Health and Medicine

Swedish stem cell researchers are in a good position to become even more successful than in recent years. This can be achieved by improving the collaboration between research groups, and by increasing the number of researchers in the field through, for example, the introduction of “come-home” grants for those who have been abroad. Equally important would be economic commitment to basic research on stem cells, and the creation of regulations for emergent commercial aspects so that researchers can main

An anti-oestrogen compound, discovered only four years ago, has been found to inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells using a unique mechanism which enables it to work against tumours that are resistant to other anti-oestrogens, the 3rd European Breast Cancer Conference in Barcelona heard today (Thursday 21 March).

Yasuji Yamamoto, from the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences at the University of Tokyo in Japan, said the compound, known as TAS-108, was being assessed in phase l

Patients who are at high risk of stroke should be treated with the drug ramipril, irrespective of their initial blood pressure levels and in addition to other preventive treatments such as blood pressure lowering agents or aspirin, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.

Over 9,000 patients aged 55 or over and at high risk of stroke received either ramipril or placebo. Patients were seen after six months and then every six months for an average of four and a half years.

Although reductio

A US population study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET reports how life expectancy of people with Down’s syndrome has doubled since the early 1980s. The study also highlights the unexpected finding that Down’s syndrome appears to reduce the risk of many forms of cancer.

Down’s syndrome (characterised by three copies of chromosome 21) occurs in around one in every 800 live births. It is the most frequently identified cause of mental retardation, but information about illness and causes of d

A medical team of the Basque Country has discovered a new technique to detect cardiac fibrosis. After a research carried out during several years, it has been discovered that serum leves of PIP peptide is an indicator of increased myocardial fibrosis.

Fibrosis is formed when scar tissue is accumulated in heart. As a consequence it causes stiffening of the heart and often heart failure. In order to fight against such disease, researchers started looking for an indicator substance in blood.

Scientists at the Royal Liverpool University Hospitals in the UK have found a way of testing whether certain abnormalities in a woman’s breast are likely to go on to develop into breast cancer, the 3rd European Breast Cancer Conference in Barcelona heard today (Wednesday 20 March).

Armed with information from the test, doctors could then consider whether the at-risk women should be offered prophylactic anti-oestrogen treatment such as tamoxifen or more frequent screening.

However, D