Health News

Improper Disinfection Of Reusable Medical Device Identified As Cause Of Sepsis Outbreak At L.A. County Dialysis Center

Date: Jun-06-2012
Three patients with chronic kidney failure treated at a dialysis center in Los Angeles County, California contracted a bacterial infection in the blood (sepsis) caused by improper cleaning and disinfection of a reusable medical device called a dialyzer - an artificial kidney...

Geriatric Facility Bathes Patients Daily With Antiseptic Cloths, Reducing MRSA Incidence

Date: Jun-06-2012
The introduction of daily bathing with disposable, germ-killing cloths resulted in a sustained, significant decrease in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) incidence at a Canadian geriatric facility, according to a poster presented at the 39th Annual Educational Conference and International Meeting of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)...

Guilt In Depression Has Different Brain Response, Suggesting Freud Was Right

Date: Jun-06-2012
The brains of people with depression, even in remission, respond differently to feelings of guilt, suggesting Freud was right, said researchers from the University of Manchester in the UK who compared magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of people with a history of depression to those of people who had never had it. If further tests prove successful, they suggest the finding could lead to the first brain scan marker for future risk of depression...

Low Mass Enables Mosquitoes To Fly In Rain

Date: Jun-06-2012
The mosquito is possibly summer's biggest nuisance. Sprays, pesticides, citronella candles, bug zappers - nothing seems to totally deter the blood-sucking insect. And neither can rain apparently. Even though a single raindrop can weigh 50 times more than a mosquito, the insect is still able to fly through a downpour. Georgia Tech researchers used high-speed videography to determine how this is possible. They found the mosquito's strong exoskeleton and low mass render it impervious to falling raindrops...

Advanced Prostate Cancer Patients Benefit From New Drug Zytiga

Date: Jun-06-2012
A new medication proved effective in slowing the spread of metastatic prostate cancer, while helping to maintain the quality of life, in patients with advanced disease. The phase 3 study was unblinded midway, allowing patients receiving the placebo to instead take the drug because of the favorable results. The study is the first randomized clinical trial to document expanded benefits among a particular group of prostate cancer patients in whom the disease had spread...

Prozac Can Prevent Adolescent Drug Abuse

Date: Jun-06-2012
Treating adolescents for major depression can also reduce their chances of abusing drugs later on, a secondary benefit found in a five-year study of nearly 200 youths at 11 sites across the United States. Only 10 percent of 192 adolescents whose depression receded after 12 weeks of treatment later abused drugs, compared to 25 percent of those for whom treatment did not work, according to research led by John Curry, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University...

Metabolic Imaging For Esophageal Cancer Patients Can Increase Life Expectancy

Date: Jun-06-2012
For those with esophageal cancer, initial staging of the disease is of particular importance as it determines whether to opt for a curative treatment or palliative treatment. Research presented in the June issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine shows that physicians using positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) can discern incremental staging information about the cancer, which can significantly impact management plans. In 2012, an estimated 17,500 people will be diagnosed with esophageal cancer and 15,000 will die from the disease...

New Technique To Study Protein Misfolding Yields Insights Into Parkinson's Disease

Date: Jun-06-2012
Researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) used an innovative technique to examine chemical interactions that are implicated in Parkinson's Disease. The work details how a protein called alpha-synuclein interacting with the brain chemical dopamine can lead to protein misfolding and neuronal death. Parkinson's Disease is a neurodegenerative disease which results in loss of motor control and cognitive function. Although the cause isn't known precisely, the disease involves the death of brain cells that produce dopamine, a chemical important in neuronal signaling...

Emphysema Patients May Benefit From Cell Transplantation Of Own Lung Stem Cells

Date: Jun-06-2012
When autologous (self-donated) lung-derived mensenchymal stem cells (LMSCs) were transplanted endoscopically into 13 adult female sheep modeled with emphysema, post-transplant evaluation showed evidence of tissue regeneration with increased blood perfusion and extra cellular matrix content. Researchers concluded that their approach could represent a practical alternative to conventional stem cell-based therapy for treating emphysema. The study is published in Cell Transplantation (21:1), now freely available on-line...

Fewer Side Effects Likely With Investigational Diabetes Drug

Date: Jun-06-2012
Drugs for type 2 diabetes can contribute to weight gain, bone fractures and cardiovascular problems, but in mice, an investigational drug appears to improve insulin sensitivity without those troublesome side effects, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown. The experimental medicine works through a different pathway, which could provide additional molecular targets for treating insulin resistance and diabetes. The new study appears online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry...