Health News

New Parkinson's Drug Could Slow Disease Progression

Date: Oct-25-2012
A family of compounds has recently been developed that may slow the progression of Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's affects both men and women and usually develops after the age of 50. It is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases, which results from the death of dopamine neurons, eventually leading to rigidity, tremors, and difficulty moving. There are existing medications that can alleviate the symptoms, but unfortunately they do not have an impact on the development of the disease. The new compounds were developed by Richard B...

Scientists Harness Immune System To Prevent Lymphoma Relapse

Date: Oct-25-2012
UK scientists hope that lymphoma patients could benefit from a new drug that triggers the cancer-fighting properties of the body's own immune system, after highly promising early laboratory results. The University of Manchester researchers, who were funded by the charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research, with additional funding from Cancer Research UK, have shown that when used in conjunction with radiotherapy, the new drug is potentially four times more likely to lead to long-term survival than radiotherapy alone...

Mums Can Influence Children's Oral Health, Study Suggests

Date: Oct-25-2012
The British Dental Health Foundation believes a new study showing how a mother's knowledge is key to their child's oral health is a timely reminder of how important their early years are. The study3 concluded that mothers who were more able to handle stresses in their environment had children with better oral health. According to the research, mothers with higher maternal factors when their child was three years old resulted in a better oral hygiene for their child, more visits to the dentist and more preventive treatments...

Drug-Eluting Balloons Bounce Into Global Market

Date: Oct-25-2012
It looks as though drug-eluting balloons (DEBs) already widely used in Europe are set to burst into the global market, as heart conditions become a more common problem, states a new report by healthcare experts GBI Research. The new report* looks at peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD), which involves the buildup of plaque, and the subsequent narrowing or blockages in arteries, and insufficient blood flow...

Mirabegron Receives Positive CHMP Opinion For Treatment Of Overactive Bladder Symptoms

Date: Oct-25-2012
ASTELLAS PHARMA Ltd. announced today that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorisation for BETMIGATM (mirabegron) for the symptomatic treatment of urgency, increased micturition frequency and/or urgency incontinence as may occur in adult patients with overactive bladder (OAB) syndrome. The opinion now needs ratification by decision of the European Commission which is expected within the next 74-90 days...

Study Demonstrates Radioembolization Using SIR-Spheres Significantly Improves Overall Survival For Patients With Inoperable Colorectal Cancer

Date: Oct-25-2012
Survival of patients treated with SIR-Spheres more than double that of patients who received best supportive care, benefit rivals that found with new biological agents, authors note. The results of a matched-pair comparison of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer predominately affecting the liver, for whom all chemotherapy options had been exhausted, showed that the addition of radioembolization using SIR-Spheres significantly prolonged survival compared with best supportive care (BSC) alone...

Cracking The Epigenetic Code

Date: Oct-25-2012
A team of researchers at The Australian National University is one step closer to better understanding how organisms function after discovering how epigenetic information is transmitted from one generation of cells to the next. Lead researcher, Dr David Tremethick from The John Curtin School of Medical Research, said developing a better understanding of these epigenetic processes has significant potential implications for human health, in particular the treatment and prevention of diseases such as cancer...

Exercise The Body To Keep The Brain Healthy, Study Suggests

Date: Oct-25-2012
People who exercise later in life may better protect their brain from age-related changes than those who do not, a study suggests. Researchers found that people over 70 who took regular exercise showed less brain shrinkage over a three-year period than those who did little exercise. Psychologists and Neuroimaging experts, based at the University of Edinburgh, did not find there to be any benefit to brain health for older people from participation in social or mentally stimulating activities...

Proposed Genetic Barcoding To Map Wiring Of Whole Brain

Date: Oct-25-2012
A team of neuroscientists has proposed a new and potentially revolutionary way of obtaining a neuronal connectivity map (the "connectome") of the whole brain of the mouse. The details are set forth in an essay published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology. The team, led by Professor Anthony Zador, Ph.D., of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, aims to provide a comprehensive account of neural connectivity. At present the only method for obtaining this information with high precision relies on examining individual cell-to-cell contacts (synapses) in electron microscopes...

Modern Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Effective Treatment For Danes With Personality Disorders

Date: Oct-25-2012
For seven years, Carsten Rene Jorgensen from the Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences at Aarhus University has collaborated with the Clinic for Personality Disorders, Aarhus University Hospital, Risskov on examining the extent to which modern psychoanalytic psychotherapy can help the Danes suffering from severe borderline personality disorders. Among the first to examine these forms of modern psychoanalytic treatment of severe personality disorders, the study shows a clear trend; a vast majority of patients do better after a two-year course of treatment...