When pop princess Britney Spears needs a pick-me-up, she turns to a popular energy drink for a quick boost. Red Bull mixed with apple juice, she has said, “really pumps me up.”
And that’s the idea. Highly caffeinated energy drinks – such as Red Bull, Go-Fast! and Monster – market themselves as sources of increased energy and concentration. Their websites feature high-flying motorcyclists and upside-down skateboarders as dynamic embodiments of all that concentrated energy.
A team of researchers in Switzerland has initiated and contributed to the development of substance that will vastly improve the early detection and treatment of bladder cancer. Patients screened using this new substance are more likely to be correctly diagnosed, and the low recurrence rates associated with its use will lead to improved patient outcomes. This substance, hexaminolevulinate, is the active substance in a new pharmaceutical product that has been developed by the Norwegian company Ph
The Microbiology Awareness Campaign gathered momentum yesterday at the House of Lords when scientists informed Peers and MPs that new and re-emerging infectious diseases could spell trouble if not tackled soon. The experts said that without targeted government funding for microbiological research, serious health and economic problems may lie ahead for the UK.
The event was hosted by Lord Soulsby of Swaffham Prior, who began by expressing his concern about the closures and cutbac
Despite the millions of dollars that have been invested into research to improve methods of treatments for various types of cancer, oncological diseases continue to have a high mortality rate, remaining one of the main causes of death globally. Traditional cancer treatment methods, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy are effective in approximately only half of all patients.
A promising technology to more effectively treat certain cancers is Neutron Capture Ther
Many patients with liver diseases often encounter difficulties with therapy and ultimately require liver transplant to survive. Since many acute and chronic liver diseases are driven by immune-mediated mechanisms, there is a necessity to find new therapies that can inhibit these immune-based triggers and block liver damage. In a study appearing online on March 3 in advance of publication in the April 1 print edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Christian Trautwein, Christian Klein,
A computer-aided detection system (CAD) can effectively detect breast cancers a radiologist is more apt to initially miss, a new study shows.
Small lesions are very challenging for the radiologist to detect, said Rachel F. Brem, MD, director of breast imaging at George Washington University in Washington, DC, and lead author of the study. The study of 201 women found that CAD was “highly effective in detecting even the smallest lesions, with a sensitivity of 92% for lesions of 5 mm
More breast cancer patients with large palpable tumors are now undergoing chemotherapy before surgery in an effort to reduce the size of their tumor, and MRI is the best way to predict if the chemotherapy is working, preliminary results of a study show. If the chemotherapy is successful, then the woman may be able to undergo breast-conservation surgery rather than a mastectomy.
Currently, it is standard practice for the physician to do a breast examination to non-invasively asses
Researchers in Denmark have discovered a way to detect early signs of testicular cancer before it has started to spread. Their findings are the first step towards developing a simple screening test for men at risk of the disease.
Writing in Europe’s leading reproductive medical journal Human Reproduction[1] today (Thursday 3 March), doctors from the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen report the first diagnosis of pre-invasive testicular carcinoma in situ (CIS) in a semen sample from a
High risk and chronically ill patients in Europe may soon find themselves able to lead independent and fully mobile lives thanks to the work of a project that has developed a Body Area Network of wireless sensors to remotely monitor vital signs.
Since this IST-funded project MobiHealth ended in February 2004, the project partners have gone on to further develop the mobile healthcare system and expect to have a commercial product on the market by early next year, potentially marking a
Virtual reality games can help alleviate pain in children being treated for severe injuries, according to research published today in the Open Access, peer reviewed journal BMC Pediatrics.
Immersion in a virtual world of monsters and aliens helps children feel less pain during the treatment of severe injuries such as burns, according to a preliminary study by Karen Grimmer and colleagues from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide, Australia.
A virtual realit
The importance of hand-washing
IFST Advisory Statement for Foodlink Food Safety Week 2005
The Institute of Food Science & Technology, through its Public Affairs and Technical & Legislative Committees, has authorised this Advisory Statement, dated 24 March 2005, as an IFST contribution to the 13th Foodlink National Food Safety Week, which runs from 13-19 June 2005, organised by Foodlink.
Summary
Much scientific effort goes into making fo
Black adolescents with high normal blood pressure who practice transcendental meditation improve the ability of their blood vessels to relax and may reduce their risk of becoming adults with cardiovascular disease, researchers say.
After eight months of meditation, these adolescents experienced a 21 percent increase in the ability of their blood vessels to dilate compared to a 4 percent decrease experienced by their non-meditating peers, says Dr. Vernon A. Barnes, physiologist at
Radiologists can estimate the risk of death to a SARS patient by the seventh day from the onset of symptoms by using chest radiographs, according to a new study by researchers in Hong Kong. This early determination can allow a physician to better tailor treatment for the SARS patient.
The researchers analyzed 4,369 chest radiographs from 313 SARS patients from the time of their admission into the hospital until death (in 48 of the patients) or discharge from the hospital. The r
Freezing tumors is an effective way to treat a cancer patient’s pain, preliminary results of a new study show.
The study, which appears in the March 2005 issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology, found that cryoablation relieved the pain of four patients who had very advanced disease. The patients had various types of cancer that had spread to areas outside the abdomen organs, said Damian E. Dupuy, MD, professor of diagnostic imaging at Brown Medical School in Providence,
Prostate screenings could be ’teachable moment’ to encourage colon checks
Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in men, but according to a new University of Michigan Health System study, fewer than half of men surveyed were up-to-date with colon cancer screenings. What men do pay attention to is prostate cancer. And that has researchers thinking an annual prostate cancer screening might be a good opportunity to urge men to be screened for colon cancer
Business scholars for more than 20 years have explored the concept of ’emotional labor,’ or the management of emotions to present a certain image in service workers. Now, researchers from the University of Washington Business School and Group Health Cooperative have teamed up to explore how the concept can be applied to the medical profession.
“We propose that the emotional labor of physicians is characterized by the display of empathy,” said Dr. Eric B. Larson, directo
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