New research finds that deficiencies in the hippocampus play a key role in alcoholism-related Korsakoff’s syndrome, a memory disorder. The deficiencies are comparable to those found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in the December 23 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers used MRI to compare the brains of five men with alcoholic Korsakoff’s syndrome to 20 men with Alzheimer’s disease
A compound extracted from garlic is effective against even the most antibiotic-resistant strains of MRSA, the killer ‘hospital superbug’, and can cure patients with MRSA-infected wounds within weeks, according to new research by microbiologist Dr Ron Cutler of the University of East London (UEL).
In a paper to be published in the New Year, Dr Cutler, an expert in the antimicrobial properties of plant extracts, claims that allicin – a compound that occurs naturally in garlic – kills not only
Australian scientists have invented a simple device that is ready to help thousands of premature babies in third-world countries who suffer from respiratory difficulties – problems that can cause brain damage and blindness.
Dr Kurt Liffman of CSIRO Biomedical Devices says, “The Oxymix device is a simple, compact and inexpensive device to mix oxygen and atmospheric air”.
“The Oxymix was originally conceived for use in developing countries where hospitals have access to medical-grade
Fruits and vegetables are good for overall health, and a newly funded study at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) may show that certain vegetables, such as broccoli, also offer protection against prostate cancer.
UPCI researcher Shivendra Singh, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and urology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, has received a $1.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study prostate cancer prevention by phytochemicals found in br
Bacteria with resistance to multiple antibiotics will become more common in intensive care units unless hospitals improve their hygiene standards. Research published in Critical Care this week shows that there is an “unexpectedly high”level of transmission of bacteria between intensive care patients. Intensive care patients are especially vulnerable to picking up infections in hospital, due to their poor health. Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden found that 70% of intensive
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers have discovered a surprisingly straightforward mechanism that causes prostate cancer cells to develop resistance to cancer-fighting drugs. The studies also point to specific ways to improve drugs to prevent the problem of drug resistance in prostate tumors.
The researchers describe the molecular mechanism of resistance to anti-androgen therapy for prostate cancer in an advance online publication in the December 21, 2003, issue of the journal
“It’s all just part of getting old” may not be enough to explain the health problems that elderly people suffer, according to two Dutch researchers, writing in BMC Geriatrics this week. They think that the infirmities associated with old age are symptoms of diseases contracted during life. When doctors consider how to treat elderly patients, they are likely to think, ’is this patient ill, or just old? Can their complaints be explained by the “normal ageing process” or does the pati
In one of the clearest models of cancer metastasis, scientists have shown that spreading cancer cells receive growth-sustaining signals from nearby blood vessels telling them where to go for permanent nourishment and oxygen.
These signals actually protect the fledgling cancer cells long before new blood vessels have grown around the cancer to supply it with a more permanent source of nutrients and oxygen, said the researchers from the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Their result
Researchers find oral sex, masturbating linked to recurrent infections
Women may blame their husbands or boyfriends for headaches, tears and stress. But they can’t be blamed for those nasty recurrent yeast infections, contrary to popular belief.
A new study by University of Michigan Health System researchers finds that the presence of yeast in male sex partners do not make women more prone to recurrent yeast infections. Certain sexual activities, however, were linked to
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that the absence of two proteins cells use to cope with heat stress can make it easier for the cells to become cancerous, but that same absence also makes it harder for cancerous cells to survive exposure to heat and radiation.
The findings mark the two proteins, Heat shock protein (Hsp) 70.1 and 70.3, as potential targets for gene therapy that could increase cancer cells’ vulnerability to treatments.
A combination of drugs is significantly more effective than either drug alone for preventing progression of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), especially in men at high risk for disease progression, according to a study appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine tomorrow.
The Medical Therapy of Prostatic Symptoms (MTOPS) Trial tested whether finasteride (Proscar), doxazosin (Cardura) or a combination of the drugs could prevent progression of BPH and the need for surgery or other inva
Research News from British Journal of Surgery
The surgery needed to remove throat tumours is severe and often involves drawing the stomach higher into the chest cavity. Before surgeons embark on this risky procedure they need to believe that the patient has a good chance of benefiting from the operation.
Endoscopic ultrasonography is a fairly new technique, and so far there has been relatively little use of it in the UK. But a study of 150 patients with throat cancer found th
Resurgence may be due to greater resistance to pesticides, socioeconomic conditions
“Bed bugs were once a common urban plague. But with the development of synthetic insecticides such as DDT and spray systems during the Second World War, they were largely eliminated,” says Dr. Tim Myles, an urban entomologist and author of the study published U of T’s Centre for Urban and Community Studies in a recent research bulletin.
Reports of bed bugs by Toronto pest control companies a
Physicians and researchers at the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center found that children with sickle cell disease who are exposed to tobacco smoke in the home have more complications from the disease than those who live in a smoke-free environment. The study was published in the December issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
“Exposure to environmental or passive tobacco smoke increased the risk of sickle cell crisis by 90 percent, and was not influenced by
Saint Louis University researchers receive a patent after decades of research.
Can the common cold ever be a good thing? It is if you’ve figured out a way to genetically engineer the virus so that it fights and kills cancerous cells – while leaving healthy cells intact.
That’s been the work of Dr. William Wold and his colleagues at Saint Louis University School of Medicine for the last 30 years.
“The potential is understandably huge,” said Wold, whose wor
Knowledge could lead to new vaccines, treatments, detection and decontamination technologies
In the age-old battle between man and microbe, it pays to know your enemy. This is especially true for Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax. Tiny spores of this highly infectious pathogen can survive drought, bitter cold and other harsh conditions for decades, yet still germinate almost instantly to infect and kill once inside an animal or human host.
In a collaborat
Feedback
