A new report by the Centre for Drug Misuse Research at the University of Glasgow reveals that the number of people misusing heroin in Scotland has dropped. The research shows a near eight per cent drop in the number of problem drug users since 2000.
The report entitled “Estimating the National and Local Prevalence of Problem Drug Use in Scotland, 2003” found that the estimated number of people misusing opiates and/or benzodiazepines had fallen from 55,800 in 2000 – the first yea
A new London research centre for the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease is launched today.
Cardiovascular disease is one of the biggest contributors to the global burden of disease, and by 2020 will be the number one contributor according to figures from the World Health Organisation. In response, the International Centre for Circulatory Health (ICCH) has been set up by Imperial College London and St Mary’s NHS Trust as an international research centre to develop
Researchers Identify Factors Associated with Abstinent and Non-Abstinent Recovery
More than one-third (35.9 percent) of U.S. adults with alcohol dependence (alcoholism) that began more than one year ago are now in full recovery, according to an article in the current issue of Addiction. The fully recovered individuals show symptoms of neither alcohol dependence nor alcohol abuse and either abstain or drink at levels below those known to increase relapse risk. They include roughly e
The Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) is seeking clarification on allegations about grapefruit-drug interactions made without appropriate scientific support in a University of Rochester Medical Center’s press release dated January 17th. The FDOC’s first priority is the health of consumers in regards to possible interactions between grapefruit and certain drugs.
“The conclusions concerning death and pregnancy made in the University of Rochester Medical Center’s pre
Scientists have uncovered critical information that may lead to an urgently needed method for effective monitoring of antiangiogenic cancer therapies. The research, published in the January issue of Cancer Cell, is likely to facilitate development of new antiangiogenic drugs or treatment strategies and allow for accurate determination of the optimal drug doses to use for such therapies.
Antiangiogenic cancer therapy targets the formation of new blood vessels used to support tumor
A new research study published in the January issue of Cancer Cell provides exciting new information about how to boost the effectiveness of a promising cancer treatment that targets telomeres in an attempt to interfere with the ability of a cancer cell to continuously divide.
Telomeres are DNA sequences found at the ends of chromosomes that play a key role in controlling the life span of cells. With every cell division, telomeres get a bit shorter until eventually they becom
The latest findings in cancer vaccine development suggest that cancer vaccines may have two modes of action; specific immunization and non-specific activation of immune cells paralyzed by the tumor.
The human immune system fights cancer partly through the production of many populations of specialized immune cells called cytolytic T cells (CTL). Each CTL population recognizes a different, specific marker, an ’antigen’, on the cancer cell surface. Cancer vaccines are d
In two articles, published in Circulation, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine provide further evidence for the role of cyclooxygenases (COX) in heart-disease risk. In one, a statistical meta-analysis of two placebo-controlled trials, the COX-2 inhibitor Bextra elevated the combined incidence of heart attack and stroke three-fold in coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery patients. In the second, the investigators found that a fat produced by COX-1 speeds ha
Grapefruit juice can be deadly for people on certain medications, nurse researchers remind doctors, nurses, and everyone who takes medicine and enjoys grapefruit juice, in a paper in the American Journal of Nursing, a journal of the American Nurses Association.
Amy Karch, R.N., M.S., of the School of Nursing at the University of Rochester Medical Center reported on a man from a northern climate who moved to Florida for the winter – one of tens of thousands of “snowbirds” who head so
Mayo Clinic researchers studying endometrial cancer have found that patients at risk for relapse based on identified risk factors had a 46 percent probability of experiencing recurrence within five years despite treatment with state-of-the-art therapy.
The study’s findings are important for women deemed at risk because they might need additional treatment, which physicians should consider in their treatment plans for their patients, says Karl Podratz, M.D., Ph.D., the study
New understanding of the dynamic interplay between genes and environment, made possible by technologies arising from the Human Genome Project, helps support the individualization of medicine and makes focusing on racial or ethnic group differences in disease less relevant, say Penn State researchers.
“Technology has given us the ability to make a much more comprehensive picture of health outcomes,” says Dr. Keith Whitfield, associate professor of biobehavioral health. “We now see,
Modern proverbs to illustrate great truths about public health principles
It’s time to add to our store of proverbs with new phrases that teach us how to be healthier, says a University of Toronto researcher.
In a paper published in the Dec. 2004 issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Bernard Choi, a professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences, suggests that we need to create new science-based proverbs that reflect current information about
Teenage mothers often focus on instrumental behaviour rather than displaying affection towards infants
Mothers who are more mature tend to display more affection towards their infants whereas teenage mothers often focus on instrumental behaviour – fixing their infant’s clothes or their soother – finds a new study of maternal behaviour.
“While the study is still preliminary, this finding was very surprising,” says Katherine Krpan, lead author of the study, conducted as
New health economic data published in the European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy outline the cost benefits of the non-steroidal anti-androgen bicalutamide 150mg for the treatment of locally advanced prostate cancer. By delaying disease progression in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer, bicalutamide 150mg reduces the additional healthcare costs associated with treating advanced disease.
The paper by Dr Heather Payne, Middlesex Hospital UCL, London states that bicalutam
Researchers of a study published in the latest issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry tested the hypothesis that low doses of gamma radiation have beneficial effects. Researchers Rudy Boonstra, Richard G. Manzon, Steve Mihok, and Julie E. Helson found that low, chronic doses of gamma radiation produced apparent hormetic effects associated with an increase in longevity in natural populations of meadow voles.
Hormesis is defined as a phenomenon where low doses of an otherwise ha
Behavioral and emotional difficulties are found in children with obstructive sleep apnea, but they improve after treatment, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
“Sleep-disordered breathing in children is most commonly caused by adenotonsillar hypertrophy [enlarged adenoids and tonsils], and tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (T & A) is curative in 85 percent to 95 percent of cases,” according
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