Health News

A Surprising Culprit Behind Chemotherapy Resistance In Rare Cancer

Date: Jul-04-2012
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown how an aggressive form of multiple myeloma resists chemotherapy. Multiple myeloma is a rare cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow. Though the finding has no immediate benefit for patients, the scientists say it could help guide research into better treatments. The results appear online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. About 20 percent of patients with multiple myeloma have a specific genetic abnormality that is associated with a poor prognosis...

Aggressive Reactions Can Be Tempered By 'Self-Distancing'

Date: Jul-04-2012
A new study reveals a simple strategy that people can use to minimize how angry and aggressive they get when they are provoked by others. When someone makes you angry, try to pretend you're viewing the scene at a distance - in other words, you are an observer rather than a participant in this stressful situation. Then, from that distanced perspective, try to understand your feelings. Researchers call this strategy "self-distancing...

Coverage Of Terrorist Attacks On TV: Viewing Increases Pain Intensity

Date: Jul-04-2012
"Exposure to media coverage of terrorist missile attacks increases pain levels in people already suffering from chronic pain," according to a new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers. "Does War Hurt? Effects of Media Exposure After Missile Attacks on Chronic Pain," published in the online version of the Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, showed that exposure to the attacks through the media predicted an increase in pain intensity and in the sensory component of pain during the pre-post war period, but did not predict depression or anxiety...

Physician Compliance Of Reviewing Portal Images Improved By Electronic Medical Record

Date: Jul-04-2012
The use of an electronic medical record (EMR) for reviewing portal images dramatically improves compliance with timeliness and record keeping, according to a study in the July issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology. Portal images are used to verify the positioning of patients during daily radiation treatments to improve the accuracy of the radiation field placement, to reduce exposure to normal tissue and to deliver accurate dose to tumor volumes. "The benefits of the implementation and utilization of an EMR have been well documented...

In The War Against Bacterial Infections, Innate Immune System Protein Provides New Target

Date: Jul-04-2012
Research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists has identified a possible new approach to defeating bacterial infections by targeting an innate immune system component in a bid to invigorate the immune response. In this study, researchers demonstrated that the primary function of one of the innate immune molecules is to suppress inflammation, which in turn dampens the immune response to infections and other threats. Investigators showed the protein works by inhibiting two pathways that control production of specialized molecules that fight infections...

EyeTechCare Announces Preliminary Results For EyeMUST, A Multicenter Clinical Trial Of Its EyeOP1(R) Device For Treatment Of Glaucoma

Date: Jul-04-2012
Good efficacy and tolerance confirm pilot study results and will allow launch of novel ultrasound-based system in the fourth quarter 2012 EyeTechCare SA, which is developing non-invasive therapeutic medical devices using ultrasound technology, announces the preliminary results of EyeMUST, a multicenter study of the use of its EyeOP1(R) device in glaucoma. The study, launched in September 2011 was carried out on 60 patients in nine centers in France (Lille, Paris, Dijon, Lyon and Grenoble)...

Online Depression Fix Has Big Impact

Date: Jul-04-2012
Online depression therapy programs can have a positive impact on more than just depressive symptoms, a new study from The Australian National University reveals. Dr Lou Farrer, from the ANU Centre for Mental Health Research, part of the ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, trialled the effectiveness of online programs MoodGYM and BluePages with users of Lifeline's telephone crisis line. She found that the online programs had a positive influence across a range of problems - not just depression...

Depression Linked To More Rapid Progression From Kidney Disease To Kidney Failure

Date: Jul-04-2012
People with kidney disease who have symptoms of depression may be on the fast track to dialysis, hospitalization or death, according to a new study published in the July issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation. Researchers led by Hung-Chun Chen, MD, PhD of Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital in Taiwan, studied 428 participants with chronic kidney disease (CKD), 160 of whom were found to have depressive symptoms using the Beck Depression Inventory questionnaire...

New Way To Grow, Isolate Cancer Cells May Add Weapon Against Disease

Date: Jul-04-2012
The news a cancer patient most fears is that the disease has spread and become much more difficult to treat. A new method to isolate and grow the most dangerous cancer cells could enable new research into how cancer spreads and, ultimately, how to fight it. University of Illinois researchers, in collaboration with scientists at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, published their results in the journal Nature Materials...

Smoking Increases The Risk Of Ectopic Pregnancy

Date: Jul-04-2012
Cigarette smoke reduces the production of a Fallopian tube gene known as "BAD", which helps explain the link between smoking and ectopic pregnancy. The finding, from scientists led by Drs Andrew Horne and Colin Duncan at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Reproductive Health in Edinburgh, UK, was described at the annual meting of ESHRE (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) in Istanbul...