Northwestern researcher’s study points to active rather than passive process
Research to be published in the April 18 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology provides the first explanation of an active rather than passive process that leads to heart valve degeneration, furthering a Northwestern researcher’s effort to lead a paradigm shift in the medical community’s beliefs about the cause of valve disease.
Heart valve disease is caused not by a ’we
You know slathering on the SPF helps prevent skin cancer. So why don’t you do it? A new study from the June issue of the Journal of Consumer Research explains why many people don’t end up trying a new health regimen – like regularly wearing sunscreen or eliminating transfat– even if they believe the product or behavior is effective.
Punam A. Keller (Dartmouth University) argues that while some people focus on the effectiveness of the product or program when deciding whether to try it, ot
Young adults with high levels of antibodies against the Epstein-Barr virus, the virus that most often causes mononucleosis, may be more likely to develop multiple sclerosis 15 to 20 years later, according to a study posted online today that will appear in the June 2006 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Researchers have long suspected that external factors may influence the risk for multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic autoimmune disease that aff
When it comes to chemotherapy treatment for women whose breast cancer has spread to their lymph nodes, the estrogen status of their tumors matters, says a team of researchers in the April 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Analyzing data from three clinical trials with a total of 6,644 patients, they determined that chemotherapy works much better in breast cancer that is estrogen receptor-negative (ER-) than many people think, and conversely, doesn’
There’s a tangle of information about the pros and cons of using hormones to relieve the symptoms of menopause, but a new analysis of data generated by the Women’s Health Initiative confirms that one cause of concern can be laid to rest: There is no evidence that taking estrogen alone increases the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.
The findings come three years after a related WHI study found that a different type of hormone therapy – which combined estrogen and
It happens to all of us, no matter how hard we try. Whether it’s deleting a computer file and realizing a split-second later that we can’t get it back, or dropping a bag of groceries, or realizing that our gas tank is nearly empty on a lonely stretch of highway, we all make mistakes that aren’t just annoying, but potentially costly.
Now, a team of University of Michigan researchers has looked inside the human brain and captured the instant when someone makes a cost
Mount Sinai School of Medicine is the Clinical Coordinating Center for the first study to assess the effectiveness of combining two FDA approved medications as initial treatment for people with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis. Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health – National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH-NINDS), the study, known as CombiRx, will determine if the combined use of each treatment reduces relapse rate when compared to either agent alone. Enrollm
First scientific analysis of Chinese outbreak of S.suis, spread from pigs to humans
Last year, there was major press coverage of an alarmingly large and deadly outbreak of Streptococcus suis disease in Sichuan province in China (see http://www.who.int/csr/don/2005_08_03/en/).
Now George Gao, Yu Wang, Jiaqi Tang, Xiaoning Wang and colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and other Chinese institutions publish
New findings shed light on cancer behavior
Scientists have made significant progress toward elucidating key genetic events associated with the development and progression of multiple myeloma (MM), an incurable malignancy that is the second most common cancer of the blood. The results, published in the April issue of Cancer Cell, provide new genetic and biological insights that open innovative directions for the discovery of effective therapeutics that can be targeted to specific
Mayo Clinic researchers are sounding an alert about side effects of shock wave lithotripsy: in a research study, they found this common treatment for kidney stones to significantly increase the risk for diabetes and hypertension later in life. Risk for diabetes was related to the intensity of the treatment and quantity of the shock waves administered; hypertension was related to treatment of stones in both kidneys.
Shock wave lithotripsy uses shock waves to break up an impassable kidne
The same signal responsible for promoting the type of immune responses that cause asthma and allergy can also limit the type of inflammation associated with debilitating diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis and multiple sclerosis, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. The researchers discovered how IL-25, a signaling protein known as a cytokine, both prevents destructive inflammation and promotes immune responses associated with
Older men who drink as few as two drinks twice a week and also have diseases that could be worsened by alcohol or cause problems with medications taken while drinking alcohol have higher death rates, as compared to men who either drink less or may drink more but don’t have such comorbidities.
Examining data from a 1971–74 health survey and a follow-up survey in 1992, the researchers found that older men who drank moderately or heavily and had accompanying comorbiditi
Hot fudge sundaes and french fries aside, new research suggests obesity is due at least in part to an attraction between leptin, the hormone that signals the brain when to stop eating, and a protein more recently associated with heart disease. Reporting in Nature Medicine, University of Pittsburgh researchers provide evidence that C-reactive protein (CRP) not only binds to leptin but its hold impairs leptin’s role in controlling appetite. The results may help explain why obese people have so m
Researchers supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the National Institutes of Health, report today their initial success using a customized optical device that allows dentists to visualize in a completely new way whether a patient might have a developing oral cancer.
Called a Visually Enhanced Lesion Scope (VELScope), this simple, hand-held device emits a cone of blue light into the mouth that excites various molecules within our cells
Bird Flu and Chikungunya – we have all heard about it in the media. But is there a reason to be frightened and how big is the risk for you to catch these diseases in reality?
On 6 April the COST Office in Brussels organised a seminar on Bird Flu and Chikungunya, both viral infections of different kinds. Professor Marc van Ranst, the leading expert in this field from the University of Leuven informed the seminar about these two diseases and the actual risks that they represent fo
The use of growth hormone therapy has been linked in some people to the development of colon polyps, a possible precursor to colorectal cancer – but medical researchers have debated the extent of a cancer risk.
In addition, the reason for a polyp link to growth hormone has been unclear. But new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill indicates the probable answer: loss of function of one of a pair of genes that normally would inhibit growth hormone signals i
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