Health News

Predicting Response To New Treatments In Colon Cancer

Date: May-22-2012
The Stem Cells and Cancer Research Group headed by Dr Hector G. Palmer at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) has identified the molecular mechanisms that determine patients' response to certain drugs used in clinical trials for colon cancer treatment. The study led by VHIO also benefited from the collaboration with Professor Alberto Munoz´s laboratory at the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomedicas Alberto Sols, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IIB-CSIC-Madrid). Published in Nature Medicine, this work identifies biomarkers that predict response to treatment and...

Glucose-Sensing Microbeads Created By Engineers Using Droplet Microfluidics

Date: May-22-2012
Cell cultures need glucose for energy, but too much sugar can create a diabetic-like environment in which cell proteins undergo unwanted structural changes. Standard methods to monitor glucose levels require invasive and time-consuming handling of the cell culture. A team of engineers at the National University of Singapore and Singapore's Institute of Microelectronics is developing an alternative approach that takes advantage of new microfluidic techniques. In a continuous and controlled process, the researchers created small droplets of polymer that encapsulated pairs of fluorescing...

Statins Protect From Cancer In Heart Transplant Patients

Date: May-22-2012
Researchers presented a study at the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology's 2012 Heart Failure Congress in Belgrade, Serbia, which revealed that statins are linked to preventing cancer and reduce all-cause mortality risk in heart transplant recipients independent of cholesterol levels. Statins are a class of immunomodulatory drugs used to lower cholesterol levels. Researchers examined the impact of statin therapy on the occurrence of cancer and all-cause mortality in heart transplant recipients, given that cancer is the leading cause of death after heart...

Doctors Test Milk Thistle To Counter Amanitin Toxins In The Liver Following 4 Acute Mushroom Poisonings In 2 Weeks

Date: May-22-2012
On September 12, 2011, a Springfield, Virginia man arrived at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital (MGUH) in the early stages of liver failure. The man had mistakenly eaten poisonous mushrooms, handpicked from his yard. He would be the first of four patients in the course of two weeks to seek treatment at MGUH for mushroom (amanitin) poisoning. Their clinical course, management, and outcomes were presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) in San Diego, the largest international gathering of physicians and researchers in the field of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal...

Toxicity Study On Primates Of Quantum Dots Is Good News For Nanomedicine

Date: May-22-2012
Medical uses for quantum dots - tiny luminescent crystals - could include image-guided surgery, light-activated therapies and sensitive diagnostic tests. A pioneering study to gauge the toxicity of quantum dots in primates has found the tiny crystals to be safe over a one-year period, a hopeful outcome for doctors and scientists seeking new ways to battle diseases like cancer through nanomedicine. The research, which appears in Nature Nanotechnology online, is likely the first to test the safety of quantum dots in primates. In the study, scientists found that four rhesus monkeys injected with...

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Can Be Managed Successfully In The Primary Care Setting

Date: May-22-2012
Patients with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can be successfully managed in a primary care setting by appropriately trained primary care physicians (PCPs) and community-based nurses, according to Australian researchers. "With the rise in demand and growing waiting lists for sleep physician consultation and laboratory-based sleep services, there has been increasing interest in development of ambulatory strategies for the diagnosis and management of OSA involving home sleep monitoring and auto-titrating continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)," said lead author Ching Li...

Risk Factors For An Exacerbation-Prone Asthma Phenotype

Date: May-22-2012
A number of specific risk factors are associated with an exacerbation-prone phenotype of severe asthma, according to a new study from researchers in Sweden. The results were presented at the ATS 2012 International Conference in San Francisco. "Acute exacerbations are a major source of morbidity and mortality in asthma," said lead author Maciek Kupczyk, MD, PhD, a researcher at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm "In children, the costs of asthma care are three times higher in exacerbators as compared to those patients who did not experience any attacks. Exacerbations are a prominent feature...

Three-Drug Combo May Endanger Patients With Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Date: May-22-2012
A combination of three drugs used worldwide as the standard of care for a serious lung disease puts patients in danger of death or hospitalization, and should not be used together to treat the disease, called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, according to the surprising results of a rigorous independent study. The study, which appears online in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society, was conducted by IPF Clinical Research Network, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes...

New Target Identified In The Rheumatoid Arthritis Battle

Date: May-22-2012
A new study led by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery identifies the mechanism by which a cell signaling pathway contributes to the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In addition, the study provides evidence that drugs under development for diseases such as cancer could potentially be used to treat RA. Rheumatoid arthritis, a systemic inflammatory autoimmune disease that can be crippling, impacts over a million adults in the United States. "We uncovered a novel mechanism by which the Notch pathway could contribute to RA, said Xiaoyu Hu, M.D., Ph.D., a research scientist at...

Pediatric Kidney And Brain Tumors May Be Reduced By Folic Acid

Date: May-22-2012
Folic Acid Main Category: Cancer / Oncology Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Nutrition / Diet Article Date: 22 May 2012 - 0:00 PDT  email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions    rate article  Current ratings for: 'Pediatric Kidney And Brain Tumors May Be Reduced By Folic Acid' Patient / Public: 4 (1 votes) Healthcare Prof: Folic acid fortification of foods may reduce the incidence of the most common type of kidney cancer and a type of brain tumors in children, finds a new study by Kimberly J. Johnson, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown...