Health News

Physicians May Not Always Report Brain Cancer Patients Unfit To Drive

Date: Jun-07-2012
Ontario doctors are legally required to report patients they consider medically unfit to drive to the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) - yet they may not be doing it. A new study from Lawson Health Research Institute shows doctors treating patients with brain cancer are unclear about how and when to assess and report a patient's ability to drive. Brain tumours can compromise a patient's ability to safely operate a motor vehicle. The Canadian Medical Association has drafted guidelines to help physicians assess these risks. But according to Dr...

Researcher Finds Link Between Brain Signaling And Renal Function

Date: Jun-07-2012
Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researchers recently uncovered a brain signaling pathway responsible for regulating the renal excretion of sodium. The findings appear in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. Hypertension, or chronic high blood pressure, affects one-third of adults, significantly increasing cardiovascular risk and mortality. Approximately 50 percent of hypertensive patients are salt-sensitive and exhibit an increase in blood pressure following salt-intake...

Many Kidney Cancer Patients Benefit From New Immune Therapy

Date: Jun-07-2012
An antibody that helps a person's own immune system battle cancer cells shows increasing promise in reducing tumors in patients with advanced kidney cancer, according to researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center...

New Frontline Treatment Regimen For Multiple Myeloma

Date: Jun-07-2012
Results from a study published online in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), demonstrate that inclusion of carfilzomib, a novel targeted therapy for multiple myeloma, in combination with lenalidomide and low-dose dexamethasone, resulted in complete or near complete remission in a majority of patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. Multiple myeloma is cancer of the plasma cells, the white blood cells in the bone marrow that normally produce infection-fighting antibodies...

Commentary By American Dental Association President Calls For 'new Framework For Prevention Of Oral Disease'

Date: Jun-07-2012
The dental profession needs to build a stronger connection between oral health and general health - not only for individual patients, but also at the community level, according to the special June issue of The Journal of Evidence-Based Dental Practice (JEBDP), the foremost publication of information about evidence-based dental practice, published by Elsevier. The special issue follows the usual format of JEBDP, comprising expert reviews and analyses of the scientific evidence on specific dental procedures...

Coffee Linked To Alzheimer's Disease Avoidance

Date: Jun-07-2012
Those cups of coffee that you drink every day to keep alert appear to have an extra perk - especially if you're an older adult. A recent study monitoring the memory and thinking processes of people older than 65 found that all those with higher blood caffeine levels avoided the onset of Alzheimer's disease in the two-to-four years of study follow-up. Moreover, coffee appeared to be the major or only source of caffeine for these individuals. Researchers from the University of South Florida (www.usf...

New Multitarget Molecule Acts Simultaneously On Several Targets In The Brain, Boosts Cognitive Function In Alzheimer's Disease

Date: Jun-07-2012
Researchers at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Barcelona (UB) have developed a multitarget molecule, ASS234, which according to the results of in vitro studies conducted, inhibits the aggregation of the beta-amyloid protein, involved in Alzheimer's disease. At the same time, ASS234 stimulates the cholinergic and monoaminergic transmission, key factors involved in the cognitive function...

Functional Brain Impairment Likely Responsible For Post-Stroke Depression

Date: Jun-07-2012
Researchers studying stroke patients have found a strong association between impairments in a network of the brain involved in emotional regulation and the severity of post-stroke depression. Results of the study are published online in the journal Radiology. "A third of patients surviving a stroke experience post-stroke depression (PSD)," said lead researcher Igor Sibon, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurology at the University of Bordeaux in Bordeaux, France...

Malaria Control And Vaccine Development Aided By New Technology

Date: Jun-07-2012
A new technique that accurately determines the risk of infants in endemic countries developing clinical malaria could provide a valuable tool for evaluating new malaria prevention strategies and vaccines. The technique could even help to understand how anti-malarial vaccine and treatment strategies act to reduce malaria, say researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, University of Basel and the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research...

A Role In Lou Gehrig's Disease Likely Played By The Immune System, Inflammation

Date: Jun-07-2012
In an early study, UCLA researchers found that the immune cells of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, may play a role in damaging the neurons in the spinal cord. ALS is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. Specifically, the team found that inflammation instigated by the immune system in ALS can trigger macrophages - cells responsible for gobbling up waste products in the brain and body - to also ingest healthy neurons...