Health News

Organ transplant approach might end lifelong drug treatment

Date: Mar-12-2014
Organ-transplant recipients often reject donated organs, but a new, two-pronged strategy developed by UC San Francisco researchers to specifically weaken immune responses that target transplanted tissue has shown promise in controlled experiments on mice.The hope is that using this novel treatment strategy at the time of transplantation surgery could spare patients from lifelong immunosuppressive treatments and their side effects. The approach might also be used to treat autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, the researchers said.

An estimated 20 percent of orthopaedic patients seek out additional providers for narcotic prescriptions

Date: Mar-12-2014
"Doctor shopping," the growing practice of obtaining narcotic prescriptions from multiple providers, has led to measurable increases in drug use among postoperative orthopaedic trauma patients, according to a new study presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).In "Narcotic Use and Postoperative Doctor Shopping in the Orthopaedic Trauma Population," researchers reviewed prescription records for 151 adult patients admitted to an orthopaedic unit at a level one trauma center between January and December 2011.

Promising treatment for stubborn blood cancers

Date: Mar-12-2014
A pill that suppresses a key regulator of cancer growth may provide hope to relapsed leukemia and lymphoma patients running out of treatment options for their aggressive, treatment-resistant disease, according to three reports* published online in Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology.Patients with blood cancer are typically administered a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, the latter using the body's own immune system to help fight disease, as a first line of treatment.

Worldwide standard in diagnosing melanoma pioneered by Moffitt Cancer Center

Date: Mar-12-2014
Moffitt Cancer Center researchers have been instrumental in making significant improvements to the diagnostic procedure called sentinel node biopsy for melanoma patients and teaching this procedure to physicians from around the world.Sentinel nodes are the first lymph nodes to which cancer cells from a primary tumor like melanoma will spread. In the sentinel node biopsy procedure, a radioactive tracer and a blue-colored dye are injected at or near the melanoma site on the skin and tracked to the first lymph node(s).

Obstructive coronary artery disease: new blood-based genomic test may reduce need for more invasive diagnostic procedures

Date: Mar-12-2014
Nearly $7 billion is spent each year in the U.S. on diagnostic testing of the estimated three million people with symptoms of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). A new blood test that detects specific genes activated in individuals with obstructive CAD could exclude the diagnosis without the need for imaging studies or more invasive tests, reducing health care costs, as described in an article in Population Health Management, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available on the Population Health Management website.Louis Hochheiser (St.

When mothers have network of peers, malnourished children are better fed

Date: Mar-12-2014
Women in rural India who participate in a vocational training program learn more than just life skills. A recent University of Illinois study found that mothers who participated in a program designed to educate and empower women gained a network of peers that led to increased bargaining strength in the home, and significantly improved their children's consumption of rice and dairy.

Study of illegal drug use in the US

Date: Mar-12-2014
The use of cocaine dropped sharply across the United States from 2006 to 2010, while the amount of marijuana consumed increased significantly during the same period, according to a new report.Studying illegal drug use nationally from 2000 to 2010, researchers found the amount of marijuana consumed by Americans increased by more than 30 percent from 2006 to 2010, while cocaine consumption fell by about half. Meanwhile, heroin use was fairly stable throughout the decade.

Potent driver of metastasis identified

Date: Mar-12-2014
Protein Correlates with Breast, Bladder, Melanoma, and Thyroid TumorsAn international team of researchers led by scientists at The Wistar Institute have discovered and defined LIMD2, a protein that can drive metastasis, the process where tumors spread throughout the body.Their study, published in the March issue of the journal Cancer Research, defines the structure of LIMD2 and correlates the protein in metastatic bladder, melanoma, breast, and thyroid tumors.

Rett Syndrome: Mecasermin (rh-IGF-1) treatment is safe and well-tolerated

Date: Mar-12-2014
The results from Boston Children's Hospital's Phase 1 human clinical trial in Rett syndrome have been released. A team of investigators successfully completed a Phase 1 clinical trial using mecasermin [recombinant human insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1)], showing proof-of-principle that treatments like IGF-1 which are based on the neurobiology of Rett syndrome, are possible.

Quickly identifying Parkinson's patients at risk of dementia

Date: Mar-12-2014
It may now be possible to identify the first-stage Parkinson's patients who will go on to develop dementia, according to a study conducted at the Institut universitaire de geriatrie de Montreal by Dr. Oury Monchi, PhD, and his postdoctoral student, Dr. Alexandru Hanganu, MD, PhD, both of whom are affiliated with Universite de Montreal. These findings were published in the journal Brain.