Health News

FDA approves first gel for sealing corneal incision after cataract surgery

Date: Jan-13-2014
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first gel sealant for use in stopping fluid from leaking through the incision in a patient's cornea after cataract surgery with intraocular lens placement in adults. Prior to today's approval, stitches were the only option for closing a leaking corneal incision after cataract surgery.

Fully automated venipuncture device can improve paediatric experience

Date: Jan-13-2014
A new medical device has been developed that will provide phlebotomists and clinicians with a technology to enable blood drawing accuracy at first stick. This is particularly important considering the diverse patient demographic each with various levels of difficult venous access. Soon, this enhanced accuracy will greatly reduce patient discomfort as well as procedure time and cost.A team of researchers from VascuLogic, LLC, have developed the world's first automated venipuncture medical device that automates the phlebotomy procedure, either for blood draws or the placement of IV lines.

ERA-EDTA announces a collaboration with the European Society of Pediatric Nephrology (ESPN)

Date: Jan-13-2014
The European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) announces a non-exclusive collaboration with the European Society of Pediatric Nephrology (ESPN). Both societies focus on the care of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), promote clinical research in the field of nephrology and have similar interests in basic research. Of course, children with CKD are not just 'little adults' with CKD, and therapies cannot simply be extrapolated, instead special treatments and care are needed for pediatric patients.

A tumor suppressor gene discovered in a very aggressive lung cancer

Date: Jan-13-2014
The Genes and Cancer Group at the Cancer Epigenetics and Biology Program of the IDIBELL has found that the MAX gene, which encodes a partner of the MYC oncogene, is genetically inactivated in small cell lung cancer. Reconstitution of MAX significantly reduced cell growth in the MAX-deficient cancer cell lines. These findings show that MAX acts as a tumor suppressor gene in one of the more aggressive types of lung cancer.

Breakthrough in the treatment of IBS offered by new imaging technique

Date: Jan-13-2014
Scientists at The University of Nottingham are leading the world in exploiting MRI technology to assist in the treatment and diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), a condition that causes serious inconvenience and discomfort to sufferers.In three separate studies, researchers examined the condition in detail and uncovered a novel way of investigating the illness, which could have major implications in how it is both diagnosed and treated in the future.The three papers examine the effectiveness of using MRI to study the colon, which has a number of unique advantages.

New tool for discovering how gene circuits operate

Date: Jan-13-2014
A fast and comprehensive method for determining the function of genes could greatly improve our understanding of a wide range of diseases and conditions, such as heart disease, liver disease and cancer.The method uses stem cells with a single set of chromosomes, instead of the two sets found in most cells, to reveal what causes the "circuitry" of stem cells to be rewired as they begin the process of conversion into other cell types. The same method could also be used to understand a range of biological processes.

Stripped-down Y chromosome retains key genes for fertility

Date: Jan-13-2014
A comparison of Y chromosomes in eight African and eight European men dispels the common notion that the Y's genes are mostly unimportant and that the chromosome is destined to dwindle and disappear."The Y chromosome has lost 90 percent of the genes it once shared with the X chromosome, and some scientists have speculated that the Y chromosome will disappear in less than 5 million years," said evolutionary biologist Melissa A. Wilson Sayres, a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and lead author of the new analysis.

Diagnosis of acute mountain sickness challenged by study of Nepalese pilgrims

Date: Jan-13-2014
A study led by University of British Columbia scientists calls into question a widely used method of diagnosing acute mountain sickness.The Lake Louise Score Questionnaire has been used for more than two decades to determine if someone was suffering from acute mountain sickness (AMS), which strikes people at elevations above 2,500 metres. The lack of oxygen causes a spectrum of ailments, from headaches to vomiting to potentially fatal swelling of the brain or lungs.

Why is type 2 diabetes an increasing problem?

Date: Jan-13-2014
Contrary to a common belief, researchers have shown that genetic regions associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes were unlikely to have been beneficial to people at stages through human evolution.Type 2 diabetes is responsible for more than three million deaths each year and this number is increasing steadily. The harmful genetic variants associated with this common disease have not yet been eliminated by natural selection.

'Guided missile' strategy to kill hidden HIV

Date: Jan-13-2014
Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine have deployed a potential new weapon against HIV - a combination therapy that targets HIV-infected cells that standard therapies cannot kill.Using mouse models that have immune systems composed of human cells, researchers led by J. Victor Garcia, PhD, found that an antibody combined with a bacterial toxin can penetrate HIV-infected cells and kill them even though standard antiretroviral therapy, also known as ART, had no effect. Killing these persistent, HIV-infected cells is a major impediment to curing patients of HIV.