At the right dose, vitamin D is important for bone development and may help protect against the development of several cancers, particularly colorectal cancer. However, large quantities designed to exploit the vitamin’s anticancer properties can lead to a toxic overdose of calcium in the blood. Now, research done at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center indicates that it may be possible to separate the anticancer properties of vitamin D from its other functions.
What stops people with cancer from joining research trials, and ways to increase participation are the subjects of the latest publication from CRD.
Clinical trials are an essential tool for the evaluation of medical technologies. It is crucial that enough participants are recruited to a trial to ensure that the trial can proceed and for the results to be valid. Without sufficient numbers of people taking part, the introduction of new treatments or detailed evaluation of existing ones
Everybody who underwent a cardiogram at least once knows that the procedure is not quick in all respects. First, the patient has to undress, lie down and wait till a number of sensors are attached to him/her. But this is half the trouble. The obtained ECG is to be interpreted, that is to be determined how the heart works according to the waves recorded on the cardiograph tape. This is not done by the nurse who recorded the ECG, but by the medical specialist and probably within several days only.
Body piercing is popular today in the United States and other western societies. One common type of body piercing is tongue piercing, which involves placing a “barbell”-type stud through the tongue. But wearing a tongue stud puts people at risk for chipped teeth, recessed gums, and nerve damage, warns the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD).
However, most people don’t realize that getting an oral piercing also places them at risk for developing a fatal infection or, in some cases, a min
Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco and Stanford University Medical Center are reporting compelling new evidence that the cholesterol-lowering drug atorvastatin could prove an effective therapy for preventing the progression of, and reversing the severity of, multiple sclerosis (MS).
In the March 16 on-line edition of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, they report the results of a study that looked at the use of the drug (marketed as Lipitor) in combin
About 1 in 10 Europeans has to contend with some form of depression during his or her life. But how people become depressed is still largely a mystery. With their recent research, scientists from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) connected to the University of Antwerp in collaboration with scientists of the University of Umeå in Sweden, are lifting a corner of the veil. Their studies indicate that the TPH2 protein is involved in the development of depression and mani
Leading edge research being pioneered by Northumbria and Newcastle Universities could lead to a safer and more effective way of screening for breast cancer.
Dr David Smith from Northumbria’s School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences, is developing a microwave-based technique that can generate holographic high-quality images of hidden objects such as tumours.
Now an award from the Medical Research Council means he and a research associate can spend time
Investigators who extended the Harvard Six Cities fine particulate air pollution study by eight years found that reduced levels of tiny particle pollution during this period lowered mortality risk for participants.
The results appear in the second issue for March 2006 of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.
The findings of the original Harvard Six Cities study (1979 to 1990) revealed an associatio
Identification may lead to drug development targeted to dementia
A research team that included members from The Johns Hopkins University and the University of Minnesota Medical School has for the first time identified a substance in the brain that is proven to cause memory loss. This identification gives drug developers a target for creating drugs to treat memory loss in patients with dementia.
Karen H. Ashe of the University of Minnesota Medical School led the research te
A salt substitute specially formulated to be flavourful and effective has significantly reduced blood pressure among high-risk residents of northern, rural China, where home-pickled foods are a dietary mainstay and hypertension is rampant.
This simple approach announced today at the American College of Cardiology’s 55th Annual Scientific Session in Atlanta by The George Institute for International Health, offers a new low cost strategy for the prevention of stroke and other cardiova
Medical researchers at UNSW have shed light on a little-known mechanism involved in the thickening of arteries, a process associated with heart disease.
“Essentially we’ve uncovered a complex network of how one bad guy regulates another bad guy,” said Professor Levon Khachigian, of the Centre for Vascular Research (CVR) at UNSW. “We’ve also found a key to stopping this Mafioso network.”
Arteries thicken when tiny molecules are increased in blood vessels. Thes
As few as four per cent of US adults with overactive bladders (OAB) seek medical treatment, despite the condition affecting an estimated 34 million Americans over the age of 18, according to research in the March issue of the UK-based urology journal BJU International.
The American research comes hard on the heels of a recent European study, published in the same journal, which reported that only 43 per cent of adults with OAB would consider visiting their doctor.
A team
In pregnancy the foetus secretes proteins that fool the immune system of the pregnant woman so that it will not attack the foetus. This is shown by Lucia Mincheva-Nilsson, associate professor and researcher at the Department of Clinical Microbiology, Umeå University, Sweden, in the leading publication Journal of Immunology. The findings may be of great importance in transplants and in the treatment of cancer and infertility.
Transplants between humans are easily attacked by the recipient’
A new method to increase the efficiency of contrast radiology may open the way to earlier and more reliable diagnosis of, for example, breast cancer. With new integrated electronics and signal processing, the image quality can be improved sharply. This was demonstrated by Hans Bornefalk at the Royal Institute of Technology as he presented his doctoral thesis about the technology on March 10.
To date, the new technology has only been tested in a test rig, but in principle it can open the
Researchers believe antiretroviral therapy (ART) will not be effective in stopping HIV epidemics even if it is made universally available in poorer countries, and that widespread use could even lead to an increase in the numbers infected with HIV.
Research published today in PLoS Medicine by a team from Imperial College London reveals a model which predicts how different strategies for increasing access to ART might affect HIV infection rates.
The modelling found that while
An antiviral drug may be useful in the final stages of eradicating polio worldwide, according to EXPLORING THE ROLE OF ANTIVIRAL DRUGS IN THE ERADICATION OF POLIO, a new workshop report from the National Academies’ National Research Council. The planning and development of such drugs should be initiated now, says the report, which identifies several promising targets for drug development and outlines steps for clinical trials and regulatory approval.
The World Health Organization
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