Over the past 20 years, there has been speculation about a connection between immunizations and an increase in autism. However, a study by Mayo Clinic researchers published in the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine suggests the increase may be due to improved awareness, changes in diagnostic criteria and availability of services, not environmental factors or immunizations.
“This study is the first to measure the incidence — the occurrence of new c
A multi-state outbreak of urinary tract infections caused by drug-resistant Escherichia coli was probably due to consumption of a contaminated food product of animal origin, such as meat or milk, according to an article in the Jan. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.
Urinary tract infections, or UTIs, are one of the most common infections in women. Although they are not typically considered “outbreak” diseases, it is likely that a cluster of UTIs resulti
An estrogen-like chemical commonly used to synthesize plastic food containers has been shown to encourage the growth of a specific category of prostate cancer cell, potentially affecting the treatment efficacy for a subset of prostate cancers.
According to a study published in the January 1 issue of Cancer Research, such prostate cancer cells proved to be vulnerable to exposure to the chemical BPA (bisophenol A), an industrial chemical and nonsteroidal environmental estrogen used
The polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common endocrine disorder among reproductive-age women, produces a wide variety of body changes with both physical and emotional implications for sufferers.
Many women with PCOS are found to have insulin resistance, a condition that allows excessive levels of insulin to circulate in the blood and increases the risk for Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. PCOS is also the leading cause of androgen excess in women. Although
Minimally invasive surgery to alleviate the pain and pressure of sinusitis is a safe, effective therapy for geriatric patients who can’t be helped by medication alone, according to new research.
“This tells us that we should not neglect sinus problems in the elderly; that if medicines don’t work, we have a surgical technique that is not that invasive and results in good outcomes,” says Dr. Stilianos E. Kountakis, otolaryngologist, vice chair of the Medical College of Geor
FINDINGS: UCLA researchers for the first time showed that advanced heart failure patients with diabetes who are treated with insulin faced a mortality rate four times higher than heart failure patients with diabetes treated with oral medications.
IMPACT: The new study may help raise awareness among physicians and patients of this previously unknown relationship between insulin use and increased mortality in advanced heart failure patients. More research is needed to ex
Johns Hopkins researchers, using a novel birthing simulator designed by biomedical engineering faculty, staff and students at the University, have identified what may be the least forceful way to deliver a baby whose shoulders are stuck in the birth canal.
Shoulder dystocia, in which the baby’s shoulders won’t move past the mother’s bony pelvis during delivery, occurs in about 5 percent of births. Of these, up to a quarter of deliveries may result in an injury to the baby’s brachi
10 specific recommendations offered
A survey of mothers in the January issue of Pediatrics found that physicians remain overwhelmingly negative in communicating a diagnosis of Down syndrome in newborn infants. Mothers reported that the majority of physicians were uninformed about the positive potential for children with Down syndrome, and rarely provided an adequate, up-to-date description of the children, printed information, or telephone numbers of other parents. By nearly all
Triple-drug antiretroviral regimens that are widely used in the United States and Europe against one HIV-1 subtype appear to be effective in South African patients infected with a different HIV-1 subtype who also have tuberculosis (TB) or Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), according to a study published in the Feb.1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online. The South African subtype, known as subtype C, is rapidly spreading in developing countries, where TB and KS are major factors
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have determined that in people age 55 to 75, a moderate program of physical exercise can significantly offset the potentially deadly mix of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes known as the metabolic syndrome. More specifically, the researchers found that exercise improved overall fitness, but the 23 percent fewer cases were more strongly linked to reductions in total and abdominal body fat and increases in muscle leanness, rather than improved fitness.
Study published in Dec. 30 Issue of NEJM
Results from two concurrent, prospective, double-blind, multi-center clinical trials show that pegaptanib (Macugen), an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy, is an effective treatment for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a paper in the Dec. 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Macugen was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Dec. 17.
AMD is the leading cause of irr
Study may revise clinical approach to invasive lobular breast carcinoma
Women with a rare type of advanced breast cancer who do not benefit from primary (pre-surgical) chemotherapy still have been found to do better in the long run than patients with a more common advanced breast cancer who do respond to chemotherapy.
Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center came to the surprising conclusion after discovering that chemotherapy response did not seem
Prostate cancer patients with high risk cancers who are treated with both internal and external radiation and hormone treatment have a better chance of beating the disease than patients treated with radiation alone, according to a new study published in the January 1, 2005, issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.
Since the late 1980s, doctors have been inc
Individuals with either calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate kidney stones should not take extra calcium on their own as suggested by previous research, but should check with their doctors to determine the dietary guidelines that work best for them, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have found.
Articles published by UT Southwestern researchers in the November issue of Kidney International and the December issue of the Journal of Urology showed that urinary c
Elderly women with cervical cancer face double jeopardy. Not only does their advanced age decrease chances of survival, it also decreases the likelihood that they’ll be given the most aggressive treatments for their disease, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The study is reported in the Jan. 1, 2005 issue of the journal Cancer.
“The aging of the U.S. population has increased interest in treatments for geriatric c
Information submitted via new drug applications could easily be made accessible to the public, he says
A researcher at Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center is calling upon the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to share more information provided by pharmaceutical companies regarding their clinical drug trials. This database could be freely accessible to health care providers, researchers and the public. Such a move would be cost
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