Health News

OHSU Research Helps Explain Why An AIDS Vaccine Has Been So Difficult To Develop

Date: Sep-11-2012
For decades, a successful HIV vaccine has been the Holy Grail for researchers around the globe. Yet despite years of research and millions of dollars of investment, that goal has still yet to be achieved. Recent research by Oregon Health & Science University scientists explains a decades-old mystery as to why slightly weakened versions of the monkey AIDS virus were able to prevent subsequent infection with the fully virulent strain, but were too risky for human use, and why severely compromised or completely inactivated versions of the virus were not effective at all...

Large Lung Cancer Study Shows Potential For More Targeted Therapies

Date: Sep-11-2012
A nationwide consortium of scientists has reported the first comprehensive genetic analysis of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, a common type of lung cancer responsible for about 400,000 deaths each year. "We found that almost 75 percent of the patients' cancers have mutations that can be targeted with existing drugs -- drugs that are available commercially or for clinical trials," says one of the lead investigators, Ramaswamy Govindan, MD, an oncologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and co-chair of the lung cancer group of The Cancer Genome Atlas...

Ovarian Cancer Screening Not Worth Risk Says US Expert Group

Date: Sep-11-2012
An independent US expert group recommends against routine screening for ovarian cancer in women, because their view is the risks outweigh the benefits. The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), an independent expert group that makes evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services, issued its final recommendation on screening for ovarian cancer on Tuesday. The recommendation states: "The USPSTF recommends against screening for ovarian cancer in women (D recommendation)...

Lack Of Support For 'Ring-Fencing' Cancer Drugs Fund Revealed

Date: Sep-11-2012
The public oppose the cancer drugs fund but support the new pricing system for branded medicines, according to a new study. When asked if the NHS should pay more for cancer drugs compared to medicines for an equally serious condition, the majority of 4,118 people surveyed across Britain said it shouldn't. Medicines were favoured, however, if they met the criteria by which the value of new medicines is to be assessed as part of the value-based pricing scheme, due to be introduced from January 2014...

Acupuncture Provides Relief For Chronic Pain, Say Researchers

Date: Sep-10-2012
Acupuncture for the treatment of chronic pain is better than placebo acupuncture (sham acupuncture) or no acupuncture at all, researchers from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, wrote in the JAMA journal Archives of Internal Medicine. This was their conclusion after gathering and analyzing data from 29 randomized controlled human studies. The authors explained that acupuncture is used extensively for the treatment of chronic pain. However, its acceptance is mixed and there is controversy regarding its efficacy and value...

Reversible Oxygen-Sensing 'Switching' Mechanism Discovered

Date: Sep-10-2012
Bacteria that cause disease in humans have a 'reversible switching mechanism' that allows them to adapt to environments lacking oxygen, scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have found. Published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, the findings provide a new insight into how bacteria sense and adapt to oxygenated atmospheres, and uncover a new 'antioxidant' pathway by which certain types of damaged proteins can be repaired...

Hindsight - Can We Really Predict Certain Outcomes?

Date: Sep-10-2012
Ever say to yourself, "I knew it all along" after hearing news for the very first time? Perhaps news that is suppose to be shocking? This may include situations, such as finding out that a coworker was secretly embezzling company funds, listening to a fourth-quarter comeback that wins the game, seeing the tumor that appeared on a second scan. Scientists refer to this psychological phenomenon as "hindsight bias"- although we didn't actually know it all along, we certainly felt as though we did...

Moyamoya Disease Affects Females More Severely

Date: Sep-10-2012
According to a recent study by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, published in the journal Neurosurgery, women and girls have an increased risk of unfavorable outcomes following surgery for treatment of moyamoya disease. Moyamoya disease is a rare disorder which occurs when arteries in the brain become constricted. The name "moyamoya" was derived from the Japanese meaning "puff of smoke", because the vessels appear to look like puffs of smoke on x-rays of a person who has the condition...

Obese Teens Eat Fewer Calories Than Their Peers

Date: Sep-10-2012
Overweight children aged from 9 to 17 years eat fewer calories than kids of normal weight in the same age group, researchers from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine reported in the journal Pediatrics. The authors added that the reverse occurs in children aged 8 years and younger - the overweight/obese kids eat more than their peers. In this study, the researchers explain why older overweight kids consume fewer calories. Asheley Cockrell Skinner, PhD., said that overweight children tend to stay overweight. For most kids, obesity starts off as a result of overeating...

Infant Sleep Training Methods Are Safe And Effective

Date: Sep-10-2012
"Controlled comforting" and "camping out", examples of training methods for infant sleep training, are safe for babies, improve their sleep, and lower short-term symptoms of maternal depression over the short-term, Australian researchers reported in the journal Pediatrics. This study follows up on research carried out in 2007 that found that infants, as well as their parents, benefited when the child was taught to settle down on his/her own after using a series of behavioral techniques...