Nightmares of doctors or dentists with oversized hypodermic needles could soon be a thing of the past. A new painless way of delivering drugs through the skin is described in the journal BMC Medicine this week – and needles are not involved.
The technique, called microscission, uses a stream of gas to bombard small areas of the skin with tiny crystals of inert aluminium oxide. The sharp particles remove the rough surface-layer of the skin, and create tiny holes, known as microconduits, in t
Patients with inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, chronic infections and some types of cancer, often become anemic – a condition called anemia of chronic disease (ACD). While ACD rarely kills patients, it can make their lives miserable. A discovery at EMBL, in collaboration with researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, now links the gene HFE to ACD. The HFE gene is mutated in patients suffering from the common iron overload disease hemochromatosis. This finding gives
Speaking at Experimental Biology 2004, Dr. Mina Bissell describes research showing how manipulation of the extracellular matrix (a network of fibrous and globular proteins that surrounds breast cells) of non-malignant breast cells can lead to genomic instability via oxidative damage. She describes how manipulation of the microenvironment can allow malignant breast cancer cells to revert to normal cells again. She also describes how the tissue culture of the extracellular matrix affects the cancerous
Results of a small trial in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggest that electrical stimulation of the sacral nerve could be a future treatment option for faecal incontinence.
Anal incontinence affects an estimated 2% of the general population. Prevalence rises with age, affecting up to 11% of men and 26% of women after age 50 years. Treatment options are limited for patients with faecal incontinence in whom conservative treatment (eg, alterations to diet, pelvic-floor exercise to increase
A breast cancer treatment based on MIT radar research that was originally aimed at detecting space-borne missiles is showing promise in the final phase of clinical testing.
Preliminary results to be presented on Wednesday, April 21 at the 9th International Congress on Hyperthermic Oncology in St. Louis show that women with early-stage breast cancer who received the MIT treatment prior to lumpectomy had a 43 percent reduction in the incidence rate of cancer cells found close to the surgica
Each year over 50,000 patients undergo life-saving kidney, liver, or heart and lung transplant surgery. Unfortunately, organ transplantation remains a significant challenge because of the shortage of organ donors and differences in tissue type between donor and recipient that can cause rejection of the donor organ by the recipient’s immune system. If this rejection reaction is not successfully treated through the administration of immunosuppressive drugs, the donor organ is normally destroyed wi
The occurrence of avian influenza in humans is a reminder of the vulnerability of people to an emerging pandemic, Mayo Clinic researchers warn in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Mayo Clinic researchers review the latest outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1 strain) that occurred recently among poultry in eight Asian countries. The researchers review current knowledge about avian influenza and how to manage this emerging disease.
ÒAn immediate prio
A research team comprising of an ergonomist, autism expert and interactive design and media artists, are using ergonomics to design an interactive, polysensory environment for children with ASD (autistic spectrum disorders) to meet the youngsters’ needs in a way that can be tailorable to specific needs.
Delegates to the Ergonomics Society Annual Conference in Swansea this week (14-16 April) will hear from Andree Woodcock, a member of the project team, on how they plan to use the latest mult
Dutch researcher Niels Prins has discovered that elderly people with a lot of damage to the small blood vessels in the brain have a greater chance of developing dementia or depression. The damage is visible on MRI scans as white matter lesions and infarcts of the brain.
Elderly people with serious white matter abnormalities and infarcts were found to deteriorate more quickly in their cognitive functioning than peers with fewer abnormalities. In particular, the processing of information was
A new guideline refutes the current thinking that people with a heart condition called a patent foramen ovale (PFO) who have had a stroke are at greater risk of having a second stroke. The guideline, developed by the American Academy of Neurology, determined that people with a PFO who suffer a stroke with no known cause and receive treatment are at no greater risk of having a second stroke than those who had a stroke and did not have a PFO. The guideline is published in the April 13 issue of Neurolog
Laparoscopy (‘keyhole surgery’) for colorectal cancer could be the future treatment of choice after results of a study from Hong Kong in this week’s issue of THE LANCET show how it is associated with a similar 5-year survival outcome and more favourable recovery time than conventional surgery.
Colorectal cancer is one of the commonest forms of cancer worldwide. Laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer was first introduced a decade ago, although its long-term benefits (5-year survival rate
Oxford Researchers have developed a new, simple, design of accessory MR surface coil which significantly enhances the quality and clarity of deep organ MRI images.
A new design of magnetic resonance imaging surface coil has been developed in which the location, size and improved homogeneity of the magnetic field within the, so called, “sweet spot” of the field coil have been optimised to enhance both the quality and clarity of MRI images of organs located deep in the human body. The device
A study just completed by researchers at the Josephine Ford Cancer Center has resulted in the most comprehensive long-term prostate cancer survival model available to date. An interactive version of the survival model is available online at prostatecalculator.org. Patients and doctors who visit the site can obtain a personalized 10-year survival estimate based on age, race, a few clinical measures, and the kind of treatment being pursued. Once data have been entered, a simple mouse-click provides the
As attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects around 1 in every 25 school-aged children, managing this condition is of huge social importance. An article published in BMC Psychiatry this week shows that zinc supplements could increase the effectiveness of stimulants used to treat children with the disease. The effects of ADHD on individual children differ, but symptoms include inattention, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Stimulants are the most common treatment prescribed, but
Review article from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in New England Journal of Medicine
The cure rate for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) might continue to rise with improved use of conventional therapies. But even more effective and less toxic therapies based on genetic and pharmacogenetic studies might one day push the success rate close to 100 percent, according to an article published by investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the Apri
The way researchers currently assess changes in psychological distress may be wrong and lead to misleading and disappointing results. These are the conclusions of a paper published in the third 2004 issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics by three investigators of the University of Bologna (Giovanni A. Fava, Chiara Ruini and Chiara Rafanelli).
Their conclusions are supported by accompanying editorials by Per Bech (Denmark) Carlo Faravelli (Italy) and Andrew Nierenberg (USA)
Psych
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