Naproxen harms renal function after short-term use in cirrhotic patients
Short-term use of selective COX-2 inhibitors may be safe for patients with cirrhosis of the liver, according to a recent study that compared the effects of celecoxib, naproxen, and a placebo on cirrhotic patients in a double-blind randomized controlled study. The findings are published in the March 2005 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (A
Association noted between certain non-liver cancers and hepatitis C in Sweden
People infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) have a higher risk of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma, according to a recent study of the Swedish population. These findings are published in the March 2005 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc, the journal is available o
Yerkes-based nonhuman primate studies expedited research for medication recently studied in phase II human clinical trials
Physician-researchers at Emory University in Atlanta have shown an investigational medication, known as LEA29Y (belatacept), is effective in preserving transplanted kidney function while at the same time avoiding the toxic side effects that are common in the currently used long-term, immunosuppressive transplant medications. The pre-clinical research conducte
Researchers move one step closer to understanding the number one cause of kidney failure
Researchers identified a protein that might trigger kidney disease in diabetic patients, a condition that affects one in three people with type 1 and one in ten people with type 2 diabetes. According to a new study led by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Thomas Jefferson University published in the February issue of PLoS Medicine, the link between this particular protein and k
Exercise therapy can improve muscle strength, mobility and other signs of fitness in people with multiple sclerosis, according to a recent review of studies.
Nine high quality studies provide strong evidence that exercise therapy can make a difference in the daily living and quality of life of those with the disease, say Dr. Bernard Uitdehaag and colleagues of the Vrije Universitei Medical Centre in the Netherlands. Exercise therapy also improved the mood of MS patients in exe
Hypnosis can serve as a valuable adjunct to certain kinds of psychotherapy, says Steven Lynn, professor of psychology at Binghamton University, State University of New York. But not everyone responds to it equally well.
In the popular imagination, a person who submits to hypnosis falls into a trance. The subject slavishly follows the hypnotist’s commands, perhaps to squawk like a chicken, re-enact events from childhood or develop a lasting aversion to cigarettes. When the su
Chronic inflammation comprises a vast array of diseases that affect millions of people worldwide. Chronic inflammatory diseases include asthma, arthritis, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune diseases and allergies, to name but a few.
A common theme to all of the above diseases is that the inflammatory response, originally aimed at recognizing and eliminating foreign “pathogens” or damaging agents, overreacts to them and causes tissue damage that can be detriment
As a result, governments and health officials need to begin to think about how to respond to an anticipated increase in the number and scope of climate-related health crises, ranging from killer heat waves and famine, to floods and waves of infectious diseases.
That, in a nutshell, was the message delivered to scientists here today (Feb. 20) at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) by Jonathan A. Patz, an authority on the human health
New biomolecular technologies have largely failed to deliver the hoped-for knockout punch breakthrough against the defences of disease-causing bacteria, says a leading Canadian specialist in antibiotic resistance.
Techniques such as genomic sequencing and high throughput screening were expected to make the development of new antibiotic compounds easier and more productive. But in most cases the microbes continue to hold the upper hand – and if three billion years of bacterial his
New mathematical model predicts live-saving benefits of different screening schedules
Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have devised a mathematical tool that predicts how the frequency of mammograms affects the number of lives saved by detecting breast cancers at an earlier stage. With screening guidelines and financial coverage varying among health systems and insurers – sometimes dramatically – the model provides quantitative predictions of the mortality ben
Technique reveals new method for better bone grafts
Tissue engineers can choose from a wide range of living cells, biomaterials and proteins to repair a bone defect. But finding the optimum combination requires improved methods for tracking the healing process.
New Georgia Tech research points to better ways to heal and regenerate bones using microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) imaging — a process 1 million times more detailed than a traditional CT scan. The new micro
A form of beta blocker, a drug commonly used to lower blood pressure and ward off repeat heart attacks, may provide the answer to preventing osteoporosis, said a Baylor College of Medicine researcher.
In a report that appears online today in the journal Nature, Dr. Gerard Karsenty, BCM professor of molecular and human genetics, and his colleagues demonstrate in mice that the sympathetic nervous system mediates the resorption or destruction of bone through a special receptor on
How do pollen particles provoke allergic reactions? A new study in the February 21 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine puts some of the blame on bioactive molecules that are released from pollen. These molecules bind to immune cells and cause them to launch a typical allergy-promoting immune response. Pollen from plants exposed to air pollutants produce more of these allergy-provoking compounds than do pollen from unpolluted areas, possibly explaining why allergies are more preval
Prospects for a safe, effective AIDS vaccine are improving as researchers from the public and private sectors begin to collaborate in new and creative ways, researchers said today at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
According to the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) approximately 39 million people are living with HIV, and an estimated 4.9 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2004 alone.
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People who live with migraine headaches show a “riskier” profile for cardiovascular disease than those without migraines, according to a new study published in the February 22 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The large population-based study was conducted among 5,755 participants in the Netherlands. Researchers identified 620 people with migraine in the group from 5,135 people without migraine.
The study provided a cardiovascul
Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have found an explanation for why some lung cancers stop responding to the drugs erlotinib (TarcevaTM) and gefitinib (Iressa®). This discovery may lead to the development of new therapies to use when these agents stop working. The research is to be published online in the open-access international journal PLoS Medicine on February 22, 2005.*
Gefitinib and erlotinib are so-called targeted therapies, in that they halt t
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