The paternalistic attitude of Japanese physicians towards their patients is outdated. According to a new study in BMC Family Practice, patients in Japan want to play a more active role in making decisions about their treatment.
The study found that, “the majority of Japanese patients have positive attitudes towards participation in medical decision making if adequate information is provided”. 30% of those questioned went as far as saying that they would like to have the final say on which tr
As the number of breast cancer patients rises, and hospitals struggle to meet the growing cost of healthcare provision, new research by physicists could help divert funds into frontline treatment such as chemotherapy drugs and better imaging technology.
Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in England and Wales and one in nine women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives. Research published today (Monday 1st March 2004) in the Institute of Physics journal Physics
More research is urgently needed says cancer surgeon
New treatments and more research are urgently needed in order to increase the numbers of adolescents who survive bone cancer, according to a leading cancer surgeon.
Osteosarcoma is the third most common cancer in young people*, yet during the past 20 years little research has been carried out into developing improved therapies, and survival rates have remained unchanged with only 54 per cent of patients alive after five ye
A new analysis of cancer figures for England[1] shows that the overall incidence among teenagers and young adults is rising, with the biggest increase among 20 to 24-year-olds, particularly in lymphoma, melanoma and germ cell tumours, including testicular germ cell tumours.
A news briefing at Teenage Cancer Trust’s Third International Conference on Adolescent Cancer today (Monday 1 March) was told that although cancer is still rare in this age group – around 1,500 cases a year in England –
Children who wore contact lenses overnight as part of their orthokeratology regime developed corneal ulcers, resulting in corneal scarring and vision loss. According to a case study from China, appearing in the March issue of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s clinical, peer-reviewed journal, Ophthalmology, six children, nine to 14 years of age, were treated for bacterial eye infections after wearing the contact lenses eight to 12 hours each night.
Orthokeratology is a controversi
A program in health clinics where physicians offer patients a cough and cold care kit containing over the counter medicines appears to significantly reduce unnecessary antibiotic use. Researchers from the Minnesota Antibiotic Resistance Collaborative (MARC) report their findings today at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“Providing cough and cold care kits does appear to be a useful tool to use with patients who have upper respiratory illness or acute bronchitis t
Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in Western societies. Unfavorable serum lipid levels, high cholesterol, high triglycerides and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, are well-known risk factors for atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. Familial combined hyperlipidemia (FCHL), characterized by these changes in patients serum is the most common familial lipid disorder predisposing to coronary heart disease. FCHL is observed in about 20% of coronary heart disease pati
The combination of two drugs – both partly effective for rheumatoid arthritis patients when given individually – could be an important development in substantially reducing symptoms and joint destruction for people with rheumatoid arthritis, conclude authors of a study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.
Rheumatoid arthritis affects around 1% of people worldwide. Etanercept and methotrexate are known to be effective in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis; however, no data exist on concurre
Stress is a well known culprit in disease, but now researchers have shown that stress can intensify the effects of relatively safe chemicals, making them very harmful to the brain and liver in animals and likely in humans, as well.
Even short-term exposure to specific chemicals — just 28 days — when combined with stress was enough to cause widespread cellular damage in the brain and liver of rats, said Mohamed Abou Donia, Ph.D., a Duke pharmacologist and senior author of the study.
Detecting and treating schizophrenia rapidly, following the onset of a first psychotic episode, improves the patients’ response to treatment, according to a study by a Yale researcher.
Thomas McGlashan, M.D., professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, said the length of time between the onset of psychosis and detection and treatment can stretch from several weeks to several years. This time span is a concern because the patient is sick and untreated and because there is some i
Scientists report that an unlikely molecule has emerged as an attractive target for development of therapeutics aimed at a diverse spectrum of tumors, including some malignancies that are resistant to conventional therapies. Two studies published online in Cancer Cell demonstrate that the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) is required for the survival of tumor cells and provide direct evidence that inhibition of IGF-R1 using selective small molecules represents a novel potential anticance
One of the methods for treating diseases that include cancer, arthritis and radiation sickness is challenged by new research by a team of scientists at University College London (UCL). The current orthodoxy on the role played by oxygen free radicals in the development of a number of diseases is called into question by the UCL team in a paper to be published in the 26th February edition of Nature, in research that may hold profound implications for the standard approach of the medical profession and p
Biomedical engineers at Lehigh University and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh probe causes of eustachian tube dysfunction in hopes of finding new treatments for ear infections
It will come as no surprise to parents that the most common illness among small children in America today is the middle-ear infection.
Each year, Americans spend $5 billion on ear infections. Doctors often prescribe two different antibiotics for the same infection. For more serious cases, they p
An international study has found that maintenance therapy with the drug infliximab, a monoclonal antibody used to treat Crohn’s disease, can prevent or delay the recurrence of fistulas, a common complication of that inflammatory bowel disorder. As reported in the February 26 New England Journal of Medicine, patients receiving infliximab on a regular basis were twice as likely to avoid fistula recurrence than were patients receiving a placebo.
The study was largely supported by the phar
A revolutionary device that could protect asthmatics from stifling air pollution has gone on show at the Science Museum. in London.
The PUREbreathe, a plastic device containing high tech filters to be worn in the mouth, has been unveiled as one of the star exhibits in the Science of Sport exhibition, the Science Museum’s latest blockbuster exploring the world of sport [which opened on Friday, February 13].
Sport scientist Dr Alison McConnell a researcher at Brunel University, in Ux
Depression is the most prevalent psychiatric disease. The number of new cases rises and the disease manifests itself at an earlier age.
Depression is lower in populations with higher fish consumption. This leads to the question whether there might be something in fish that prevents depression or more general that is required for proper functioning of the brain.
Fats are major structural components of brain tissue. These fats are special in that they contain DHA. DHA is a fatt
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