Health News

Parents Should Be Aware Of Life-Threatening Accidental Acetaminophen Overdosing In Children

Date: Jun-05-2012
Acetaminophen, a widely available over-the-counter medication, can cause liver toxicity in children if doses are exceeded, and more public education is needed to warn of potential adverse effects, states an article published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). "Acetaminophen overdose is a major cause of acute liver failure and is the most common identifiable cause of acute liver failure in children," writes Dr. Rod Lim, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre, London, Ontario, with coauthors...

Greening Operating Rooms Benefit The Bottom Line And The Environment

Date: Jun-05-2012
Efforts to "green" operating rooms can result in cost savings for hospitals and reduce the environmental impact without compromising patient care, argues an analysis published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). "The operating room is a disproportionate contributor to health care waste and represents a high-yield target for change," writes Dr. Yoan Kagoma, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario, with coauthors...

Lapatinib And Pazopanib Combo Not Found To Improve Outcomes For Patients With Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Date: Jun-05-2012
Inflammatory breast cancer is a very aggressive type of cancer associated with early metastasis and poor survival rates, and the prognosis is even worse for patients with tumors expressing the ErbB2 receptor. The ErbB2-inhibiting drug lapatinib can slow the spread of cancer cells in individuals with advanced breast cancer who have already tried other chemotherapy medications. Treating these patients with a combination of drugs has the potential to improve outcomes compared to treatment with lapatinib alone, but it has not been clear whether the additional benefits outweigh the risks...

Consumers Would Benefit From More Guidance About Fish Consumption Choices

Date: Jun-05-2012
In a first-of-its kind summary of fish consumption choices, a team of researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital has determined that consumers are not getting all the information they need to make informed decisions about fish consumption. Their research is published in Environmental Health Perspectives...

Prototype Device Developed That Translates Sign Language

Date: Jun-05-2012
Too often, communication barriers exist between those who can hear and those who cannot. Sign language has helped bridge such gaps, but many people are still not fluent in its motions and hand shapes. Thanks to a group of University of Houston students, the hearing impaired may soon have an easier time communicating with those who do not understand sign language...

A Rare Complication Of Spinal Anesthesia May Be Addressed By Magnetized "Ferrofluids"

Date: Jun-05-2012
An simple technique using local anesthetic mixed with magnetized "ferrofluids" may provide a new approach to preventing a rare but serious complication of spinal anesthesia, reports the June issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS). With further research, the magnet technique may provide a second means - in addition to gravity - of preventing "high spinal block," which occurs when spinal anesthetics spread to the upper portions of the spinal cord. The preliminary studies were performed by Dr Robert H...

News From The Journal Of Clinical Investigation

Date: Jun-05-2012
METABOLISM Improving obesity-induced insulin sensitivity In recent years, a growing body of evidence has linked inflammation to the development of insulin resistance. In insulin resistance, the hormone insulin is less effective in promoting glucose uptake from the bloodstream into other tissues. Obesity is a major factor that contributes to insulin resistance, which can eventually lead to type 2 diabetes. Previous studies have shown that proinflammatory molecules found in fat tissue decreases sensitivity of tissues to insulin...

Overcoming Drug Resistance In Cancer

Date: Jun-05-2012
Overactive epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling has been linked to the development of cancer. Several drug therapies have been developed to treat these EGFR-associated cancers; however, many patients have developed resistance to these drugs and are therefore no longer responsive to drug treatment...

Clinical Trial Design Supports Original Accelerated Approval Of Sunitinib For GIST

Date: Jun-05-2012
Patients benefitted from an important design element in the pivotal phase III clinical trial that led to Food and Drug Administration and worldwide regulatory approval of sunitinib for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors resistant to the only other available therapy, according to a study in /iClinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. "The importance of these results cannot be understated," said George D. Demetri, M.D...

In Whole-Brain Circuit Mapping Project, Neuroscientists Have Reached A Major Milestone

Date: Jun-05-2012
Neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) reached an important milestone today, publicly releasing the first installment out of 500 terabytes of data so far collected in their pathbreaking project to construct the first whole-brain wiring diagram of a vertebrate brain, that of the mouse. The data consist of gigapixel images (each close to 1 billion pixels) of whole-brain sections that can be zoomed to show individual neurons and their processes, providing a "virtual microscope...