Adding folic acid to food can dramatically reduce the incidence of spina bifida and other birth defects. A study, published today in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, shows that the proportion of babies born with neural tube defects in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador dropped by 78% after the Canadian Government directed that folic acid must be added to flour, cornmeal and pasta. The study supports the continuation of this food fortification strategy.
The way that folic acid work
Patients needing second-time or “re-do” heart surgery have a new safer alternative. New findings show that an “off-pump” surgical procedure is performed safely and has improved outcomes for patients than traditional methods.
Due to a newly standardised approach and enhanced technology, doctors can perform this controversial surgery and eliminate the damaging effects of using a heart bypass machine. Off-pump surgery, also known as the “beating heart” method, is performed while the
Nursing study, co-authored by Case Western Reserve University professor, published in journal Pain
A study aimed at giving health care providers a better understanding of the multidimensional nature and effects of school-age children’s post-operative pain concludes that using imagery with analgesics reduced tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy pain and anxiety following surgery.
Findings of the study, “Imagery reduces children’s post-operative pain,” authored by Myra Ma
Treatment for prostate cancer leads to significant five-year declines in sexual and urinary function, according to a new study. However, general and other specific health-related quality of life factors, such as bowel function, are not affected. These findings come from the first prospective comparative study examining differences between normal aging and the effects of prostate cancer treatment, published in the November 1, 2004 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Societ
Pneumonia—one of the world’s deadliest diseases for young children in developing countries—could be treatable by the oral antibiotic amoxicillin rather than injectable penicillin, with implications for better health outcomes and reduced costs, conclude authors of an international study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.
Nearly 2 million children under 5 years of age die every year in developing countries from respiratory diseases such as pneumonia. Penicillin given by injection is t
Internationales Symposium “Hepatitis C und verwandte Viren” in Heidelberg / Viel versprechende Wirkstoffe in ersten klinischen Studien / Neues Zellsystem erlaubt Virusvermehrung im Labor
Anlässlich des 11. Internationalen Symposiums “Hepatitis C und verwandte Viren” vom 3. bis 7. Oktober 2004 in der Stadthalle Heidelberg lädt Professor Dr. Ralf Bartenschlager, Ärztlicher Direktor der Abteilung Molekulare Virologie des Universitätsklinikums Heidelberg und hauptverantwortlicher Organ
Researchers from the University of Warwick have found that routine physiotherapy for mild to moderate low back pain is no more effective than a single advice session with a physiotherapist.
UK physiotherapists treat around 1.3 million people for low back pain each year, but there is very little evidence for its effectiveness. International guidelines vary but generally recommend advice to remain active.
The study, published in this week’s British Medical Journal, involved
Results of a randomised trial in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggest that a single daily 400 mg dose of imatinib—known to be a first-choice treatment for gastro-intestinal stromal tumours (GIST)—is sufficient to induce a therapeutic response; a doubling of a daily dose can slightly improve progression-free survival for patients.
Imatinib is approved worldwide for use in GIST, tumours which do not respond to conventional chemotherapy, which have a prevalence of around 20 per 100,
A malaria parasite gene called pfcrt, already confirmed as the culprit behind resistance to the drug chloroquine in the malaria species Plasmodium falciparum, may be responsible for resistance to several other antimalarial drugs as well, a team of researchers reports in the 24 September issue of the journal Molecular Cell.
The discovery of pfcrt’s “central role” in malarial drug resistance could “help in the development of new therapeutic strategies that are effective against
Limited, low-dose infusions of a widely used anesthetic drug may relieve the often intolerable and debilitating pain of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), a Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center researcher found.
“This pain disorder is very difficult to treat. Currently-available therapies, at best, oftentimes only make the pain bearable for many CRPS sufferers,” said Ronald E. Harbut, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of anesthesiology, Penn State Hershey Medical Cente
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) revolutionised the medical world two decades ago, providing doctors with an unparalleled view inside the human body. Now, MRI-MARCB has taken MRI to a new level with a system that enhances image quality, reduces scan time and improves diagnosis.
Currently in use in several hospitals around the world, the MRI-MARCB system overcomes one of the principal problems in producing MR images of the brain and heart: movement. “Though MRI is an excellent non
Transplant surgeons at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia have found that a new combination of drugs results in fewer incidences of rejection in liver transplant patients than do current treatments.
Surgeons, led by Ignazio Marino, M.D., director of the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepato-biliary Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, analyzed the results of 50 liver transplant procedures they performed between 2000 and 2002. To try to prevent
New UCLA research published in Nature may lead to an effective alternative to antibiotic drugs for treating bacterial diseases.
UCLA microbiologists report the discovery of a new class of genetic elements, similar to retroviruses, that operate in bacteria, allowing them to diversify their proteins to bind to a large variety of receptors. The team discovered this fundamental mechanism in the most abundant life?forms on Earth: bacteriophages, the viruses that infect bacteria.
Eating more soy-rich foods could reduce the spread of breast cancer – a new study from the University of Ulster has revealed.
Dr Pamela Magee, from the School of Biomedical Sciences, has been investigating the effects of a group of dietary compounds, found almost exclusively in soy foods, in the prevention of cancer spread.
Dr Magee said: “Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer affecting women in the western world, with 950 women in Northern Ireland alone sufferin
More than 60,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer this year and will require special end-of-life or palliative care. According to practitioners, researchers and families there has been a lack of palliative care services for these patients. Thanks to new funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), McGill researchers will now be able to evaluate the most effective and efficient types and methods of palliative care.
Their programme, led by Robin Cohen of McGill’s D
An “old” drug has unique benefits for patients with acute myocardial infarction, a finding that may contribute to a new understanding of how heart attacks develop, according to an article in the July/August American Journal of Therapeutics.
In the definitive report, Dr. Marvin Bacaner of University of Minnesota describes the effects of the antiarrhythmic drug bretylium tosylate in preventing dangerous heart rhythm disorders and other complications after acute myocardial infarction (AM
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