Researchers working with Florida red tide discovered two new compounds that may treat mucus build-up associated with cystic fibrosis and similar lung diseases. Preliminary studies show these compounds improve the flow of mucus through the respiratory tract, allowing airways to clear more quickly and efficiently.
“These compounds are excellent candidates for the development of an entirely new class of drugs targeted for the treatment of mucociliary disease,” said Kenneth Olden, Ph.
Health educators and dietitians ought to be more precise the next time they advise Americans that “vegetables and fruit are good for you,” according to a study by a nutritional expert at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
That’s because a person who likes vegetables tends to have different food tastes and social habits from a person who prefers fruits. Lumping the two groups together may undercut the effectiveness of “better-health” educational campaigns that seek to
Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery can effectively control gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms in morbidly obese patients who had previous antireflux surgery, with the additional benefit of weight loss and improvement of co-morbidities, according to a study published in the November issue of the journal Obesity Surgery.
The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study found that gastric bypass is feasible and effective in controlling GERD in patients who had p
NorayBio, a bioinformatics company located at the Bizkaia Technological Park (Basque Country) and specialising in developing software for the biosciences, has launched a new software for cancer research on to the market – BITIA, primarily aimed at research centres and cancer wards in hospitals.
BITIA aims to help oncologists to answer the question that has been around for some time: Why is it that two patients with very similar pathology profiles respond in distinct ways to treat
Men using the female estrogen hormone replacement therapy (HRT) patches as treatment for advanced prostate cancer suffer fewer side effects than with other treatments, according to a new study reported in the latest issue of the Journal of Urology (December 2004). Scientists at Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust and Imperial College London have already shown that HRT patches have considerable potential as prostate cancer therapy. For the first time they have additionally shown that this therapy
The General Accounting Office estimates that there are some 1500 manufacturing and repacking facilities for dietary supplements in the US. These facilities produce approximately 29,000 unique formulations that are packed into more than 75,000 distinctly labeled products and made readily available to the public through supermarkets, retail outlets, the Internet and television infomercials.
Protecting the health of those that consume dietary supplements is of great importance to p
Findings have implications for treatment
A team of researchers, led by a Cardiff University professor, has discovered how the body regulates the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream. The findings, by Professor Paul Kemp of the Cardiff School of Biosciences, and colleagues at both Cardiff and Leeds Universities, will be published in the journal Science later this month. “The discovery could have important implications for understanding how the body adjusts to major changes in ox
Did your grandmother always tell you to “eat up your greens”? It appears that she may have known something scientists are only now discovering. When the substances produced in cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, sprouts or cauliflower are eaten, they could help in the fight against cancer.
A research team headed by Professor Alison Fiander, Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, at the Wales College Of Medicine, Cardiff University in the UKare asking wo
The ophthalmologist who pioneered customized LASIK surgery – supervision – now aims to further improve patients’ eyesight and minimize the risk of side effects. Patients should benefit from several recent discoveries, Scott MacRae, M.D., told an audience of eye doctors in a keynote address at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology last month.
The techniques appear crucial for minimizing unwanted side effects and allowing patients, most of whom now have visio
Levels of hepatitis C among young injecting drug users across London are reaching epidemic levels report researchers from Imperial College London, the Health Protection Agency and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
According to research published today in the British Medical Journal, four in ten new young injectors now has hepatitis C, while three per cent are now infected with HIV.
Hepatitis C, which can cause serious and sometimes fatal liver damage,
Infarct size reduced 60%+ by three different measures
Long an under-studied yet widely-used over-the-counter medication, acetaminophen over the last few years is becoming recognized for a range of potential therapeutic uses beyond headache and pain.
One promising area is cardiology, where researchers decided to test the “common wisdom” that acetaminophen had no potential in treating heart disease. This position has been popular in the medical community despite that fact
A vaccine that could reduce cervical cancer rates by 75 percent is safe and 95 percent effective, according to a study of 1,113 women in North America and Brazil.
The vaccine against the most common cancer-causing strains of human papillomavirus was 100 percent effective at preventing the persistent infections that cause cervical cancer, researchers report in the Nov. 13 issue of the British journal, The Lancet.
“This study provides objective evidence that this vaccine
In a Perspective article in the Nov. 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Fabio Cominelli, chief of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Virginia Health System reports that a dysregulated response by the innate immune system- the body’s initial, non-specific response to infection- may have more to do with the development of Crohn’s than acquired immunity, currently thought by many to be the most likely suspect.
Patients, physicians
A team led by a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine has developed vaccines that vastly reduce or eliminate dogs’ allergic reactions to three major food allergens: peanuts, milk and wheat. The vaccines’ benefits lasted at least three months.
The research, published in the Nov. 12 online edition of the journal Allergy and completed jointly with scientists at UC-San Francisco, UC-Davis and UC-Berkeley, is the first to reverse pre-existing food allergie
A study published in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction[1] today (Thursday 11 November), should help allay fears that removing anonymity from sperm donors might lead to problems for the children or for their biological fathers.
In the world’s first study to examine the feelings and experiences of adolescents who had been conceived through ’open-identity’ sperm donors, US researchers found that all but one of the 29 young people
Trials have raised questions on the current management and standard of care for advanced ovarian cancer (AOC). These controversies highlight implications for future clinical research and policy-making, as reviewed in an article published in the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer.
According to the paper, ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in women though unfortunately, the disease is only diagnosed at advanced stages. This study, led
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