Health News

Enormous Potential For Digital Healthcare Services - Interview With Alexander Schachinger

Date: Oct-31-2012
Throughout Europe, digital innovations with substantial benefits for the patients are spreading quickly. However, stakeholders in Germany are still reserved about these new technologies. Alexander Schachinger, founder and CEO of healthcare42.com and speaker at Health 2.0 Europe, talks about the chances of digital healthcare services in Germany. 30 October 2012, questions by Martin Schmucker Mr. Schachinger, healthcare42 and Publicis Healthware / razorfish are currently preparing a survey about the utilization of health information by chronic patients in the internet...

Genetic Link To Smoking And ADHD

Date: Oct-31-2012
Researchers suggest that ADHD during childhood might be a gateway to heavy smoking later on in life. The scientists, from McGill University, Canada, reported in the Archives of Disease in Childhood that a variation of a gene may be associated with childhood ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and smoking addiction. In this latest study, the authors write as background information that ADHD during childhood and subsequent smoking later in life go hand in hand...

Privately Owned Genetic Databases May Hinder Diagnosis And Bar The Way To The Arrival Of Personalized Medicine

Date: Oct-31-2012
In response to the on-line publication by the European Journal of Human Genetics of an article by US researchers led by Dr. Robert Cook-Degan, a former member of the US Office of Technology Assessment, showing that Myriad Genetics, providers of the BRCA1/2 genetic test in the US, has amassed vast quantities of clinical data without sharing it, Professor Martina Cornel, chair of the European Society of Human Genetics' Professional and Public Policy committee, said: "We are very concerned that such important data is being withheld from those who most need it...

Release Tamiflu Trial Data, BMJ Editor Urges Roche

Date: Oct-31-2012
The makers of Tamiflu (oseltamivir), Roche, should honor their promise made nearly three years ago and release trial data on Tamiflu for independent scrutiny, R. Fiona Godlee, BMJ Editor-in-Chief has urged. Dr. Godlee wrote in an open letter to Professor Sir John Bell, company director "Billions of pounds of public money have been spent on (Tamiflu) and yet the evidence on its effectiveness and safety remains hidden from appropriate and necessary independent scrutiny...

2nd Annual Pharma Law Convention, 13-14 March 2013, Prague, Czech Republic

Date: Oct-31-2012
The 2nd Annual Pharma Law Convention is set to take place next year in Prague, Czech republic, on March 13th - 14th and follows the success of the pilot 2012 convention that took place in April in Bratislava, Slovakia...

AIDS Vaccine Clue In Discovery Of HIV Vulnerable Spot

Date: Oct-31-2012
Researchers in South Africa leading a study published recently, suggest their findings offer a new clue toward a possible vaccine against AIDS. They have discovered a vulnerable spot on the outer shell of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that enabled two infected people to make antibodies powerful enough to kill most of the HIV types known around the world...

New Report Confirms UK Is On The Brink Of A Stroke Crisis

Date: Oct-31-2012
The UK remains at risk of a devastating stroke crisis, according to UK health experts launching Reports published today, on World Stroke Day, by Action for Stroke Prevention (ASP), an alliance of renowned health experts and patient organisations. One of the Reports entitled, How Can We Avoid a Stroke Crisis in Europe?, highlights that the first time many people will find out they have AF is when they suffer a stroke...

Sildenafil Citrate Improves Overall Sexual Function Of Prostate Cancer Patients Receiving Radiation Therapy

Date: Oct-31-2012
Sildenafil citrate (SC), a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, administered before, during and after radiation therapy improved overall sexual function of prostate cancer patients, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncology's (ASTRO's) 54th Annual Meeting. This is the first prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial to determine if daily, adjuvant use of SC before, during and after radiation therapy preserves erectile function in prostate cancer patients...

Memantine Delays Cognitive Decline In Brain Tumor Patients Who Receive Whole Brain Radiation Therapy

Date: Oct-31-2012
Memantine, an N-Methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist typically prescribed to Alzheimer's patients, slows cognitive decline in brain cancer patients who receive whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT), according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncology's (ASTRO's) 54th Annual Meeting. The phase III trial evaluated the potential protective effects of memantine on cognitive function in 508 patients with brain tumors who received WBRT between March 2008 and July 2010...

Scientists Decode "Software" Instructions Of Aggressive Leukemia Cells

Date: Oct-31-2012
Researchers Locate Molecules that Drive the Development of Three Forms of Deadly White Blood Cell Cancers, Pointing Researchers to New Potential Therapeutic Targets A team of national and international researchers, led by Weill Cornell Medical College scientists, have decoded the key "software" instructions that drive three of the most virulent forms of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)...