Health News

Former Finasteride Users Found To Suffer Depressive Symptoms And Suicidal Thoughts

Date: Aug-09-2012
New research, to be published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, finds that men who developed persistent sexual side effects while on finasteride (Propecia), a drug commonly used for male pattern hair loss, have a high prevalence of depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts. The study, titled "Depressive Symptoms and Suicidal Thoughts Among Former Users of Finasteride With Persistent Sexual Side Effects," was authored by Michael S. Irwig, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Endocrinology at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences...

Researchers Pursue Red Flag For Schizophrenia Relapse

Date: Aug-09-2012
Blood levels of a protein that helps regulate inflammation may also serve as a red flag for relapse in some schizophrenia patients, researchers said. "There are no good, objective measures of treatment efficacy or indicators for relapse," said Dr. Brian Miller, a psychiatrist specializing in schizophrenia at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Health Sciences University. Researchers hope monitoring levels of interleukin-6 can fill that gap for a population in which more than half of patients don't take their medications as prescribed, often because of side effects...

Lower Dose Of Cancer Drug Needed When Grapefruit Juice Prescribed

Date: Aug-09-2012
A glass a day of grapefruit juice lets patients derive the same benefits from an anti-cancer drug as they would get from more than three times as much of the drug by itself, according to a new clinical trial. The combination could help patients avoid side effects associated with high doses of the drug and reduce the cost of the medication. Researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine study the effects that foods can have on the uptake and elimination of drugs used for cancer treatment...

Dynamic New Fast-Acting, Non-Toxic Disinfectant Could Tackle Hospital Infections

Date: Aug-09-2012
A new disinfectant, Akwaton, that works at extremely low concentrations could be used in healthcare settings to help control persistent hospital-acquired infections such as Clostridium difficile. The study is reported online in the Journal of Medical Microbiology. Researchers from the Université de Saint-Boniface in Winnipeg, Canada tested the new compound, Akwaton, against bacterial spores that attach to surfaces and are difficult to destroy...

The Brains Of People With Schizophrenia May Attempt To Heal From The Disease

Date: Aug-09-2012
New Australian research shows that the brains of people with schizophrenia may attempt to repair damage caused by the disease, in another example of the adult brain's capacity to change and grow. Prof Cyndi Shannon Weickert, Dr Dipesh Joshi and colleagues from Neuroscience Research Australia studied the brains of people with schizophrenia and focussed on one of the hardest-hit regions, the orbitofrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain involved in regulating emotional and social behaviour...

Gene Defects Identified That Affect How The Brain Responds To Startling Events, Sometimes With Fatal Consequences

Date: Aug-09-2012
Two studies published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry identify genetic mutations that play important roles in the condition commonly referred to as startle disease. Startle disease is characterized by an exaggerated response to noise and touch, which can interfere with breathing, cause catastrophic falls and even result in death. The newly identified genetic mutations affect how the signaling molecule glycine, which is responsible for sending messages between nerve cells, is both moved around and used in these cells...

Recently Diagnosed Diabetes Patients Of Normal Weight Have Higher Death Risk

Date: Aug-08-2012
According to a new study published in JAMA, individuals who are normal weight when diagnosed with diabetes have higher rates of death than individuals who are overweight or obese at the time of diagnosis. The researchers explain: "Type 2 diabetes in normal-weight adults is an understudied representation of the metabolically obese normal-weight phenotype that has become increasingly common over time...

"Pancreas In A Dish" Will Show How Pancreatic Cancer Forms

Date: Aug-08-2012
A tiny, living 3-D organ model of pancreatic ducts has been created by researchers in Toronto to help them understand pancreatic cancer, which is one of the deadliest yet least understood of all cancers. This new model could lead to the discovery of new ways to detect and treat pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer unfortunately has a very low survival rate with only about 6% of patients surviving 5 years after their diagnosis. This year in Canada, an estimated 4,600 people will be diagnosed with this type of cancer and 4,300 will die from of it...

Blood Brain Vessel Abnormalities In Pregnancy - High Risk Of Bleeding

Date: Aug-08-2012
Neurosurgeons have long suspected that pregnancy is an important risk factor for bleeding from arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) in the brain, but now their beliefs are supported by a new study published in the August edition of Neurosurgery, which reveals that the risk of pregnant women with AVMs sustaining a rupture and bleeding during pregnancy is a significant 8% higher to that of non-pregnant women. AVMs are tangled complexes of interconnected arteries and veins that are prone to rupture and bleeding, which can lead serious disability or death...

Cataracts Risk Associated WIth Statins

Date: Aug-08-2012
A new study, appearing in the August issue of Optometry and Vision Science , has found that patients might have an increased risk of developing age-related cataracts if they use cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.  Carolyn M. Machan, OD, and colleagues of University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, found that people with type 2 diabetes also have an additional risk of cataracts similar to statin users. However, more research is necessary in order to have better knowledge on the true nature of the association...