementia. The disorder is thought to be caused by a protein known as amyloid-beta, or Abeta, which clumps together in the brain, forming plaques that are thought to destroy neurons. This destruction starts early, too, and can presage clinical signs of the disease by up to 20 years. For decades now, researchers have been trying, with limited success, to develop drugs that prevent this clumping. Such drugs require a "target" - a structure they can bind to, thereby preventing the toxic actions of Abeta...

Better Survival Rates Seen With Lumpectomy Compared With Mastectomy For Early Breast Cancer

Date: Jan-28-2013
A new analysis has found that lumpectomy plus radiation for early breast cancer may provide patients with a better chance of survival than mastectomy. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the results provide confidence in the efficacy of breast-conserving treatments even among patients with aggressive, early disease. Lumpectomy combined with radiation is a good treatment choice for women with early breast cancer; however, over the past 10 years, a growing number of women have been choosing mastectomy even for very small cancers...

The Secrets Of Tumor Growth

Date: Jan-28-2013
Scientists at the University of Copenhagen's Center for Healthy Ageing have identified a compound that blocks the expression of a protein without which certain tumours cannot grow. This compound has the potential as an anticancer agent according to the research published in the journal CHBIOL: Chemistry and Biology this week. The BLM protein is also known to be important in maintaining stability in cells when they multiply, thus preventing cancer. However, certain types of tumour need BLM to grow...

Survival Improved In Multiple Myeloma Relapse By New Drug

Date: Jan-28-2013
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues have investigated the safety, efficacy and the maximum tolerated dose of pomalidomide for patients with multiple myeloma who have disease relapsed after treatments with other drugs, such as bortezomib and lenalidomide. This phase I clinical trial enrolled 38 patients, and pomalidomide provided a minimal or better response for 42 percent of the patients, a partial response or better for 21 percent, and a complete response for 3 percent...

Plastic Products And Jet Fuel Exposures Raising Incidences Of 'Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance'

Date: Jan-28-2013
Washington State University researchers have lengthened their list of environmental toxicants that can negatively affect as many as three generations of an exposed animal's offspring. Writing in the online journal PLOS ONE, scientists led by molecular biologist Michael Skinner document reproductive disease and obesity in the descendants of rats exposed to the plasticizer bisephenol-A, or BPA, as well DEHP and DBP, plastic compounds known as phthalates...

Diane-35 Acne Drug Linked To Deaths, France Investigates

Date: Jan-28-2013
ANSM, France's health regulator, has started an inquiry into Diane-35, an acne medication which is also a contraceptive, after four people died over the last 25-year period. The deaths have been linked to the drug, authorities believe. ANSM stands from L'Agence nationale de sécurité du médicament et des produits de santé. Diane-35, which is produced by Bayer, a German multinational pharmaceutical company, is sold in over 116 nations and authorized in 135...

Urinary Infection During Menopause Treated With Estrogen In Mouse Study

Date: Jan-28-2013
Estrogen levels drop dramatically in menopause, a time when the risk of urinary tract infections increases significantly. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found new evidence in mice that the two phenomena are connected by more than just timing. If further research confirms these links, boosting estrogen levels may get a second look as an approach for reducing urinary infections in menopausal women...

Rodents Trained To Link Rewards To Visual Cues Has Implications For Understanding Memory Formation And Alzheimer's Disease

Date: Jan-28-2013
In experiments on rats outfitted with tiny goggles, scientists say they have learned that the brain's initial vision processing center not only relays visual stimuli, but also can "learn" time intervals and create specifically timed expectations of future rewards. The research, by a team at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, sheds new light on learning and memory-making, the investigators say, and could help explain why people with Alzheimer's disease have trouble remembering recent events...

Lightning Linked To Some Headaches, Migraines

Date: Jan-28-2013
University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers have found that lightning may affect the onset of headache and migraines. These results, published in the online edition of the journal Cephalalgia, are the first tying lightning to headache and could help chronic sufferers more efficiently anticipate headache and migraine arrival and begin preventive treatment immediately...

Publication Of Northern Ireland's First Child Death And Serious Injury Review

Date: Jan-28-2013
The first ever review of abuse cases related to child death or serious injury in Northern Ireland were launched at Queen's University. The review, Translating Learning into Action, was commissioned by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) and was carried out by researchers at Queen's University and the NSPCC. The Case Management Review (CMR) report - the first to be produced in Northern Ireland - analysed 24 case reviews relating to 45 children which resulted in death or serious injury in the period between 2003 - 2008...