Health and Medicine

Study has implications for lowering heart-disease risk in Type 2 diabetes patients

A drug used widely as an insulin sensitizer appears also to have a significant anti-inflammatory effect in diabetics, a property that could make it useful in helping to prevent heart disease in these patients, a study by endocrinologists at the University at Buffalo has found.

Results of the research, involving the drug rosiglitazone, were presented here today (June 15, 2002) at the annual mee

Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (HSC), the University Health Network (UHN), and the University of Toronto (U of T) have identified a novel gene that when mutated results in medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumour found in children. This research is reported in the July issue of the scientific journal Nature Genetics.

Brain tumours are the second most common cancer in children after leukemia, with the incidence increasing at a rate of five to 10 per cent per yea

Investigators reporting at the 49th Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) have determined that a noninvasive nuclear medicine technique can accurately and safely detect the extent of persistent heart muscle damage after a heart attack. In two studies, researchers reported on the safety and efficacy 201Tl/99mTc Annexin (ApomateTM) SPECT in detecting and localizing myocardial tissue damage and revealing areas of persistent cellular injury. SPECT (single-photon emission computed tomogr

Violence, bereavement, debt and other stressful experiences do not increase the chances of breast cancer returning in a woman who has been treated for the disease.

The good news was announced today in a new study by Europe`s largest cancer charity, Cancer Research UK, and published in the British Medical Journal.

The study, headed by Professor Amanda Ramirez at Cancer Research UK`s London Psychosocial Group, looked at more than 200 women with operable breast cancer and followed thei

Pregnancy prevention programmes for adolescents do not delay sexual intercourse, improve use of birth control among young men and women, or reduce the number of pregnancies in young women, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.

Researchers in Canada reviewed 26 trials of adolescents (aged 11 to 18 years) that evaluated pregnancy prevention programmes including sex education classes, abstinence programmes, family planning clinics, and community based programmes.

The prevention strategies

A simple clinical test could make it easier to track and treat Alzheimer’s

A urine sample taken at the doctor’s office can be the step in determining your chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD), according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. They have determined that a urine test can reliably detect free radical damage associated with people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) – a recognized precursor to AD. The test detects isop