Health News

Bevacizumab Slows Progression Of Metastatic Breast Cancer But Has No Impact On Survival

Date: Jul-12-2012
The cancer drug bevacizumab (Avastin®) offers only a modest benefit in delaying disease progression in patients with advanced stage breast cancer, according to a systematic review by Cochrane researchers. The researchers assessed the efficacy of bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy, an established cancer treatment in this indication, and found no overall survival benefit when adding bevacizumab to chemotherapy. Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death among women...

Studying The Cause Of HIV-Associated Dementia

Date: Jul-12-2012
Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center appear to have solved the mystery of why some patients infected with HIV, who are using antiretroviral therapy and show no signs of AIDS, develop serious depression as well as profound problems with memory, learning, and motor function. The finding might also provide a way to test people with HIV to determine their risk for developing dementia...

Computer Model Could Aid Cyberwarfare, Conservation, Disease Prevention

Date: Jul-12-2012
Computer networks are the battlefields in cyberwarfare, as exemplified by the United States' recent use of computer viruses to attack Iran's nuclear program. A computer model developed at the University of Missouri could help military strategists devise the most damaging cyber attacks as well as guard America's critical infrastructure. The model also could benefit other projects involving interconnected groups, such as restoring ecosystems, halting disease epidemics and stopping smugglers...

Agencies Place Unqualified, Possibly Criminal Caregivers In Homes Of Vulnerable Seniors

Date: Jul-12-2012
If you hire a caregiver from an agency for an elderly family member, you might assume the person had undergone a thorough criminal background check and drug testing, was experienced and trained for the job. You'd be wrong in many cases, according to new Northwestern Medicine research...

For Anemia Prevention During Pregnancy, Iron Supplements Need Not Be Taken Every Day

Date: Jul-12-2012
Taking iron supplements one to three times a week instead of every day is just as effective at preventing anaemia in pregnant women, according to the findings of a new Cochrane systematic review. The authors of the review also showed that women experienced fewer side effects when taking iron supplements intermittently rather than daily. Lack of iron can cause anaemia in pregnant women, potentially increasing the risk of complications at delivery. It may also be harmful to their babies, through increased risk of low birth weight and even delayed growth and development later in life...

New Mechanism That Might Promote Cancer's Growth And Spread In The Body Revealed By Study

Date: Jul-12-2012
Tiny vesicles released by tumors cells are taken up by healthy immune cells, causing the immune cells to discharge chemicals that foster cancer-cell growth and spread, according to a study by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James) and at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. The study uses lung cancer cells to show that the vesicles contain potent regulatory molecules called microRNA, and that the uptake of these molecules by immune cells alters their behavior...

New Genetic Cause Identified For Chronic Kidney Disease

Date: Jul-12-2012
A new single-gene cause of chronic kidney disease has been discovered that implicates a disease mechanism not previously believed to be related to the disease, according to new research from the University of Michigan. The research was published in the journal Nature Genetics. "In developed countries, the frequency of chronic kidney disease is continually increasing for unknown reasons. The disease is a major health burden," says Friedhelm Hildebrandt, M.D., the paper's senior author and professor of pediatrics and of human genetics at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital...

Health Risks Higher For Police Officers Due To Stress

Date: Jul-12-2012
The daily psychological stresses that police officers experience in their work put them at significantly higher risk than the general population for a host of long-term physical and mental health effects. That's the overall finding of a major scientific study of the Buffalo Police Department called Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) conducted over five years by a University at Buffalo researcher...

Racial Disparities In Infant Mortality

Date: Jul-12-2012
Improving access to health care for minority women of childbearing age could improve pregnancy outcomes and reduce racial differences in infant mortality, according to an article in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women's Health website*. Infant mortality rates for non-Hispanic blacks and other minorities are much higher than for non-Hispanic whites. Better preconception heath care for women is a promising strategy for reducing racial disparities in reproductive health outcomes...

Potential New Treatment For Metastatic Colon Cancer

Date: Jul-12-2012
How does a tumor cell set up a signaling pathway in order to metastasize? Scientists at Technische Universitat Munchen's (TUM) Klinikum rechts der Isar and Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen have made a significant discovery in this area by studying colon cancer. They have learned that the tumor cells release certain proteins known as chemokines. In the case of metastatic colon cancer cells, the chemokine concerned is CCL2. The CCL2 chemokine docks on to the cells of the inner blood vessel walls (endothelial cells) and activates the corresponding receptor (CCR2 receptor)...