Health News

Goji berries protect against the flu in new study

Date: Dec-13-2013
Since current flu vaccines do not completely protect against influenza infection, researchers have been looking for alternative measures. Now, a new mouse study has shown that older mice are given extra protection from the flu with a diet that incorporates goji berries.The research comes from scientists at the Jean Mayer US Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University. The study was recently published in the Journal of Nutrition.

Defending medical oncology to assure quality care for cancer patients

Date: Dec-13-2013
Medical oncologists have a vital role to play in cancer care, particularly as treatments become ever more complex, a new position statement [1] from the European Society for Medical Oncology says.Medical oncologists are specialist cancer physicians trained to provide treatment with drugs, spanning from the old one-fits-all chemotherapy to newer targeted agents or immunotherapies attacking the disease at its core.

Patients with HCV and diabetes may benefit from antiviral therapy

Date: Dec-13-2013
New research suggests that patients with both hepatitis C and diabetes may have their cardiovascular and kidney outcomes improved with antiviral therapy. This is according to a study published in the journal Hepatology.Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an infection that can infect and damage the liver. It can be contracted if a person comes into contact with infected blood or bodily fluids.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HCV is the most common bloodborne infection in the US, affecting more than 3.2 million people.

2nd Annual Medical Device Safety Monitoring & Reporting Conference, January 22-23, 2014, Las Vegas

Date: Dec-13-2013
Interview with Marcelo Trevino, Senior Regulatory Compliance Manager Quality Systemswith Medtronic, on key topics to be discussed at the upcoming 2nd Annual marcus evans Medical Device Safety Monitoring & Reporting ConferenceDiscussing Compliance Audit Management Trends and Best Practices to Meet Local, International Regulations and Notified Body ExpectationsGiven that the malfunction of a device can lead to a fatality, there is a crucial need to ensure that these devices are safe and are monitored effectively.

Should your surname carry a health warning?

Date: Dec-13-2013
Patients named Brady could be at an increased risk of requiring a pacemaker compared with the general population, say researchers in a paper published in the Christmas edition of The BMJ this week."Nominative determinism" describes how certain people are more likely to choose a profession because of the influence of their surname with a study by Pelham et al concluding that people have a preference for things "that are connected to the self" and are disproportionately more likely to find careers whose "label is closely related to their name".

Breast cancer drug halves cases in high-risk women

Date: Dec-13-2013
A large landmark study funded by Cancer Research UK has found that the breast cancer drug anastrozole can halve the chances of developing the disease in high-risk women.The results of the IBIS II trial, led by Queen Mary University of London and published online in the The Lancet this week, show that in nearly 4,000 post-menopausal women at high risk of breast cancer, taking anastrozole for 5 years cut cases by 53%, compared with a placebo.

Researchers evaluating immunotherapy approaches for treating metastatic kidney, prostate, bladder cancers

Date: Dec-13-2013
Researchers at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) Center for Immunotherapy are enrolling patients in three different clinical trials of novel immunotherapy approaches for treating genitourinary cancers. One of the studies will assess how patients' immune systems respond to targeted radiation treatments for metastatic kidney cancer. Another will evaluate how patients' immune systems respond to targeted radiation treatments for metastatic prostate cancer, in combination with immunotherapy, and a third will focus on a new type of immunotherapy for bladder cancer.

Schools raise test scores, but not abstract reasoning skills

Date: Dec-13-2013
To evaluate school quality, states require students to take standardized tests; in many cases, passing those tests is necessary to receive a high-school diploma. These high-stakes tests have also been shown to predict students' future educational attainment and adult employment and income.Such tests are designed to measure the knowledge and skills that students have acquired in school - what psychologists call "crystallized intelligence.

Adaptimmune announces interim results from a Phase I/II trial of engineered T cells targeting cancer testis antigens in multiple myeloma

Date: Dec-13-2013
Adaptimmune has announced the release of interim results from a Phase I/II clinical trial using patients' own T cells that have been genetically altered to attack multiple myeloma (MM) cells. The study Chair presented these updated results at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).The clinical trial was designed as a single arm open label study where patients are given standard of care (autologous stem cell transplant).

Is laughter really the best medicine?

Date: Dec-13-2013
Laughter may not be the best medicine after all and can even be harmful to some patients, suggests the authors of a paper published in the Christmas edition of The BMJ.Researchers from Birmingham and Oxford, in the UK, reviewed the reported benefits and harms of laughter. They used data published between 1946 and 2013. They concluded that laughter is a serious matter.They identified benefits from laughter; harms from laughter; and conditions causing pathological laughter.They found some conditions benefit from 'unintentional' (Duchenne) laughter.