An international study with nearly 900 patients co-infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) has shown that HCV can be treated effectively and safely, without compromising the patient’s HIV therapy.

Currently, HCV and resulting end-stage liver disease is the major cause of hospitalization and death in the more than one-third of HIV patients who are co-infected with HCV. While potent anti-viral therapies have prolonged the lives of HIV patients, HCV

Swapping spectacles for contact lenses was once a right-of-passage for young teenagers. But new research suggests that 8- to 11-year-olds can handle the responsibility of contact lenses just as well as their older peers.

A three-month study included 10 nearsighted children who wore daily disposable contact lenses. By the end of the study, nine of the children had little to no problems with handling the lenses.

“Many parents don’t realize that their 8-year-old child can handle

A five-nation oceanographic team is taking the first steps in a $3.6 million project studying the major flow of ocean currents between Asia and Australia and how they influence rainfall across Southern Australia and Indonesia.

Scientists are investigating fluctuations in the flow of warm waters from the western Pacific Ocean draining through the Indonesian Archipelago into the Indian Ocean north of Australia.

“Our climate, and particularly the amount of rainfall across the

A game of soccer, volleyball or basketball may seem like an unconventional way to start a science lesson, but in the Lab of Tomorrow sports and other real-life activities merge with theory to create a new educational environment based on the premise that if playing is fun, learning can be too.

Lab of Tomorrow, a project funded under the European Commission’s IST Programme, developed a family of tiny, programmable devices that can be imbedded in clothing, footballs and other items to monitor

A study published in the July issue of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society’s journal, Foot and Ankle International, found no significant difference in the incidence of stress fractures, ankle sprains or other foot problems between the users of expensive custom made foot orthoses and those who used prefabricated orthotic devices.

Foot orthoses are devices worn within shoes that allow the foot to function better. They are usually prescribed to treat specific existing foot condit

Results suggest the fluid could increase survival in trauma patients and wounded soldiers

A novel resuscitation fluid derived from aloe vera that was developed by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine has the potential to save the lives of patients with massive blood loss, according to results of an animal study published in the August edition of the medical journal Shock. The findings could have a significant impact on the tr

The incidence of first stroke in children with sickle cell disease in California has taken a nose-dive since 1998 and the likely reason is a program developed at the Medical College of Georgia to identify and treat kids at risk, a new study says.

The study by the University of California, San Francisco published in the current issue of Blood, looked at nearly two-thirds of the state’s children at high risk for stroke. Researchers found better than an 80 percent reduction in first s

Babies as young as five months old make distinctions about categories of events that their parents do not, revealing new information about how language develops in humans. The research by Sue Hespos, assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, and Elizabeth Spelke, professor of psychology at Harvard University, was published in the July 22 issue of Nature in the article “Conceptual precursors to language.”

“It’s been shown in previous studies that adults actually categorize

University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography physical oceanographer David Ullman and University of Connecticut physical oceanographer Dan Codiga have studied the processes giving rise to a coastal current jet that forms in the Atlantic Ocean south of Block Island. Although the commonly accepted scientific view has been that the flow along the southern New England continental shelf is steady on seasonal timescales, recent collection and analysis of long-term current records as part of a

New research on specific sample groups shows some organic produce may have an added health benefit over conventionally grown counterparts, according to researchers presenting at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo. But inherent inconsistencies associated with organic farming make general comparisons inappropriate.

In her study of organic and conventionally grown tomatoes, Alyson Mitchell, a food chemist at University of California at Davis, found organic tomato

Heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalization among persons 65 and older, and admissions for its symptoms have increased by 155 percent over the last 20 years. This raises concerns about an epidemic that involves more new cases of heart failure. But improved survival with heart failure, not an increase in disease rates, is responsible for this epidemic of hospital admissions, according to findings of a Mayo Clinic study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) accreditation increases the quality of ultrasound practice, according to an article published in the August 2004 issue of the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine. The article, “The Accreditation of Ultrasound Practices: Impact on Compliance With Minimum Performance Guidelines,” by Alfred Z. Abuhamad et al, concludes that “ultrasound accreditation adds value to the practice by improving compliance with AIUM minimum standards and guidelines for the pe

In the first comprehensive survey of gene activity in each cell type composing normal and malignant breast tissue, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified genes in non-cancerous supporting cells that can spur the growth of breast cancer cells.

The findings suggest that aiming chemotherapy at both cancer cells and their genetically normal cellular “microenvironment” might improve the success of breast cancer treatment.

In the July 20 issue of Cancer Cell, the re

Northwestern Memorial research shows an aspirin a day may not keep strokes away

Northwestern Memorial researchers have found that nearly half of patients who suffered a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) after having been committed to aspirin therapy were “aspirin resistant,” meaning the aspirin wasn’t producing the antiplatelet (blood-thinning) effect needed to avoid these health threats. Aspirin resistance increased when patients had been taking baby (81 mg) or enteric coa

A study in the July 2004 issue of the medical journal Cancer Cell provides scientists with new insights into a rare genetic disorder known as Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome (PJS), and suggests that a class of drugs called mTOR inhibitors may be useful for the treatment of the condition, which has been linked to cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, lung, breast, uterus and ovaries. Caused by a mutation that inactivates the tumor suppressor gene, LKB1, PJS is characterized by the development of pigmented sp

For patients with invasive bladder cancer, treatment has typically meant an operation to remove the bladder and nearby organs. This requires up to a week in the hospital and leaves patients with a reconstructed bladder or urostomy bag.

Minimally invasive surgery combined with chemotherapy and radiation therapy has potential in some patients to cure the cancer but preserve the bladder. A new pilot study by University of Michigan Health System researchers found combining radiation therapy an