Mayo Clinic researchers have found that frequent headaches in children appear to be associated with sleep problems. More than two-thirds of children studied who suffer from chronic daily headache also experience sleep disturbance, especially delay in sleep onset. For children with episodic headaches, one-fifth had sleep problems. The findings will be presented this week at the 24th Annual Conference on Sleep Disorders in Infancy and Childhood in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
“What’
NIH and PKD Foundation launch HALT-PKD treatment trials
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the PKD Foundation have launched two treatment trials for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). The common inherited disorder is characterized by cysts in the kidneys and other organs, high blood pressure, and aneurysms (bulges in blood vessels, which may burst) in the brain. Symptoms usually appear between the ages of 30 and 40 and include back and side pain and h
Research shows it may stop new breast cancer drugs working say UK specialists
Breast cancer specialists from one of the UK’s leading cancer centres cautioned doctors (Thursday 26 January) of the risks in prescribing vaginal oestrogen to breast cancer patients being treated with the new aromatase inhibiting drugs, anastrozole, letrozole and exemestane[1].
Their concerns follow findings from the first study to examine the impact of vaginal oestrogen in women receivin
Specific recommendations for improving breast-health care and cancer treatment in countries with limited resources have been published by the Breast Health Global Initiative (BHGI), an international coalition of doctors, scientists, policy makers and advocates led by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
“The Guidelines for International Breast Health and Cancer Control” are published as a 122-page supplement in the January-Februa
Research from UNSW provides the most convincing evidence to date that complex mental activity across people’s lives significantly reduces the risk of dementia. The researchers found that such activity almost halves the incidence of dementia.
The paper, which has just been published in Psychological Medicine, is the first comprehensive review of the research in the field of ’brain reserve’, which looks at the role of education, occupational complexity and mentall
New procedure may revolutionize traditional asthma care by lessening smooth muscle tissue in the airway
Up until now, if you suffer from asthma, medication has been the only treatment available to you for relief. But now, clinical researchers at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) hope to open up a new avenue to alleviate the debilitating symptoms of asthma – through an investigative bronchoscopic procedure where the smooth muscle of the airway, which causes the
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers are studying whether delivering chemotherapy drugs directly to breast “plumbing” might make treatment of early breast cancer easier on the patient and at least as good as surgery or radiation. A report on successful tests of intraductal therapy in rats and mice published in the January 15 issue of Cancer Research has paved the way for one of the first preliminary clinical trials in women with breast cancer, currently under way in women
Nonsurgical cancer therapy that destroys tumors but leaves healthy surrounding tissue intact could be available at every hospital if research reported this week in the journal Nature eventually comes to fruition.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory Trident laser team, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno and elsewhere, has succeeded in concentrating the intensity of a laser-driven carbon ion beam into a narrow range.
This work builds
Nine of 16 trials found that extracts from the aerial parts of the plant Echinacea purpurea could reduce the symptoms of colds in adults if started early enough. One further trial showed a trend towards this effect. This was the conclusion of an updated systematic Review published in the latest update of The Cochrane Library.
While there are signs of promise, the Authors sound a note of caution. “Our systematic review found some evidence that preparations based on the aerial part of Ech
Traditional herbal medicines may improve symptoms of abdominal pain, disturbed bowel movements, and/or bloating and distension caused by Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). This was the conclusion of a systematic review of clinical studies that is published in the latest update of The Cochrane Library.
Authors searched for studies that evaluated the effectiveness of traditional herbs including Chinese, Tibetan and Indian herbal medicines and found 75 different randomised trials. The trials va
The length of time patients spend under anesthesia during facial plastic surgery procedures does not appear to be linked to their risk of complications or death, Yale School of Medicine researchers report this month in Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery.
Several high profile patient deaths in office-based plastic surgery facilities have led state regulatory agencies and medical boards to develop policies regarding the procedures performed at these locations. Some states, among them Penns
A combination of older malaria drugs could treat malaria efficiently in some parts of Africa until a newer antimalarial drug called is widely available in those areas, a new review of recent studies suggests.
After 28 days of treatment, there were fewer cases of malaria among children taking a combination of the older sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (sold under the brand name Fansidar) and amodiaquine than among patients taking a combination of Fansidar and artesunate, a drug based on t
Low-tech, at-home preparation in the last month before childbirth could help pregnant mothers avoid one of the more common surgeries performed on women in the United States, a new review suggests.
The review looked at studies in which women used a massage technique in the last four or five weeks of pregnancy to train the lower genital tract for childbirth. During perineal massage a women kneads the tissue below the vagina to prepare the tissue to expand more easily during birth
Amidst all the talk about the risk of an influenza pandemic, little has been said about the difficult decisions that would have to be made in an overwhelming health care crisis. An article in the February issue of Academic Emergency Medicine, the Official Journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, outlines a sample set of guidelines for prioritizing the use of a piece of equipment likely to be in short supply in a pandemic: mechanical ventilators.
Drs. John L. Hi
Women pondering hormone-replacement therapy also should consider regular exercise. A new study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign suggests that being physically fit offsets cognitive declines attributed to long-term therapy.
“This study not only tells us that there is a benefit to being highly fit, it pinpoints where in the brain it matters for postmenopausal women who have been using the two strategies,” said lead author Kirk I. Erickson, a postdoctoral re
Results Suggest Alzheimer’s Disease May Be More Common than Previously Recognized
A new study from Rush University MedicalCenter helps explain why gait problems are often progressive in old age and related to risk of dementia and death.
The study, published in the January issue of the Annals of Neurology, found that neurofibrillary tangles in the substantia nigra, a part of the brain that is subject to cell loss in Parkinson’s disease, are associated with gait i
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