Monitoring and managing asthma important for healthy mother and baby
The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) is issuing the first new guidelines in more than a decade for managing asthma during pregnancy. The report reflects new medications that have emerged and updates treatment recommendations for pregnant women with asthma based on a systematic review of data on the safety of asthma medications during pregnancy. An executive summary (“Quick Reference”)
US researchers have uncovered reasons why the Mediterranean diet, with its high intake of oleic acid-rich olive oil, seems to protect against breast cancer. They have also found evidence that oleic acid may have a future role in treatment. The findings are reported today (Monday 10 January) in Annals of Oncology[1].
The researchers have demonstrated in a series of laboratory experiments on breast cancer cell lines that oleic acid dramatically cuts the levels of an oncogene called
Real exercise capacity wasn’t improved for men or women, young or old by either acute or long-term ascorbic acid ingestion; earlier studies had showed reduced oxidative stress indicating possibility of exercise boost
Orange juice or other sources of vitamin C (ascorbic acid), may (or may not) benefit you in terms of health and exercise, but contrary to what many people thought previously, ascorbic acid doesn’t seem to help physical exercise performance. And in terms of su
Promising new evidence for the optimal use of biologic therapies
A major cause of pain and disability, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is also potentially the most treatable form of chronic arthritis. Researchers, doctors, and patients agree that a group of drugs called disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) can effectively reduce joint pain and stiffness. Yet, even when prescribed early and aggressively, DMARDs alone do not guarantee the desired outcome: the rapid and prolonged su
Smaller lymph nodes commonly seen on abdominal CT scans in “healthy” people are not clinically significant and require no further imaging, a new study confirms. The study was performed because there is no standard as to what should be done about these patients so they often undergo additional testing to rule out inflammation, cancer or other diseases.
Researchers examined CT scans of 120 patients treated in the emergency room following blunt abdominal trauma that had no history of
A discovery by a Mayo Clinic research team may pave the way for the creation of new drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) lung disease, which affects an estimated 500,000 patients in the United States. Currently, there are no effective treatments for RA lung disease.
In a paper that appears in today’s online version of the Jan. 13 edition of Arthritis & Rheumatism, the researchers report that RA lung disease may operate much differently from other forms of lung disease. If f
Cancer researchers at Jefferson Medical College and the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia have found that zinc treatment may help prevent esophageal and oral cancers in those individuals at high risk.
Oral and esophageal cancers are associated with nutritional zinc deficiency, and a rise in the expression of the enzyme COX-2 is connected with these cancers. Louise Fong, Ph.D., assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at Jefferson Medical
The same heightened electrical activity that indicates an adult taking a treadmill test isn’t getting enough oxygen to his heart is now being measured during labor to see if it can better identify babies in serious distress who need immediate delivery. The Medical College of Georgia in Augusta is the lead site in the nation to help determine whether monitoring ST segment activity during labor reduces the number of babies born with hypoxic brain damage as well as unnecessary Caesarean secti
The American Council for Headache Education (ACHE) launches its new Patient Education Page (PEP) in the journal, Headache. The page is a public service of ACHE, the patient education affiliate of the American Headache Society (AHS) and includes concise information that is useful for both patients and physicians. January’s page covers Menstrual Migraine: What You Should Know.
This first patient handout outlines migraine definitions, what to do, and various therapies that women ca
For the 350 million people chronically infected with HBV, the two therapeutic approaches currently available are immunomodulatory agents and antiviral chemotherapy. The first therapeutic agent was interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha), whose dual mode of action includes both antiviral and immunomodulatory effects. Unfortunately, extended IFN-alpha treatment is effective in no more than 15-25% of patients, and is associated with a wide spectrum of adverse reactions, although these limitations will be parti
Fewer than half of patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer had received a screening procedure at least six months prior to their diagnosis, according to a new study. Researchers writing in the February 15, 2005 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, further say almost 94 percent of colorectal cancer patients had either not undergone a colonoscopy at all, or not until having the procedure that led to their diagnosis.
Professional societies un
Additional imaging tests help spare critical vessels, preserve sexual function
Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center are using innovative planning techniques to help men with prostate cancer avoid erectile dysfunction after radiation treatment.
By using MRI scans in addition to CT scans, radiation oncologists can identify the blood vessels that control erectile function and plan treatment to target the prostate more precisely, sparing those
Research published in Science sheds light on cancer mechanisms, could lead to potential treatment approach
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have identified how a single aberrant cell can duplicate to form cancerous tumors, suggesting a specific protein mechanism as a target for the treatment of cancer, they report in a paper titled “Spindle Multipolarity Is Prevented by Centrosomal Clustering,” published in the Jan. 7 issue of Science.
The team, led by Wi
Adults with pre-diabetes can lose up to 3 percent of their body weight using diet, exercise and behavioral strategies, according to a systematic review of studies that analyzed weight-loss strategies for pre-diabetics.
Weight loss is recognized as one of the better ways to keep pre-diabetes from turning into full-blown diabetes, experts say.
In their examination of nine studies that included a total of 5,168 participants, Susan L. Norris, M.D., M.P.H., of the Centers for
Bone-disorder experts from across Europe have turned to the web in a unique alliance that will improve patient care.
The European Skeletal Dysplasia Network (ESDN), which was developed by The University of Manchester, links eight institutions in six different countries by means of a secure web portal. The hi-tech referral system means a patient, say, in Italy could have their case referred to a bone specialist in Belgium and a genetics expert in Manchester, while a laboratory
Whether it’s the look of love, happiness, or the look of fear, humans use facial expressions to communicate important information to one another. But which parts of the brain read these cues, and how do they do it? A paper in this week’s Nature by a group of international scientists, including Professor Philippe Schyns from the University of Glasgow, offers new insights into how we recognize fear in people’s eyes.
The study focuses on a case study of a 38-year-old w
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