Health News

Patients' Health Threatened By Overdiagnosis

Date: May-30-2012
In a report published in British Medical Journal (BMJ) Ray Moynihan, Senior Research Fellow at Bond University in Australia, highlights the significant threats that overdiagnosis poses to human health. The report comes after an international conference "Preventing Overdiagnosis" was announced for September, 2013 in the United States. The conference will be hosted by The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, in partnership with the BMJ, Consumer Reports, and Bond University, Australia...

Huge Childhood Cancer DNA Catalogue Released

Date: May-30-2012
By releasing a huge catalogue of complete DNA data on childhood cancers to the global scientific community, a team at St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, in the US, hopes to speed up progress in finding causes and new treatments for cancer and other diseases. The catalogue contains whole genome sequences, essentially complete DNA maps, from 260 child cancer patients. There are 520 sequences in all, comprising matched sets of normal and tumor tissue samples...

Smokers Make OK Lung Donors

Date: May-30-2012
A slightly controversial and ironic issue hits the Lancet today, with research showing that patients receiving lung transplants from smokers who have died, in general, do better than those waiting for lungs donations from non-smokers. Lead author Professor Robert Bonser, of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham and University of Birmingham, UK confirmed the announcement: "Our data show that patients awaiting lung transplantation in the UK are likely to survive longer if they are willing to accept lungs from any suitable donor, irrespective of smoking history...

Anti-Psychotic Drug For Schizophrenia May Eliminate Cancer Stem Cells

Date: May-30-2012
Scientists have discovered that an anti-psychotic drug used to treat schizophrenia seems to eliminate cancer stem cells by helping them change into less threatening cell types. The finding, published in the journal Cell Press, was made after screening hundreds of compounds in search of those that would selectively inhibit human cancer stem cells. The discovery may be evaluated in a clinical trial in the very near future. Leading author, Mickie Bhatia, from McMaster University declared: "You have to find something that's truly selective for cancer stem cells...

Cellular Particles Fuse With Organs Establishing An Environment Ripe For The Spread Of Cancer

Date: May-30-2012
Cancer researchers have known for well over a century that different tumor types spread only to specific, preferred organs. But no one has been able to determine the mechanisms of organ specific metastasis, the so-called "soil and seed" theory of 1889. New details that could help shed light on this hypothesis have been provided by a team of researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and their collaborators, proposing a new mechanism controlling cancer metastasis that offers fresh diagnostic and treatment potential...

Researchers Shed Light On Genetic Disorders That Impair Childhood Growth And Development

Date: May-30-2012
Researchers studying rare genetic disorders have uncovered insights into those diseases in biological structures that regulate chromosomes when cells divide. Focusing on the cohesin complex, a group of proteins forming a bracelet that encircles chromosome pairs, scientists have discovered mutations that disrupt cohesin, causing a recently recognized class of diseases called cohesinopathies. "We are learning more about how these genetic abnormalities that affect cohesin play a role in human development," said study leader Matthew A. Deardorff, M.D., Ph.D...

Existing Diabetes Medication May Ease Damage Caused By Traumatic Brain Injury

Date: May-30-2012
Although the death toll is relatively low for people who suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI), it can have severe, life-long consequences for brain function. TBI can impair a patient's mental abilities, impact memory and behavior, and lead to dramatic personality changes. And long-term medical treatment carries a high economic cost. Now, in research commissioned by the United States Air Force, Prof. Chaim Pick of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Dr...

Gene Discovered Which Causes Rare Disease In Babies

Date: May-30-2012
A rare disease which often first presents in newborn babies has been traced to a novel genetic defect, scientists at Queen Mary, University of London have found. The research, published online in Nature Genetics discovered 20 distinct mutations in a specific gene found in patients with the rare adrenal disease, Familial Glucocorticoid Deficiency (FGD). The potentially fatal disease means affected children are unable to produce a hormone called cortisol which is essential for the body to cope with stress...

New Data Published From Genomics Research On Recurrent Hepatitis B Virus Integration

Date: May-30-2012
The Asian Cancer Research Group (ACRG) - an independent, not-for-profit company established by Eli Lilly and Company, Merck (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada) and Pfizer Inc. - in collaboration with BGI - the world's largest genomics organization - have announced the publication of results from a whole genome-wide study of recurrent hepatitis B virus (HBV) integration in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Nature Genetics...

Teach Body Image In Schools Say UK MPs

Date: May-30-2012
A cross-party group of UK Members of Parliament says body image lessons should be mandatory in schools to help kids deal with the pressure to conform to the unrealistic body ideals that the media, advertising, and celebrity culture bombards people with every day. A little girl of 6 asks her father, "Daddy, do I look fat?" A 15-year-old boy risks damaging his liver and kidneys by regularly taking steroids to boost his abs and pecs. A 12-year-old girl dreads going to school every day and determines never to put her hand up in class for fear of drawing attention to her looks...