Health News

Menopausal Hormone Therapy Study - What We Have Learned 10 Years On

Date: May-23-2012
In July 2002 the publication of the first Women's Health Initiative (WHI) report caused a dramatic drop in Menopausal Hormone Therapy (HT ) use throughout the world. Now a major reappraisal by international experts, published as a series of articles in the peer-reviewed journal Climacteric (the official journal of the International Menopause Society), shows how the evidence has changed over the last 10 years, and supports a return to a "rational use of HT, initiated near the menopause". The reappraisal has been carried out by some of the world's leading experts in the field, including...

Short 'Tarantula' Therapy Helps People With Spider Phobia

Date: May-23-2012
A single brief therapy session for adults with a lifelong debilitating spider phobia resulted in lasting changes to the brain's response to fear. The therapy was so successful, the adults were able to touch or hold a tarantula in their bare hands six months after the treatment, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study. This is the first study to document the immediate and long-term brain changes after treatment and to illustrate how the brain reorganizes long-term to reduce fear as a result of the therapy. The findings show the lasting effectiveness of short exposure therapy for a phobia and...

Sigmoidoscopy Reduces Colorectal Cancer Rates

Date: May-23-2012
Flexible sigmoidoscopy, a screening test for colorectal cancer that is less invasive and has fewer side effects than colonoscopy, is effective in reducing the rates of new cases and deaths due to colorectal cancer, according to research sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. In a study that spanned almost 20 years, researchers found that overall colorectal cancer mortality (deaths) was reduced by 26 percent and incidence (new cases) was reduced by 21 percent as a result of screening with sigmoidoscopy. These results appeared online, ahead of...

Antibodies Against Multiple Flu Strains Produced By Pandemic 2009 H1N1 Vaccination

Date: May-23-2012
The pandemic 2009 H1N1 vaccine can generate antibodies in vaccinated individuals not only against the H1N1 virus, but also against other influenza virus strains including H5N1 and H3N2. This discovery adds an important new dimension to the finding last year that people infected with pandemic 2009 H1N1 virus produced high levels of antibodies that were broadly cross-reactive against a variety of flu strains. Development of a "universal" influenza vaccine that protects against multiple viral subtypes has long been the goal of immunologists working to overcome the requirement for a new vaccine...

Prostate Growth May Be Slowed By Statins

Date: May-23-2012
Statins drugs prescribed to treat high cholesterol may also work to slow prostate growth in men who have elevated PSA levels, according to an analysis led by researchers at Duke University Medical Center. The finding, presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association, provides additional insight into the effects of cholesterol-lowing drugs such as statins on the prostate. Previous studies at Duke and elsewhere had found a link between statins and lower levels of PSA, a protein produced by the prostate that is often elevated by cancer or by non-lethal prostatic diseases. In...

New Cancer Therapies Likely Following 'Orphan' Sleep Drug Findings

Date: May-23-2012
An inexpensive "orphan drug" used to treat sleep disorders appears to be a potent inhibitor of cancer cells, according to a new study led by scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Their novel approach, using groundbreaking technology that allows rapid analysis of the genome, has broad implications for the development of safer, more-effective cancer therapies. The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A research team led by corresponding author Carla Grandori, M.D., Ph.D., an investigator in the Hutchinson Center's Human Biology Division,...

Levels Of Sex Hormones Linked To Breast Cancer Risk Reduced By Moderate Weight Loss

Date: May-23-2012
Even a moderate amount of weight loss can significantly reduce levels of circulating estrogens that are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center - the first randomized, controlled clinical trial to test the effects of weight loss on sex hormones in overweight and obese postmenopausal women, a group at elevated risk for breast cancer. The findings by Anne McTiernan, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues are published online ahead of print in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a publication of the American Society of...

Cancer's 'Field Effect' Enables Earlier Detection Of Pancreatic Cancer During Routine Endoscopy

Date: May-23-2012
By simply shining a tiny light within the small intestine, close to that organ's junction with the pancreas, physicians at Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida have been able to detect pancreatic cancer 100 percent of the time in a small study. The light, attached to a probe, measures changes in cells and blood vessels in the small intestine produced by a growing cancer in the adjoining pancreas. This minimally invasive technique, called Polarization Gating Spectroscopy, will now be tested in a much larger international clinical trial led by the Mayo Clinic researchers. The preliminary study...

Men With Slower Electrical Impulses Through Heart At Greater Risk Of Sudden Cardiac Death

Date: May-23-2012
Men whose electrical impulses take a few milliseconds longer to travel through the lower chambers of the heart have an increased risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD), according to research reported in Circulation, an American Heart Association journal. An electrocardiogram (ECG) measures electrical impulses, or waves, that travel through the heart and cause it to pump blood through its four chambers. The waves have distinct patterns and are labeled on the ECG printout alphabetically from P to T. The electrical waves traveling through the lower chambers (ventricles) are shown on the ECG as the...

How A Drug-Lead Compound Kills Cancer Cells By 'Starving' Them Of Energy, Preventing Tumor Formation

Date: May-23-2012
A team of scientists from the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Department of Biological Sciences and Mechanobiology Institute have discovered how a drug-lead compound - a compound that is undergoing preclinical trials as a potential drug - can deprive cancer cells of energy and stop them from growing into a tumour. This drug-lead compound is named BPTES. This is the first time a research group has provided evidence showing how a drug-lead compound suppresses tumour formation. Building on the new findings, the NUS team also derived positive results for a novel dual-drug treatment regime...