Doctors and scientists nationwide will today for the first time be able to join together over the internet to start the search for genes that underlie a range of chronic diseases.
Patients across Britain with cancer, heart and other common diseases have been providing blood samples for research since 2000. They are part of a project hosted by The University of Manchester that will allow more researchers than ever before to study genes in chronic diseases. The project – called
Scientists have found some additional evidence that environmental exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) may be associated with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to a study published in the December 1 issue of Cancer Research.
By comparing blood levels of PCBs in 100 pairs of healthy volunteers and non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients, Anneclaire De Roos, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and colleagues determined that high levels o
Syndrome linked to neurological abnormalities
Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have found that chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) may be rooted in distinct neurological abnormalities that can be medically tested. Although the sample studied was small, this research provides objective, physiological evidence that the controversial disorder can be considered a legitimate medical condition.
Chronic fatigue syndrome defines a range of illnesses including
Exposure to household endotoxin levels poses a significant risk for asthma, according to the first nationwide sampling of house dust.
The study appears in the first issue for December 2005 of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.
Endotoxins are toxic substances associated with the outer membrane of certain gram-negative bacteria. These molecules are bound to the bacterial cell wall and are released
Risk of adverse gastrointestinal outcomes in patients taking cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors or conventional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: population based nested case-control analysis [BMJ Volume 331, pp 1310-12]
There is no evidence to back up claims that the new generation of anti-inflammatory drugs (COX-2 inhibitors) are less harmful to the stomach lining than many traditional anti-inflammatory drugs, concludes a study in this week’s BMJ.
These drugs were
A startling new study published in the science journal Nature this week (Nature Vol 438, issue 7068, pp 667-670) reveals that inhalers used by asthmatics for symptomatic relief of their condition might actually increase the likelihood of an acute attack.
The study by an international team of researchers, including Professor Mike Silverman of the University of Leicester, uses mathematical modelling techniques to try and ’predict’ when an asthma attack might occur in an i
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition is the peer-reviewed journal of international reference in the field of nutrition. In its latest issue, of November, it published an article which demonstrated that non-fat milk products can reduce the risk of hypertension by 50%, while nevertheless there is no appreciable connection between that disease and the consumption of whole milk.
The research was carried out by a team of researchers from the University of Navarra and Álvaro Alonso, curre
The first phase of a two-year healthy schools and communities project between partners in Kent and Pas-de-Calais started in September 2005. The official Kent launch will take place in Dover on 27 January 2006.
Titled Bien-être, the British partners in this European Development Fund (ERDF) Interreg IIIa project are the Kent and Medway NHS Health and Europe Centre based at the European Institute of Social Services at the University of Kent; East Kent Coastal Teaching Primary Care Tru
Heavy use of marijuana may put adolescents who are genetically predisposed to schizophrenia at greater risk of developing the brain disorder, according to research presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Using a sophisticated brain imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), researchers at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York, studied the brains of groups of adolescents: healthy, non-drug users; heavy marijuana smok
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have just launched a web-based 3-D digital atlas browser and database of the brain of a popular laboratory mouse (see http://www.bnl.gov/CTN/mouse/).
“Neuroscientists around the world can now download these extremely accurate anatomical templates and use them to map other data — such as which parts of the brain are metabolically active and where particular genes are expressed — and for making qua
Young women asking for the morning-after pill at pharmacies will be offered fast-tracked screening for Chlamydia, the UK’s most common sexually transmitted infection, in a University of Manchester study.
It is thought that up to one in ten young people under 25 have Chlamydia, a sexually transmitted infection that often has no symptoms and can lead to infertility, although it is very easily treated with just one dose of four tablets in the majority of cases.
With 18,000 wo
Researchers have a relatively good understanding of “where” and “when” the brain edits incoming information; the question is “how” does this happen. It may be that researchers at the University of Bergen have found the answer.
Cognitive neuroscience research has revealed many different aspects of the brain’s functional capacity. It has not been possible to assemble the results of the different methods used to map the brain’s activity as yet, to give researchers a complete pict
Preliminary results from the STAR-D project, one of the nation’s largest studies of depression, show that chronic depressive episodes are common and are associated with poorer physical health, lower quality of life, socioeconomic disadvantage and minority status.
Findings of this study highlight the common occurrence of chronic episodes of major depression and the range of factors that contribute to them in both psychiatric and primary care settings.
The analysis, whi
A large-scale, 12-year study has found that laser ablation with magnetic resonance (MR) guidance is as effective as traditional surgery in the treatment of liver tumors in some patients. The study was presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
In the largest study of its type with the longest follow-up, 839 patients at the University of Frankfurt in Germany received MR-guided laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) for the treatment of liver tumor
New research says ’maybe’ – but it could mean tough choices
New research into the cost of using the breast cancer drug Herceptin warns that healthcare authorities and the organisations advising them should not rush to prescribe it for early breast cancer without working out extremely carefully the budget implications and cost-effectiveness of the drug.
In a Belgian study published (Wednesday 30 November) in Annals of Oncology[1], health economist Mattias Ney
The bronchial tubes of a patient with severe asthma can become scarred due to repeated episodes of allergic inflammation in the airways. The scarring results in blocked airways, excessive production of mucus, and shortness of breath.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have discovered that when a single gene – IKK beta – is selectively inactivated in the membrane-lining cells of the bronchial tubes of mice that later inhale allergens, suc
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