A couple of minutes is all it takes to ’knock out’ bits of your brain for an hour, according to a new study by a University College London (UCL) team. The team have been working on ways to improve a method known as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and are now using their adapted version of TMS to investigate possible treatments for stroke patients or those with Parkinson’s disease.
In the latest issue of the journal Neuron, Professor John Rothwell and col
Researchers now have a much better picture of how follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), one of the most frequently used fertility drugs, works, and with it new ideas for creating a new generation of oral medications to treat infertility.
The exquisite detail of the images produced by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator Wayne A. Hendrickson and colleague Qing Fan begins to tell for the first time how the FSH hormone attaches to a key segment of its receptor on the ce
Heart patients with gastrointestinal complications should use low doses of aspirin combined with drugs that treat stomach ulcers rather than taking the anti-platelet drug Plavix, which has been thought to reduce bleeding ulcers, according to a gastroenterologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Physicians are challenged in treating heart patients who may be at high-risk for gastrointestinal bleeding from aspirin or other nonsteroidal
New Awareness Campaign Says “It’s Not Too Late” to Prevent the Disease
About 40 percent of adults ages 40 to 74 – or 41 million people – have pre-diabetes, a condition that raises a person’s risk for developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Studies show that while adults over 60 are at increased risk for type 2 diabetes, losing a small amount of weight and increasing physical activity is especially effective in reducing that risk among this age group.
According to a study published in the Jan. 18 issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, fecal occult blood test (FOBT) performed in-office as part of a digital rectal examination failed to detect potentially cancerous colon growths 95 percent of the time. Furthermore, an at-home FOBT was found to detect cancerous polyps less than 24 percent of the time. The entire study population received follow-up colonoscopies, regardless of whether they received digital FOBT or the at-home stool
Liver disease sometimes causes hepatic encephalopathy, which involves brain damage, personality changes, and intellectual impairment due to hyperammonemia (high levels of ammonia in the blood). However, the mechanisms involved in both learning and how liver disease leads to learning impairment are unclear.
In a new study led by Vicente Felipo of the Laboratory of Neurobiology at the Fundacion Valenciana de Investigaciones Biomedicas in Valencia, Spain and published in the February
Stem cell transplantation using umbilical cord blood is a standard treatment option for blood disorders in children, but not for adults, due to the difficulty of obtaining a sufficiently large dose of cells. To solve this problem, researchers from the University of Minnesota examined a new technique that combines two cord blood units from different donors for transplantation into adult or adolescent leukemia patients. Their study is to be published in the February 1, 2005, issue of Blood, the o
University of Pittsburgh findings published in leading European journal
Reduced blood concentrations of a protein called adiponectin appear to indicate a significant risk of cardiovascular disease in one of the first studies to focus on risk of the disorder among patients with diabetes mellitus type 1, previously known as juvenile diabetes. Recent studies suggest that adiponectin, a protein specific to fat tissue, is involved in obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Results of the
For decades, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was prescribed for postmenopausal women to protect them from cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, results from the Women’s Health Initiative questioned its effectiveness, which has led to more caution in prescribing and using HRT for this purpose.
So, are there other ways women can decrease their risk of heart disease? Yes – and new evidence shows that exercise may be the easiest. According to a new study, women who are more p
Additional evidence that a class of antidepressants can reduce the effectiveness of tamoxifen has been published by researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine, the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University.
Results of the trial are published in the current issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The large clinical trial confirmed data from an earlier study showing that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants may hinder th
New research published in the premier issue of Cell Metabolism finds that a single brain region is sufficient for normal control of blood sugar and activity level by the fat hormone leptin. The same region also exerts significant, though more modest, control over leptin’s effects on body weight. The findings in mice provide insight into potential mechanisms underlying type II diabetes and suggest new avenues for treatment, according to the researchers.
Secreted by fat cells, leptin
For patients with high-risk breast cancer treated with radical mastectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy, the addition of radiation therapy leads to better survival outcomes with few long-term toxic effects, according to a 20-year follow-up of a randomized trial, which appears in the January 19 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The British Columbia randomized radiation therapy trial was designed to determine the effect on survival of the addition of locoregional radiation
A naturally occurring hallucinogen advocated by some clinicians as a potent anti-addiction drug has been rigorously studied for the first time, confirming its ability to block alcohol craving in rodents, and clarifying how it works in the brain. The new research findings about the drug Ibogaine open the way for development of other drugs to reverse addiction without Ibogaine’s side effects, potentially adding to the small arsenal of drugs that effectively combat addiction.
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A model program featuring primary care physicians, nurses, and mental health providers working collaboratively to bring best-practice depression treatments into primary care clinics significantly improves health outcomes, quality of life, and depression care for adolescents (age 13-21), research team led by a UCLA investigator reports in the Jan 19, 2005, edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
After recent controversies about the safety and effectiveness of a
A simplified approach to the management of patients with an acute coronary syndrome (chest pain at rest or with mild exertion) can help ensure that precise risk-reducing strategies are followed to the letter by doctors and other caregivers of patients with this medical condition, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers.
“Many doctors think existing guidelines are lengthy and complex and therefore difficult to implement in the clinic and at home by patients,” says Roger S. Blumen
Physicians should avoid prescribing Bextra altogether, or use it only as a drug of last resort, says a researcher from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues in an editorial published on-line Jan. 17 in Circulation, a publication of the American Heart Association.
Curt D. Furberg, M.D., Ph.D., professor of public health sciences, and colleagues describe an analysis of two studies revealed that patients treated with Bextra after heart bypass surgery tripled the
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