Men who undergo radiation for prostate cancer have nearly double the risk of developing rectal cancer when compared to men who opt to have surgery to treat prostate cancer, according to a study published today in the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) journal Gastroenterology. Men who receive radiation for prostate cancer have a 70 percent higher risk of developing rectal cancer than those who underwent surgery, a risk similar to that posed by having a family history of the disease.
A new study suggests there may be a better way to sharpen the eyes of radiologists, military pilots and other professionals for whom identifying objects or patterns in a monitor or visual display – often quickly and with pinpoint accuracy – is a critical part of the job.
According to the study, the new approach involves rethinking how the eyes are trained to filter out clutter and focus in on a target. Previously, scientists believed these two perceptual skills intermixed and
People suffering from chronic, debilitating pain caused by nerve damage or disease report better pain relief at lower doses of a combined drug treatment than from either drug administered individually, a new Queen’s study funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) shows.
When given a combination of the anti-seizure drug gabapentin and the opioid morphine, patients with two different types of neuropathic pain experienced lower pain intensity than when they rec
New evidence uncovered by researchers in Tayside and Bristol has shown wider benefits of cholesterol lowering drugs for large sections of the public, including women and the elderly.
Researchers have told us for years that cholesterol lowering drugs that lower blood fat levels provide large benefits to those who participated in clinical trails. However, the effects of these drugs were only really applicable to the sorts of carefully selected patients who actually participated
Findings hoped to spur the development of an improved vaccine
Since 2000, U.S. infants have been routinely immunized against pneumococcal (Streptococcus pneumoniae) infection. Now, Boston researchers have made a surprising discovery about natural immunity to pneumococcus. Two related studies, led by Dr. Richard Malley of the Children’s Hospital Boston Division of Infectious Diseases and Dr. Marc Lipsitch of the Harvard School of Public Health, suggest that natural protection
Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University, in collaboration with Neurocrine Biosciences Inc., have successfully tested a research medication that both stimulates appetite and reduces metabolic rate in preclinical trials. Neurocrine, which developed the test medication for this research, is now developing a related medication that will likely be tested in patients suffering from a common, disease-related form of malnutrition and involuntary weight loss called cachexia. The results of the
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified a newly emerging illness, named staphylococcal purpura fulminans. The disease begins as a respiratory tract infection, which then is infected by Staphylococcus aureus. The infection then moves to the lungs, making superantigens (bacterial toxins that activate large numbers of T cells), often leading to death due to hypertension and shock. Purpura fulminans has been identified in five cases in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., metropolitan
Researchers from Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland have discovered that urine actually helps a particular yeast stick to cells along the urinary tract. The finding might offer a new way to prevent or treat certain yeast and fungal infections, and the researchers’ work also provides an unexpected new role for some proteins already known to help hungry yeast live longer.
Writing in the March 18 issue of Science, the researchers report that the yeast Candida glabr
Sleeping woes may explain why children with epilepsy are often so hyperactive, say researchers with the University of Florida’s Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute.
Characterized at its extreme by physical convulsions, epilepsy has long been thought to cause excitability and contrariness in children. But UF researchers writing in the journal Epilepsy & Behavior believe the real reason some of these children cannot sit still or pay attention is because they don
Researchers find that human eyes learn best in an uncluttered setting
If athletes, soldiers and drivers must perform every day in visually messy environments, common sense suggests that any visual training they receive should include distractions and disorder. New research from the University of Southern California and UC Irvine suggests common sense is wrong in this case.
The human vision system learns best in “clear display” conditions without visual noise, said co-aut
Diffusion MRI shows 3 weeks into treatment if tumor is responding
A special type of MRI scan that measures the flow of water molecules through the brain can help doctors determine early in the course of brain cancer regimen if a patient’s tumor will shrink, a new study shows.
Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center developed the assessment, which they call a functional diffusion map. They used a magnetic resonance imaging scan that track
The first nationally accredited training course aimed at improving the lives of people with dementia is being launched at the University of Sunderland.
The distance learning course for professionals will help further raise the level of care offered to thousands of people across the country living with dementia. Sunderland has teamed up with the Alzheimer’s society, BUPA care homes and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to provide the new course, ‘an introduction to dementia care’
By studying a little-known yeast too primitive to get diseases, Johns Hopkins researchers have uncovered a surprising link between two processes at play in heart disease and cancer in people.
In experiments with yeast known as S. pombe, the researchers discovered that a gene that helps the organism make cholesterol also helps it survive when oxygen is scarce. The finding, described in the March 25 issue of Cell, offers a new strategy for killing infectious yeast, but it also su
A Department of Veterans Affairs and Northwestern University researcher has developed the first reliable measure of neurobehavioral functioning that will help physicians predict the likelihood of a patient recovering consciousness during coma from severe brain injury within the first year of injury–with up to 86 percent certainty.
The study, by Theresa Pape, DrPH, and colleagues, is described in a two-part series in Volume 42, Issue 1, of the Journal of Rehabilitation Research a
Imaging technology may someday guide therapy designed to prevent heart attacks
A catheter-based imaging technology called optical coherence tomography (OCT) can successfully identify the characteristics of coronary plaques in patients with various cardiac symptoms. The report from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) will appear in the journal Circulation and has received early online release at http://www.circulationaha.org/.
“More than 1.2 million peo
A molecule designed to block cat allergies successfully prevented allergic reactions in laboratory mice, as well as in human cells in a test tube, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers report in the April issue of Nature Medicine, available online now. In the future, the investigators say, these promising results could lead to a new therapy not only for human cat allergies, but also possibly for severe food allergies such as those to peanuts.
The National Insti
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