UT Southwestern Medical Center is the lead research site testing a new treatment for a rare form of multiple sclerosis. Called “primary progressive,” this type of MS affects about 15 percent of patients with the neurodegenerative disease. “There really hasn’t been a lot of research or treatment options for patients with this form of MS,” said Dr. Kathleen Hawker, assistant professor of neurology, who is heading up the clinical investigation.
UT Southwestern researchers are test
Results from two clinical trials show that patients with early-stage breast cancer who received trastuzumab (Herceptin®) in combination with chemotherapy had a 52 percent decrease in risk for breast cancer recurrence, compared with patients who received the same chemotherapy without the drug. The difference is statistically highly significant.
Dr. Edward Romond, associate professor of medicine at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and UK Markey Cancer Center, acts as pr
The National Academies today recommended guidelines for research involving human embryonic stem cells, and urged all institutions conducting such research to establish oversight committees to ensure that the new guidelines will be followed. The guidelines are intended to enhance the integrity of privately funded human embryonic stem cell research by encouraging responsible practices, said the committee that wrote the report, a joint project between the National Academies’ National Research
A significant debate is currently underway in the scientific community over the evolution of the Great White shark, and Chuck Ciampaglio, Ph.D., an assistant professor of geology at the Wright State University Lake Campus, is right in the middle of it.
The issue is if the Great White, one of the most feared predators of the sea, evolved from the huge prehistoric megladon shark or if its ancestry rests with the mako shark. “Most scientists would probably say the Great Whites ev
Alcohol is the biggest cause, but nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is catching up
A recent population-based study in a small town in Southern Italy found that one in eight residents had abnormal liver tests. While alcohol consumption was the most common causative factor, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an increasingly prevalent source of the problem. The study is published in the May 2005 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Stu
UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers are looking for participants for a nationwide study of an investigational medication for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), a type of mental illness characterized by excessive and persistent worry about everyday events and activities.
More than 4 million Americans suffer from GAD, which often manifests itself as restlessness, fatigue, irritability, muscle tension, headaches, nausea, insomnia or poor concentration. People with GAD experie
After the dissolution of cohabiting unions, men’s economic standing is only moderately affected whereas women experience a significant decrease in their economic standing–a substantial portion end up in poverty. This income loss is particularly pronounced for African American and Hispanic women with nearly half living below the poverty threshold at the end of a cohabitating relationship. An article published in the latest issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family is one of the first to document t
A robotic arm that can be worn at home is being developed to help stroke survivors regain the ability to reach and grasp objects and perform basic tasks such as feed themselves.
The device, built by a research team, led by biomedical engineer Jiping He, Ph.D., and his colleagues at Arizona State University and Kinetic Muscles, Inc., a start up biotech company, can also assess the effectiveness of the physical therapy so adjustments can be made to the regimen if necessary. He will
Starvation, malnutrition and re-feeding can have deadly consequences for humans and most animals but not Australia’s green-striped burrowing frog.
PhD student Rebecca Cramp from The University of Queensland has found that unlike most animals, which can’t digest food after long periods of starvation, the green-striped burrowing frog is able to absorb nutrients 40 percent more effectively after 3 months without food, than frogs that had eaten regularly. “They can take ma
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertising – a $3.2 billion industry in the United States – not only sways patients to ask for certain medications, but profoundly influences the way doctors make initial treatment decisions, according to an April 27 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
University of Rochester Medical Center Professor Ronald M. Epstein, M.D., had a lead role in the research, which focused on antidepressants, as they consistently r
A giant leap forward in the realism of virtual reality (VR) may be just around the corner as a team of European researchers near the completion of a pioneering project to add textures, lighting effects and ‘feel’ to computer-generated 3D models.
Launched in 2002, the RealReflect project was the first attempt to use a new image acquisition technique known as Bidirectional Texture Function (BTF) that captures the look and feel of different materials. When this IST programme funded-
Skylark, the one of the World’s longest running space programmes, will lift-off for the final time in a launch window starting on Saturday, April 30th. The launch of the 441st Skylark sounding rocket marks the end of 50 years of outstanding scientific research that has included investigations into atmospheric conditions, X-ray astronomy, land use and the effects of microgravity.
The Skylark sounding rocket has been a leading British success story since its design in the mid 1950s.
Tiredness, feeding their baby and lack of time to care for other children are three of the key stresses experienced by new mothers, according to a study in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.
861 women who had given birth during the last six weeks were asked to rate 85 potential stress factors on a scale of one to five, with higher scores indicating greater stress levels.
The women were all married, had delivered a single, healthy, full-term baby without complications
Computer algorithms were used in a recent study to identify the prevalence and incidence of epilepsy, and epilepsy-related mortality of patients in a managed care organization (MCO). Data showed that these tools were successful in identifying these trends and were useful in making informed decisions affecting the health care needs and quality of life for epilepsy patients.
“It is possible in MCOs to identify prevalent and incident cases from existing management information systems d
The nucleus of an atom contains protons and neutrons. However, some atoms of the same chemical element can have varying numbers of neutrons, giving so-called isotopes of that element. Most elements have both stable and radioactive isotopes. Radioactive isotopes of an element are commonly used as tracers in medical, biological, and industrial studies to gain information about physical and mechanical processes. In geology and archaeology, radioactive isotopes are used to determine the age of a sa
A recently started EU project is pushing for a better integration of research programmes on mobile communications in Europe. Under the project name ALIPRO, a consortium led by the Polish MOST Foundation aims at supporting the alignment of the new member states’ national and regional research programmes with European IST research in the area of mobile technologies, applications, and services.
The project will accelerate the creation, improvement, and alignment of mobility-related nation
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