A five-year study conducted in multiple centres nationwide revealed that a type of radiofrequency method used in treating heart rhythm disorders is very safe and effective in children.
Patients aged 0-16 years old with various forms of heart problems were recruited to participate in this study, published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, where radiofrequency ablation, a non-surgical procedure, was used to treat various heart rhythm disorders. Short and long-term ris
The current debate about increasing the level of compulsory pension contributions is a contentious one for individuals, trade unions, employers and the state. While trade unions urge increased compulsion, and both employers and government resist this, the needs of a large section of society are being overlooked. Due to women’s typically lower pay, part time employment and interrupted careers while caring for others, compulsory additional payments into private pension schemes would not address the
A seminar in this week’s issue of THE LANCET discusses the under-reported and complex subject of elder abuse. The topic is also covered by an editorial in this week’s issue (p 1192) which concludes that ‘elderly people should not be seen as marginalised victims in society but as fully participating and valuable citizens. Anything less is inhumane and unsustainable’.
Mark S Lachs (The Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York City, USA) and Karl Pillemer (Cornell Univers
A study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET describes how two different types of analysis used in conjunction on samples of tonsil tissue is the ‘gold standard’ method for confirming clinical variant CJD, and that a large-scale screening programme of tonsil tissue is the only way of identifying the true incidence of vCJD infection.
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is thought to be caused by dietary or other exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions; 142 people
Results of a European study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggest that shorter courses of chemotherapy for children with Wilms’ tumour may be as effective as conventional treatment duration, but have the advantage of reduced toxicity and health-care costs.
Wilms’ tumour, a kidney cancer in under 15-year-olds, affects around 5 children per million every year. Current treatment for this disease (involving chemotherapy and surgical tumour removal) is very successful; efforts are no
A systematic review and meta-analysis (pooled analysis) of previously published randomised trials in this week’s issue of THE LANCET provides strong evidence that antioxidant supplements (such as vitamin supplements) are not effective in protecting against gastro-intestinal cancer. Some combinations of supplements may slightly increase gastro-intestinal cancer risk, whereas selenium may be associated with a risk reduction.
The human diet is a complex mix of oxidants and antioxidants.
Conservationists say six major breeding centres will be needed, for three species of vultures, if they are to be saved from extinction in the Indian subcontinent.
Numbers of three South Asian vulture species have plummeted since the early 1990s leading the IUCN – World Conservation Union to class them all as Critically Endangered, the highest risk status there is. If funds and government permission can be obtained, breeding centres will be established in India, Pakistan and Nepal.
An experimental cancer vaccine using defanged listeria bacteria is showing great promise in animal studies, successfully treating new cancers that have spread into the lungs of mice.
The mouse study, reported in the Sept. 21 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by scientists at Cerus Corp. in Concord, Calif., employs a genetically engineered listeria bacteria based on a strain created by coauthor and University of California, Berkeley, microbiologist
A new class of very small handheld devices can detect motion a thousand times more subtly than any tool known.
“There was nothing in the [optics] literature to predict that this would happen,” says Sandia National Laboratories researcher Dustin Carr of his group’s device, which reflects a bright light from a very small moving object.
Sandia is a National Nuclear Security Administration laboratory.
Carr, who earlier gained fame as a graduate student at Cornell
Computer models of Earth’s climate have consistently linked long-term, high-magnitude variations in solar output to past climate changes. Now a closer look at earlier studies of the Sun casts doubt on evidence of such cycles of brightness, their intensity and their possible influence on Earth’s climate. The findings, by a solar physicist and two climate scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), appear in the October 1 issue of the journal Science.
“The relationshi
Two types of thyroid cancer that are closely related and sometimes difficult to distinguish can be readily identified by differences in only a few genes, new research shows.
The study, by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, used microarray analysis to show that papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) differ in the expression of only four or f
Myths about the infectious disease threat posed by dead bodies could lead to insensitive and inappropriate treatment of victims’ bodies following the floods in Haiti, and need to be checked, according to a public health researcher who has studied the potential risks at length.
Although most of the media coverage of the disaster has been responsible and accurate, there have been some reports which wrongly state that dead bodies can cause epidemics.
‘Fear that dead bodies cause
In a whole new approach to asthma research, scientists at Yale have discovered that a molecule called Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) likely plays an important role in the development of the disease and raises the possibility of new asthma drugs that block VEGF receptors and signaling pathways.
VEGF is normally associated with the growth of new blood vessels in the lung and other organs. Yale researchers found, however, that in addition to this function, VEGF can also indu
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have taken a giant step toward realizing the promise of laser wakefield acceleration, by guiding and controlling extremely intense laser beams over greater distances than ever before to produce high-quality, energetic electron beams.
For a quarter of a century physicists have been trying to push charged particles to high energies with devices called laser wakefield accelerators. In theory, particles ac
McGill research shows increased carbon dioxide levels decrease algae growth
The doomsayers may be right: our children may not inherit a bountiful and green world. According to researchers at McGill University, we have been overestimating the ability of plants to counteract the greenhouse effect. Their findings, published in the September 30 issue of Nature, suggest changing conditions in the earth’s atmosphere may have more harmful effects on plant life than previously believe
Research carried out by scientists at the University of Surrey could lead to a significant decrease in the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed each year on Europe’s roads. In-car systems have significantly improved safety for drivers and passengers, and the introduction of soft bumpers and pop-up bonnets has lowered the risk of injury to pedestrians and cyclists, but a system of new sensors currently being developed, could potentially lower the fatality rate even further.
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