Health News

Follow-Up To REDUCE Study Shows Low Rate Of Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

Date: Jan-24-2013
Analysis of 2 Years of Additional Data on Dutasteride Treatment Reported in The Journal of Urology® The four-year REDUCE (REduction by DUtasteride of prostate Cancer Events) clinical study evaluated prostate cancer risk reduction in men taking dutasteride, a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor (5ARI) typically used to treat enlarged prostate. REDUCE results showed that dutasteride decreased the risk of biopsy detectable prostate cancer by 22.8 percent compared to a placebo group, but concerns remained about the drug's effectiveness...

Study Reveals Gaps In Availability Of Radiotherapy Services Across Europe

Date: Jan-24-2013
Wide disparities in access to radiotherapy services, patchy provision, unmet need, and unequal spending on resources are revealed in a European-wide study published Online First in The Lancet Oncology. The analysis exposes, for the first time, the reality of radiotherapy services on a country-by-country basis across Europe. � Most strikingly, the study finds that in several countries in western Europe there are too few radiotherapy machines to ensure that cancer patients in need of radiotherapy receive treatment...

Study Explores Whether Sleeping Pills Reduce Insomniac's Suicidal Thoughts

Date: Jan-24-2013
Researchers want to know whether a sleeping pill reduces suicidal thoughts in depressed patients with insomnia. � "The more we look at it, the more it looks like insomnia by itself is a predictor of suicide so the next question becomes: Why not treat insomnia strategically as a focus of care and see if that reduces suicidal thinking," said Dr. W. Vaughn McCall, Chair of the Medical College of Georgia Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at Georgia Regents University. � McCall is principal investigator on a $1...

Five-Minute' Blood Cancer Injection Cuts Treatment Time By Two Hours

Date: Jan-24-2013
A new injection for blood cancer patients trialled at Southampton's teaching hospitals can deliver a two-hour dose of drugs in around five minutes. � Patients diagnosed with follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), a disease that attacks one specific type of infection-fighting cell, previously had rituximab administered via an intravenous drip...

Emergency Admissions Death Toll Significantly Higher On Public Holidays

Date: Jan-24-2013
Cumulative effects of fewer staff/services for public holidays tagged onto weekends likely to blame Patients admitted to hospital as emergencies on public holidays are significantly more likely to die than those admitted on other days of the week - including weekends - indicates research published online in Emergency Medicine Journal. International evidence suggests that the death rate among emergency admissions is around 10% higher at weekends than it is for other days of the week, which adds up to around 3000 extra deaths every year in England alone...

Unique Challenges Faced By Gay African-American Youth 'Coming Out' To Families

Date: Jan-24-2013
Coming out to one's family can be stressful, but gay black males face a unique set of personal, familial and social challenges. "Parents and youths alike worry that gay men cannot meet the rigid expectations of exaggerated masculinity maintained by their families and communities," says Michael C. LaSala, director of the Master of Social Work program at Rutgers University School of Social Work. LaSala, an associate professor, recently completed an exploratory study of African American gay youth and their families from urban neighborhoods in New York City and Philadelphia...

Increased Risk Of Developing Alcohol Problems In Those Who Can 'Hold Their Liquor'

Date: Jan-24-2013
Prior studies have shown that a low subjective response (SR) to alcohol is a risk factor for alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Research on moderate drinkers has shown that acquired tolerance is different from initial response, and is also significantly associated with drinking problems...

Shedding Light On Approval Process For Implantable Body Parts: Preventing Unsafe High-Risk Medical Devices From Reaching The Marketplace

Date: Jan-24-2013
Technological advancements in medicine have allowed patients suffering from musculoskeletal conditions such as hip and knee pain to regain mobility and live relatively pain-free. But some "high risk" surgical devices that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are not required to go through clinical trials, where a product is tested to determine its safety and effectiveness. "This could be potentially very dangerous...

Mathematical Model Suggests Helping Healthy Cells Could Be Key To Fighting Leukemia

Date: Jan-24-2013
Researchers at Imperial College London have shown that keeping healthy blood cells alive could be a more important tool in the fight against leukaemia than keeping cancerous cells at bay. The team used computer modelling to show that maintaining a friendly environment for healthy cells was more effective than targeting the damaged cells directly. This result could change the way leukaemia is treated, as cancer treatment has traditionally relied on fighting disease rather than maintaining health...

Drug Combination Extends Pancreatic Cancer Patient Survival

Date: Jan-24-2013
A multi-center Phase III clinical trial demonstrates that Abraxane (nab-paclitaxel) plus gemcitabine is the first combination of cancer drugs to extend survival of late-stage pancreatic cancer patients compared to standard treatment. The MPACT (Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Clinical Trial) study was led by physicians from Scottsdale Healthcare's Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials, a partnership between Scottsdale Healthcare and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen)...