Scientists have unexpectedly discovered that mice with the gene defect that causes colon cancer in humans can differ from normal mice in how they respond to radiation treatments. The large intestine carrying the gene defect in mice that received staggered doses of radiation was three to four times more resistant to the radiation than in control mice.
The researchers, led by Bruce Boman, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Genetic and Preventive Medicine at Jefferson Medical Co
Japanese encephalitis might be more widespread in Indonesia than previously thought. In a study published today in the open access journal BMC Medicine, researchers analysed the incidence rate of Japanese encephalitis, a potentially lethal disease caused by a mosquito-borne virus, in children living on the Indonesian island of Bali. The researchers found an incidence rate of 8.2 per 100,000 in children less than 10 years old. They conclude that contrary to previous findings, which were probably
Researchers at Keele University in Staffordshire, UK, have begun to disentangle the problem of chronic back pain using new statistical analyses.
They found that simply describing people as having “chronic back pain” might not be very useful.
The team from the Primary Care Sciences Research Centre at Keele carried out an in depth study of how peoples’ back pain changed over time and found four different pathways.
Dr Kate Dunn said: “We have found that people experie
FIBREX Medical has successfully completed a first dose in man study with its lead product, the anti-inflammatory peptide FX06. FX06 is developed to prevent reperfusion injury, an undesired inflammatory reaction after acute myocardial infarction. The now completed clinical trial measured tolerability and pharmacokinetics of FX06 in healthy volunteers. The study confirmed the excellent safety profile of FX06 that has already been seen in experimental animal studies.
The clinical trial w
The InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP), a global network of medical academies and medical divisions of academies of science and engineering, has officially endorsed the goals of the Disease Control Priorities Project (DCPP). The endorsement took place at the conclusion of IAMP’s General Assembly in Beijing, China.
“The DCPP roadmap for improved global health,” says Guy de Thé, honorary professor at the Institut Pasteur, Paris, and co-chair of the IAMP executive board, “charts
Nearly one-third of American adults have high blood pressure, a major cause of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. But a new technique tested at the University of Florida could prove to be a long-term way to treat the disorder in humans, researchers say.
UF researchers kept blood pressure from worsening and nearly eliminated kidney damage in rats exposed to cold weather, which can constrict blood vessels and overload the kidneys with hormones, according to findings publ
A small magnifying glass incorporated into pharmaceutical packaging to help consumers read dosage instructions and save billions of pounds is being brought to market thanks to a seed investment of £30,000 from NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts).
Drug instructions on bottles need to be small to fit into a confined space that also incorporates product and manufacturing information including batch details and dates. With 30% of those taking prescripti
OncoMethylome Sciences announced today that it will perform MGMT gene methylation testing for a multi-center clinical trial for patients with brain tumors conducted jointly by the U.S.-based Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). With patient enrollment underway, the trial was designed to determine whether increasing the intensity of temozolomide drug treatment regimen for patients with glioblastoma multiforme tumors imp
First on East Coast — third in country — with artificial heart technology
A cardiac surgery team at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Pauley Heart Center has performed the first artificial heart implant on the East Coast. The CardioWest temporary Total Artificial Heart, or TAH-t, is the only total artificial heart approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The patient, a man in his late 50s from Virginia, was in stable condition today in the Pauley Center’s
If you are not diabetic and you are hospitalized, your blood sugar level is probably the last thing on your mind. But the fact is that high blood sugar during hospitalization for serious illness increases your risk of infection and death.
Roughly one third of patients experience hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar, during their hospital stay, and many of those patients don’t have diabetes or are undiagnosed. Blood sugar levels tend to go higher when a patient is critically i
People with type 2 diabetes have highly acidic urine, a metabolic feature that explains their greater risk for developing uric-acid kidney stones, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.
The study – the first to compare the urinary biochemical characteristics of type 2 diabetics with those of normal volunteers – is available online and will be published in the May issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Individuals with type 2
Scientists at UCL (University College London) have measured responses to pain in the brains of premature babies and have shown that they are likely to experience ‘true’ pain rather than simply displaying reflex reactions.
The paper, published today in The Journal of Neuroscience, illustrates that routine care procedures for premature babies, such as heel-lancing for blood tests, can cause pain in premature infants. This study, undertaken on infants in the neonatal unit at the Elizabeth G
Cancer treatment needs refinement. Any method aimed at treating a tumor, from extirpation to radiotherapy, requires a precise knowledge of the cancerous tumor margins so that the intervention on it may be performed in such a way that the possibilities of healing are maximised and the effects on surrounding healthy tissues are minimised. A group of researchers from the Department of Mathematics at the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló have implemented a mathematical method that is applied to medica
WOMEN eat more unhealthy foods and tend to put on weight when they move in with a male partner, according to a new report by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
On the other hand, a man’s diet tends to become healthier when he starts cohabiting with a female partner – and her influence has a long-term positive impact.
The reason for the change in dietary habits, say experts, is that both partners try to please each other during the ’honeymoon period’ a
In the face of the growing obesity health challenge, “appetite suppressants are increasingly interesting because they work on the very simple premise of ’What you don’t eat now, you won’t need to lose later,’” Alexandra Einerhand, director, nutrition and toxicology-Europe at Lipid Nutrition notes.
Einerhand says that in a study, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) derived from “Korean pine nuts, which have been part of our diet since before ancient Greek and
In a paper being presented in two American Physiological Society sessions at Experimental Biology 2006, a joint Estonian-French team demonstrated “for the first time that mitochondria are able to induce nuclear deformation, suggesting that mitochondria may mechanically regulate nuclear function.”
The team, which has been collaborating for over 10 years, reported that it recently “found a very interesting and unexpected phenomenon: various substances which increase mitochondrial s
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