Health News

Gum Disease Bacteria Linked To Pancreatic Cancer Risk

Date: Oct-01-2012
The British Dental Health Foundation believes new scientific research presented is a further indication of a possible link between pancreatic cancer and gum disease. The latest research, presented in the journal Gut, found one of the bacterium key in the development of gum disease was associated with a two-fold increase in risk for pancreatic cancer. The study also discovered those with non-harmful oral bacteria had a 45 per cent lower risk of pancreatic cancer...

BioLineRx Announces Publication Of EAGLE Study Results Demonstrating BL-1020's Efficacy In Improving Cognitive Function In Schizophrenia Patients

Date: Oct-01-2012
BioLineRx (NASDAQ: BLRX) (TASE: BLRX), a biopharmaceutical development company, have announced the publication of results from the Phase II EAGLE clinical trial for BL-1020, a first in class, orally available, GABA-enhanced antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia, showing that BL-1020 is safe and effective in improving schizophrenia, in addition to improving cognitive impairment associated with this condition. The findings, which were originally announced in September 2009, were published in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry...

Clinical Study Highlights Detection Of Fetal Trisomy 13 With The Harmony™ Prenatal Test - Majority Of Cases Detected

Date: Oct-01-2012
A new study published in the journal Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, is the largest study to date of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for detecting fetal trisomy 13 (T13) and provides further evidence of the Harmony Prenatal Test's utility for detection of genetic conditions. T13 causes Patau syndrome and affects approximately one in 16,000 newborns. T13 is also associated with a high rate of spontaneous miscarriage. The study, available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/uog.12299/abstract, was co-led by Dr...

Liver Cells, Insulin-Producing Cells, Thymus Tissue Can Be Grown In Lymph Nodes, Pitt/McGowan Team Finds

Date: Oct-01-2012
Lymph nodes can provide a suitable home for a variety of cells and tissues from other organs, suggesting that a cell-based alternative to whole organ transplantation might one day be feasible, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine...

Touch-Sensitive Tentacles Catapult Prey Into Carnivorous Plant Traps

Date: Oct-01-2012
Swift predators are common in the animal world but are rare in the plant kingdom. New research shows that Drosera glanduligera, a small sundew from southern Australia, deploys one of the fastest and most spectacular trapping mechanisms known among carnivorous plants. The study, published Sep...

Novartis Data Show AIN457 Significantly Reduced Signs And Symptoms In Patients With Hard-To-Treat Moderate-To-Severe Plaque Psoriasis

Date: Oct-01-2012
Novartis has announced new Phase II data showing AIN457 (secukinumab) may significantly improve moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis on the hands, feet and nails when used every week for the first month of treatment, compared to placebo1,7. Additional analysis on patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis also showed that AIN457 may successfully improve quality of life by Week 12 in the study8...

UF Researchers Developing Device To Detect Brain Bleeding In Pre-Term Infants

Date: Oct-01-2012
Nearly one-third of premature babies develop bleeding in the brain after birth, a problem associated with serious long-term effects such as cerebral palsy, seizures and blindness. But some of these devastating complications could be prevented if physicians could catch and treat such brain hemorrhaging, also called intraventricular bleeding, when it begins. To this end, University of Florida researchers from the colleges of Medicine and Engineering have received a three-year, $694,000 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in collaboration with EGI Inc...

The Language Of Stem Cells, Decoded

Date: Oct-01-2012
Stem cells are biological building blocks, the starting point of human life. But without proper direction, they're not very useful when it comes to treating disease. "If we just take stem cells and inject them into you, they will simply become a cancerous tumor," says Randy Ashton, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor of biomedical engineering. Working in the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, Ashton is seeking to instruct the development of human stem cells in the lab by using the molecules cells already use to communicate with one another...

How Attention Helps You Remember - New Study Finds Long-Overlooked Cells Help The Brain Respond To Visual Stimuli

Date: Oct-01-2012
A new study from MIT neuroscientists sheds light on a neural circuit that makes us likelier to remember what we're seeing when our brains are in a more attentive state. The team of neuroscientists found that this circuit depends on a type of brain cell long thought to play a supporting role, at most, in neural processing. When the brain is attentive, those cells, called astrocytes, relay messages alerting neurons of the visual cortex that they should respond strongly to whatever visual information they are receiving...

Depression: Experts Outline Innovative Approaches

Date: Oct-01-2012
Depression can be a stubborn problem - at least one in three patients fail to respond to proven therapies - and experts in the field have put their heads together to outline practical treatment approaches for general practitioners in an MJA Open supplement on "difficult-to-treat depression"...