Health News

Data From New Drug Trial Offers Prospect For Enhanced Quality Of Life For Children With Late Stage Brain Tumors

Date: Jun-29-2012
Results of Phase I/II study of Xerecept® in Pediatric Patients with Peritumoral Cerebral Edema presented at International Symposium for Pediatric Neuro-Oncology in Toronto, Canada Data presented today by Dr. Stewart Goldman M.D of the Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago at the International Symposium for Pediatric Neuro-Oncology being held in Toronto, Canada showed encouraging positive results from a Phase I/II study of Xerecept in Pediatric Patients with Peritumoral Cerebral Edema (brain tumors)...

PAHO Highlights Countries' Progress, Challenges In Expanding Access To HIV Treatment

Date: Jun-29-2012
A number of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean - including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua and Uruguay - have made major progress in expanding the availability of antiretroviral treatment (ART) for people with HIV, saving the lives of thousands and preventing many new infections, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) reports in a series of country-specific data analyses published this week...

Increased Mortality Risk For The Unemployed In The US

Date: Jun-29-2012
Employment policy is also health policy according to a University of British Columbia study that found that workers experienced higher mortality rates if they didn't have access to social protections like employment insurance and unemployment benefits. Researchers with the Human Early Learning Partnership and the School of Population and Public Health at UBC found that low and medium-skilled workers in the United States are at a greater risk of death if they lose their job than their German counterparts, who have access to more robust employment protections and insurance...

Body's Own Response Helps TB Bacteria Survive In Mouse Model

Date: Jun-29-2012
Inhibiting a key immune response in mice during initial multi-drug treatment for tuberculosis could - paradoxically - shorten treatment time for the highly contagious lung infection according to new research from Johns Hopkins Children's Center and the Center for TB Research. Shorter duration of drug therapy is key, researchers say, to increase treatment compliance for the growing global health threat posed by the disease...

Survival In Hodgkin Lymphoma Patients Dramatically Improved By New Drug

Date: Jun-29-2012
A new cancer drug with remarkably few side effects is dramatically improving survival in Hodgkin lymphoma patients who fail other treatments and are nearly out of options. Loyola University Medical Center oncologist Scott E. Smith, MD, PhD presented survival data for the drug, brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris®), at the 17th Congress of the European Hematology Association. Smith is director of Loyola's Hematological Malignancies Research Program. The multi-center study included 102 Hodgkin lymphoma patients who had relapsed after stem cell transplants...

Epilepsy Monotherapy Zonegran(R) (Zonisamide) Supported By Phase III Data

Date: Jun-29-2012
New monotherapy options are needed as up to a third of epilepsy patients remain uncontrolled[1] Leading international journal, The Lancet Neurology, today published positive results from a new pivotal Phase III Zonegran(R) (zonisamide) monotherapy study showing that once-daily zonisamide is non-inferior to controlled-release carbamazepine (Tegretol(R) retard) and could prove to be a useful initial monotherapy for newly diagnosed partial onset epilepsy patients[2] Carbamazepine is the most well-established monotherapy comparator for patients newly diagnosed with part...

Children Involved In The Kitchen More Likely To Make Healthy Food Choices

Date: Jun-29-2012
Getting kids to pass up junk food in favour of healthier fruits and veggies has led to many a mealtime meltdown for parents everywhere. Now, researchers from the University of Alberta offer a simple solution: give them an apron. A provincewide survey of Grade 5 students in Alberta suggests the best way to get your child to eat healthier foods - and actually enjoy them - is to have them help with meal preparation...

When Breathing Is Impaired, Injecting Oxygen Microparticles Into A Vein Could Save Lives

Date: Jun-29-2012
Patients unable to breathe because of acute lung failure or an obstructed airway need another way to get oxygen to their blood - and fast - to avoid cardiac arrest and brain injury. A team led by researchers at Boston Children's Hospital has designed tiny, gas-filled microparticles that can be injected directly into the bloodstream to quickly oxygenate the blood. The microparticles consist of a single layer of lipids (fatty molecules) that surround a tiny pocket of oxygen gas, and are delivered in a liquid solution...

Millions Could Be Saved In Prescription Drug Costs, New Research Finds

Date: Jun-29-2012
Taxpayers could save millions of dollars if hospitals and provincial governments harmonized their prescription drug plans, new research suggests. Hospitals in Canada manage their formularies - the list of generic and brand-name drugs they dispense - independently. Yet many patients are discharged on medications they will have to purchase through publicly funded drug benefits programs. Dr. Chaim Bell, a physician and researcher at St...

Immune Response To Heart Attack Worsens Atherosclerosis, Increases Future Risk

Date: Jun-29-2012
A heart attack doesn't just damage heart muscle tissue by cutting off its blood supply, it also sets off an inflammatory cascade that worsens underlying atherosclerosis, actively increasing the risk for a future heart attack. These findings from a study receiving advance online publication in Nature suggest an important new therapeutic strategy for preventing heart attacks and strokes, both of which are caused when atherosclerotic plaques rupture and block important blood vessels...