A vibrating disc no bigger than a speck of dust could help to diagnose and monitor common types of cancer and provide specialists with information about the most appropriate therapy.
The European Commission has this month awarded 12 million Euros to an international consortium led by Newcastle University, England, to develop the biosensor technology towards clinical trials stage.
The research team aims to produce a hand-held device which would enable samples of blood, s
A third of patients treated for schizophrenia who stop taking their medication early do so because they do not feel any significant improvement or because their symptoms are worsening. A study published today in the open access journal BMC Medicine reveals that patients with schizophrenia are three times more likely to stop treatment because of poor response or worsening symptoms, than because of adverse non-psychiatric side effects.
Hong Liu-Seifert and colleagues from Eli Lilly and C
Virtual reality that allows doctors to visualise the heart in three dimensions could help in the diagnosis of heart conditions. A pilot study published today in the open access journal Cardiovascular Ultrasound reveals that doctors can diagnose heart conditions quickly and easily from virtual three-dimensional animated images or ’holograms’ of the heart. Three-dimensional (3D) holograms allow doctors to ’dive’ into the beating heart and see interior parts of the organ.
Annemien van den B
People who have a specific genetic variant of the PTPN22 gene and test positive for antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptide are much more at risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis than people who only have one of these markers.
A study published today in the journal Arthritis Research & Therapy reveals that a group of people who have a specific genetic variant, or polymorphism, of PTPN22, a gene that encodes a tyrosine phosphatase protein, and tested positive for anti-
Migraines and panic attacks may be the triggers for Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome in adults, according a small study published today in the open access journal BMC Medicine. Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome (CVS), widely accepted as occurring in children, is also found in adults according to researchers.
David R. Fleisher, of the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia, Missouri in the US, and colleagues conducted a retrospective study of 41 adults patients they had seen from 1994 to
Researchers from Northwestern Memorial recommend physicians be vigilant in looking for symptoms
Drug-eluting stents have greatly reduced the risk of repeat blockage of heart arteries, but researchers from Northwestern Memorial Hospital have found that in some patients, the stents can cause allergic reactions that can have serious consequences. They stress that physicians and their patients should be aware of this potential and know the symptoms. The findings have been published on
Results from a new study in laboratory mice show that nighttime exposure to artificial light stimulated the growth of human breast tumors by suppressing the levels of a key hormone called melatonin. The study also showed that extended periods of nighttime darkness greatly slowed the growth of these tumors.
The study results might explain why female night shift workers have a higher rate of breast cancer. It also offers a promising new explanation for the epidemic rise in breast c
Polio is on track to become only the second disease ever eradicated. In two studies in the Dec. 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online, scientists are working to ensure that once it is gone, it stays gone. One study reduces concerns that people whose immune systems were weakened by HIV would re-introduce poliovirus into the community. The other study looks at the how switching forms of vaccine from a live, attenuated vaccine to an inactivated version may affect
Discovery in rodents may explain why some antidepressants require weeks of use before they work
The beneficial effects of a widely used class of antidepressants might be the result of increased nerve-fiber growth in key parts of the brain, according to a Johns Hopkins study being published in the January 2006 issue of the Journal of Neurochemistry.
The study on rats, led by Vassilis E. Koliatsos, M.D., a neuropathologist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,
A derivative of the sweet wormwood plant used since ancient times to fight malaria and shown to precisely target and kill cancer cells may someday aid in stopping breast cancer before it gets a toehold. In a new study, two University of Washington bioengineers found that the substance, artemisinin, appeared to prevent the onset of breast cancer in rats that had been given a cancer-causing agent. The study appears in the latest issue of the journal Cancer Letters.
“Based on earli
Research from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University
With the population of the world increasing rapidly, the number of people aged 60 years and older is expected to nearly triple by 2050. The majority of these elderly people will be living in the developing world, where the burden of disease is greater. In a special article published in Nutrition Reviews, researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts
Novel computational neuroscience model offers new areas for experimentation
Our ability to understand speech or decide which fruit in the store is freshest depends on the brain’s dexterity in integrating information over time. The prefrontal cortex, where working memory resides, plays a critical role in helping us make these countless everyday decisions. A novel computational study by Brandeis researchers in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy o
There is a strong, progressive association between tooth loss and heart disease, researchers report in a study published in the latest issue of American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Heart disease was present in 4.7 percent of those without tooth loss, 5.7 percent of those with 1 to 5 missing teeth, 7.5 percent of those with 6 to 31 missing teeth, and 8.5 percent of those with total tooth loss, reports lead investigator Catherine Okoro, epidemiologist in the Division of Adult
Almost half of lung cancers detected by a chest x-ray were early-stage cancers, according to baseline results of a large, randomized clinical trial that is testing the efficacy of a chest x-ray as a screening test for lung cancer. The study results are published in the December 21 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Lung cancer causes one million deaths worldwide every year. When patients begin to experience symptoms of lung cancer, the cancers are often ad
A decreased ability to repair chromosomal damage caused by exposure to ultraviolet B (UV-B) radiation in test tubes may be associated with an increased risk of the common skin cancers basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, but not of melanoma, according to a study in the December 21 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Exposure to UV radiation from sunlight is a risk factor for the two most common skin cancers, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinom
When it comes to the information in a mammogram, Purdue scientists say less is more – and their findings could bring medical care to many far-flung communities.
A team of researchers, including Bradley J. Lucier, has found that digitized mammograms, the X-ray cross sections of breast tissue that doctors use to search for cancer, are actually interpreted more accurately by radiologists once they have been “compressed” using techniques similar to those used to lessen the memory deman
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