Two studies in this week’s issue of THE LANCET highlight the public-health implications of blood transfusion as a possible route for infection by the prion protein responsible for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).
The death from vCJD of an individual in the UK who had previously received a blood transfusion from a donor who went on to have vCJD was announced on December 17, 2003. Robert Will from the National CJD Surveillance Unit, Edinburgh, UK and colleagues outline the process wh
A recent theory proposing that unsafe injections are a major cause of HIV-1 infection in sub-Saharan Africa is rejected by authors of an article in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.
During the past year, a group (D Gisselquist and colleagues) has argued that unsafe injections are a major mode of HIV-1 transmission in sub-Saharan Africa, with up to 40% of HIV-1 infections being attributed to unsafe injections. In this week’s issue of THE LANCET, an international group of experts* has identifie
Devoted to finding the most effective and safest blood-thinning recipe, Northwestern Memorial researchers present findings at National Stroke Conference
Aspirin dose and type may not matter when taken in combination with Plavix for the purpose of thinning blood and possibly reducing the risk of stroke in people with cerebrovascular disease, according to research presented today at the American Stroke Association’s 29th International Stroke Conference. The American Stroke Associat
Treating stroke is all a matter of timing: therapy delivered too late misses the critical window when neurons can still be saved. A report by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers shows that cooling the brain can lengthen the therapeutic window, giving doctors more time to protect brain cells.
The idea of cooling the brain isn’t new. Study leader Gary Steinberg, MD, PhD, the Lacroute-Hearst Professor of Neurosurgery and the Neurosciences, said he started cooling brains dur
Bacteria responsible for a lethal form of food poisoning may escape the immune system by hiding out in the gall bladder of seemingly healthy people. The finding by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine suggests that an unwitting food worker could transmit the bacteria to others by contaminating food products.
The bacteria, Listeria monocytogenes, can cause severe illness or death in people with weakened immune systems and may cause miscarriage in pregnant women. “Twenty to 40
American Stroke Association meeting report
A revolutionary tiny corkscrew that captures blood clots from vessels deep inside the brain can “almost instantly” reverse damage caused by ischemic stroke, according to the first report on the safety and efficacy of the device presented today at the American Stroke Association’s 29th International Stroke Conference.
Ischemic strokes are caused by a blood clot that blocks blood supply to the brain. Each year, about 700,000 Ameri
American Stroke Association meeting report
A new catheter device that diverts some blood from the lower body to the brain appears safe for treating acute stroke and may significantly reduce stroke complications – even after a critical treatment window has lapsed.
The results of this experimental study were reported today at the American Stroke Association’s 29th International Stroke Conference.
“The device treats stroke by a unique approach that increases blood
New research findings from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center (MUHC) provide hope for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), one of the most common and devastating diseases of the nervous system. These findings, published in today in Neuron, characterize an enzyme that plays a central role in the onset and progress of MS.
” We have identified a key enzyme that triggers MS-like disease in an animal model,” says MUHC neuroscientist and Professor of Medicine at McGi
Recent results from a phase IIA clinical trial on the use of tetrodotoxin – a neurotoxin extracted from puffer fish – in patients with refractory cancer pain show extremely promising results.
The study, reported in the January/February issue of the Journal Supportive Oncology, details the findings from the open-label dose finding trial, showing that the majority of patients who received the novel analgesic experienced either a complete or partial response to the agent. Overall, 68% (17/25) p
Researchers also find current immunosuppression drug therapy may be harmful for transplanted Islets
Treating pancreatic islet cells with a growth factor can dramatically reduce the number of these cells needed for transplants to reverse Type 1 diabetes, according to a study by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers. In the animal model study, researchers also found that the triple-drug immunosuppression therapy currently used after human islet cell transplants is harm
Dutch research has shown that a diet of low-fat products is better than smaller portions of normal high-fat food for preventing diabetes in obese people. Mice put on a low-fat diet were more sensitive to insulin than mice that received the same amount of energy in the form of high-fat food.
Martin Muurling put obese mice on different diets in which the total energy intake and the final body weight were the same. He then studied the effect of these diets on insulin sensitivity.
Mice
We all know that cancer happens more often in older people. The reason seems to be that cancer develops slowly, first passing through a series of benign stages. Our understanding of how cancer develops over a lifetime is limited by the extreme difficulty of monitoring these slow changes, but new work reported this week aids this effort by employing mathematical modelling to analyze epidemiological data on the relationship between age and cancer and generating ideas about how cancer progresses over ti
Project’s results might help officials battle emerging viruses such as bird flu
Researchers at the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s Sandia National Laboratories and Kansas State University have shown that chemical formulations previously developed at Sandia to decontaminate chemical and biological warfare agents are likely effective at killing the virus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
In a series of tests conducted at Kansas State on Bovi
DNA from inactivated “probiotic” bacteria triggers a specific anti-inflammation immune response in mice with experimental colitis, researchers supported by the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have discovered. Led by Eyal Raz, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), the investigators provide a possible explanation for the observed benefits of consuming probiotics, supplements from bacteria and other microbes, regarded by some as helpful in main
A Portland company is using an emerging microtechnology from Oregon State University to develop a portable kidney dialysis machine that will make in-home treatment a reality, enabling hundreds of thousands of people afflicted with kidney failure to treat themselves at home instead of traveling to dialysis clinics three days a week.
“Current dialysis machines are based on 30-year-old technology and employ filter systems that are only about 28 percent efficient,” said Michael Baker, chief exec
The outermost layer of the skin – the epidermis – is a rapidly renewing tissue and relies on the regenerative capacity of keratinocytes. Skin grafts using human cultured epidermal cells have been successful in treating patients with severe skin wounds. The notion that the ability to regenerate functional epidermal tissue is an exclusive property of epidermal stem cells is a general assumption in the stem cell biology field. In the February 2 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Pritinder K
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