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Too Early To Promote Smell Test For Alzheimer's
Date: May-02-2012A study published online in The Laryngoscope reveals that current studies do not support the use of olfactory identification tests (smell tests) for predicting Alzheimer's dementia. Alzheimer's is a progressive disease that causes loss of brain function and is the most common cause of dementia. The disease is expected to double every 20 years through the year 2040. The study, conducted by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Clinical Scholars at the University of Michigan and the VA Center for Clinical Management Research, is the first systematic review of the quantity and quality of these...
Rural Obstetric Care Improves When Midwives Are Brought In
Date: May-02-2012A study published in this week's PLoS Medicine, reveals that maternal, newborn and child health has improved in Nigeria as a result of the Midwife Service Scheme. According to the team of Nigerian researchers from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency in Abuja, and the Federal Ministry of Health, the scheme encourages newly graduated, unemployed and retired midwives to work for one year in rural areas of Nigeria, in order to provide basic essential obstetric care. The primary care facilities where the midwives are posted to are also linked to a secondary health care facility that...
After Breast Lumpectomy Brachytherapy Linked To More Complications Than Whole-Breast Irradiation
Date: May-02-2012A study in the May 2 edition of JAMA reveals that older women with invasive breast cancer who were treated with brachytherapy after lumpectomy were more likely to develop complications and had a lower risk of long-term breast preservation than women who received whole-breast irradiation, however, there was no difference in overall survival. The researchers write: "Brachytherapy is a means of delivering radiation using an implanted radioactive source and has been used to treat various malignancies. In recent years, the use of breast brachytherapy after lumpectomy for early breast cancer has...
Cystic Fibrosis Drug Bronchitol Approved, EU
Date: May-02-2012According to Pharmaxis, Bronchitol, a new cystic fibrosis treatment, has been granted EU approval for patients aged 18 years and older as an add-on therapy to the best standard of care in 29 European countries. Dr. Alan Robertson, CEO of Pharmaxis announced: "This is a very significant event, which means that patients living with cystic fibrosis in Europe will now be able to receive the proven clinical benefits of Bronchitol." The first to benefit from Bronchitol will be CF patients in Germany and the UK, where there is a lower requirement approving prices and reimbursement prior to the...
Triple Combination Therapy Proves Effective For Treating Hypertension
Date: May-02-2012Results from two studies were presented at the 22nd European Society of Hypertension (ESH) in London highlighting the benefits of triple combination therapy for individuals suffering from hypertension. The results add to clinical understanding of olmesartan(O)/amlodipine(A)/hydrochlorothiazide(H) (O/A/H) triple combination therapy (Sevikar HCT®). About 15 to 20% of patients with hypertension are not controlled by dual therapy. Given that many of these patients will subsequently require triple combination therapy, means that further proof of this approach's efficacy is welcome. O/A/H is a...
New Wristband For Epileptic Seizures Shows Promise
Date: May-02-2012MIT researchers, together with a team from two Boston hospitals, have provided early evidence in this week's issue of Neurology, that a simple, unobtrusive wrist sensor can measure the severity of epileptic seizures as accurately as electroencephalograms (EEGs) yet without requiring scalp electrodes and electrical leads. The device could potentially collect clinically useful data from epilepsy patients during their daily routines instead of having to visit the hospital for observation. If the early results are confirmed, the device would even be able to alert patients to seek immediate medical...
Once-Marginalized Parkinson's Disease Theory May Be Valid
Date: May-02-2012The March issue of the FEBS Journal reports that scientists from the Californian University in San Diego have discovered new evidence for a theory that was once marginalized with regard to the underlying causes of Parkinson's disease, which conflicts with an older theory that Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases are caused by insoluble intracellular fibrils called amyloids. By using powerful computer tools and laboratory tests, the scientists managed to obtain a step-by-step explanation of how a "protein-run-amok" aggregates within the membranes of neurons, puncturing them and...
Dopamine Response Influences How Hard We Work
Date: May-02-2012People with a greater dopamine response in the reward and motivation areas of the brain - the striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex - tend to try harder, even when the odds are stacked up against them, compared to those with low dopamine response, researchers from University reported in The Journal of Neuroscience. The authors believe that dopamine influences cost-benefit analyses. Individuals found to expend the least effort had increased dopamine response in the insula, a part of the brain involved in self-awareness, social behavior and perception. Michael Treadway and team asked...
Red Wine Anti Aging Properties Confirmed
Date: May-02-2012Good news for wine drinkers the world over. New research is showing the properties of a chemical present in red wine, known as resveratrol, does indeed have anti-aging properties. It was always postulated that resveratrol had benefits, but the question was proving the mechanisms involved and moving beyond the realm of "old wives tale" and into the science of the process. Understanding how resveratrol works would move pharmacists forwards into the possibilities of an anti-aging drug, although most people would probably prefer to pop a cork rather than a bottle of pills, there are many diseases...
Head And Facial Abnormal Features Repair Themselves
Date: May-02-2012A report in the May issue of the journal Developmental Dynamics reveals that biologists from the Tufts University have, for the first time, discovered a "self-correcting" mechanism by which developing organisms recognize and repair head and facial abnormalities. This is the first time that this kind of flexible, corrective process has been rigorously analyzed through mathematical modeling. The study demonstrates that developing organisms are not genetically "hard-wired", but that the process is, instead, more flexible and robust. By using a tadpole model with a set of pre-determined cell...
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