Health News

Repeat sternotomy for aortic valve replacement safe option for octogenarian patients

Date: Mar-28-2014
Surgical aortic valve replacement generally improves patients' symptoms and prolongs survival. However, the perceived risk of surgical aortic valve replacement in patients over 80 may result in surgery being denied or a recommendation for alternative therapy. Investigators at the Mayo Clinic challenge the way these patients have been managed. They report that repeat sternotomy in patients over 80 who have previously had coronary bypass graft surgery can be done with low risk.

Gout isn't always easy to prove: Study finds CT scans help catch cases traditional test misses

Date: Mar-28-2014
Gout is on the rise among U.S. men and women, and this piercingly painful and most common form of inflammatory arthritis is turning out to be more complicated than had been thought. The standard way to check for gout is by drawing fluid or tissue from an affected joint and looking for uric acid crystals, a test known as a needle aspirate. That usually works, but not always: In a new Mayo Clinic study, X-rays known as dual-energy CT scans found gout in one-third of patients whose aspirates tested negative for the disease.

Mass participation experiment reveals how to create the perfect dream

Date: Mar-28-2014
Psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman from the University of Hertfordshire announces the results of a two-year study into dream control. The experiment shows that it is now possible for people to create their perfect dream, and so wake up feeling especially happy and refreshed.In 2010, Professor Wiseman teamed-up with app developers YUZA to create 'Dream:ON' - an iPhone app that monitors a person during sleep and plays a carefully crafted 'soundscape' when they dream.

Kif15: The acrobatic motor protein that could pave the way for new cancer therapies

Date: Mar-28-2014
Researchers at Warwick Medical School have shown for the first time how a protein motor, Kif15, uses acrobatic flexibility to navigate within the mitotic spindle. Understanding how it works could prove vital for the development of targeted cancer therapies.The new study, published in eLife, describes the behaviour of Kif15 for the first time and provides a breakthrough step towards understanding the role it plays in cell division.

Multi-drug resistant TB: How is Europe responding to the challenge?

Date: Mar-28-2014
Leading politicians, officials, researchers and civil society organisations convened in Brussels at the launch of European Voice‟s multi-drug resistant (MDR-TB) policy report in the lead up to World TB day, to discuss the rising incidence of MDR-TB, the need for more effective treatments, new vaccines and better diagnostics and what needs to done at a European level to tackle this preventable disease. The event was supported by Janssen and 10 other partnering organisations including the European Respiratory Society, the European Lung Foundation and TB Alliance.

Research shows gastric surgery halves risk of heart attack in obese people

Date: Mar-28-2014
Obese people who have stomach surgery to help them lose weight will halve their risk of heart attack according to new research from a team of doctors at the University of East Anglia, University of Manchester and University of Aberdeen. The procedures, known as bariatric surgery, involve techniques such as gastric banding, which are available on the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK for selected patients.New research published in the International Journal of Cardiology reviewed data from 14 studies involving more than 29,000 patients who underwent bariatric surgery.

Protein identified that helps control CMV - a common viral infection

Date: Mar-28-2014
Infectious disease specialists at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center have identified a protein that regulates the body's immune response to cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common pathogen that causes lifelong infections and can lead to devastating illness in newborns and those with weakened immune systems.The protein - a cell receptor called NOD2 found in several types of immune cells- has long been known for its role in fighting off bacterial invaders by sensing their presence and alerting immune cells to release chemicals that weaken or destroy the harmful bacteria.

Long-term brain damage caused by stroke could be reduced by cell-saving drugs

Date: Mar-28-2014
Long-term brain damage caused by stroke could be reduced by saving cells called pericytes that control blood flow in capillaries, reports a new study led by scientists from UCL (University College London).Until now, many scientists believed that blood flow within the brain was solely controlled by changes in the diameter of arterioles, blood vessels that branch out from arteries into smaller capillaries. The latest research reveals that the brain's blood supply is in fact chiefly controlled by the narrowing or widening of capillaries as pericytes tighten or loosen around them.

Epigenetic machinery hijacked by some breast cancer tumors to evade drug therapy

Date: Mar-28-2014
A breast cancer therapy that blocks estrogen synthesis to activate cancer-killing genes sometimes loses its effectiveness because the cancer takes over epigenetic mechanisms, including permanent DNA modifications in the patient's tumor, once again allowing tumor growth, according to an international team headed by the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI).

New era of lung cancer treatment heralded by immunotherapy data

Date: Mar-28-2014
A new era of lung cancer therapy is close to dawning, using drugs that can prevent tumour cells from evading the immune system, experts have said at the 4th European Lung Cancer Congress.For decades, scientists and doctors thought immunotherapy - treatments that harness the immune system to fight a disease - was of marginal benefit in lung cancer, says Jean-Charles Soria, Institute Gustave Roussy in Paris, France.However a new class of drugs known as "immunocheckpoint regulators" have shown huge potential, Soria says. New data on several of these drugs are presented at the conference.