Ein innovativer Versuch eines Tests, von traditionellen chinesischen Arzneimitteln mit westlichen Forschungsmethoden, wurde von Onkologen in Hongkong entwickelt, um den Stellenwert der chinesischen Arzneimitteltherapie innerhalb eines Programms zur konventionellen Behandlung zu beurteilen.
Bei seiner (19 Oktober 2002) Rede auf dem Kongress der European Society for Medical Oncology in Nizza, Frankreich, sagte Dr. Tony Mok von der Chinese University of Hongkong, “Sehr viele Personen in China
Early results of North American trials of chemotherapy drug oxaliplatin
For patients with bowel cancer that has spread to other organs despite treatment there has been little hope until now. However, early results of trials in North America of a chemotherapy drug called oxaliplatin, given in conjunction with two standard drugs, 5-FU and leucovorin, delay tumour progression by 70% compared with the control component of the study. There is also a significant improvement in the symptoms
Work stress is associated with a doubling of the risk of death from heart disease, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.
Researchers followed 812 healthy employees (545 men, 267 women) of a company in Finland for an average of 25 years. They gathered data on stress, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and body mass index by questionnaire, interviews, and clinical examinations. Cardiovascular deaths were calculated using the national mortality register.
They found that job strain (high w
Scientists from the McKusick-Nathans Institute for Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins may have discovered why a rare genetic disease is more common in children born to older fathers. The disease, Apert syndrome, leads to webbed fingers and early fusion of the skull bones and must be corrected by surgery.
While Apert syndrome itself affects only 1 in 160,000 births, the scientists believe their findings could extend to many of the 20 or so other genetic conditions similarly linked to older fa
Ageing does not only affect the way we look from outside; the microbiota living in our gut also changes with age. The intestinal microbiota of infants is quite well identified, but only 8% of the microbes in elderly people can be characterised at the moment.
We all carry inside us millions of mostly beneficial bacteria that help us manage our diet successfully and maintain our health, although we seldom realise it. So far, the composition of our microbiota is still an area that we know rathe
Elderly people who suffer from depression can take the edge off faster by using a drug called mirtazapine, which appears to work more quickly compared to rival drugs. These results come from a study by researchers at Stanford University Medical Center who compared two drugs in an eight-week trial. Although both drugs treated the depression, mirtazapine began working sooner and eased the patient’s anxiety – a common effect of depression in elderly people.
“There’s a sense that we n
Heat-denatured p24 Antigen Tests Can Cut Cost of HIV Progression Monitoring
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Zurich, Switzerland, have identified a test for monitoring the progression of HIV in the early stages of the disease that is less expensive than current tests used to monitor the progression of HIV. The test, called HIV-1 protein 24 (p24) antigen, predicts disease progression as well as CD4 lymphocyte count and HIV-1 RNA v
Baseball fans might want to add a little more sauerkraut to their hot dogs: Researchers have identified compounds in the tangy topping, made from fermented cabbage, that may fight cancer. Their study will appear in the Oct. 23 print issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
The researchers found that the process of fermenting cabbage produces isothiocyanates, a class of comp
Women with low folic acid levels are at a significantly increased risk of having an early, naturally occurring termination of their pregnancy, according to an article in the October 16 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
According to background information in the article, both folate deficiency and folic acid supplements have been reported to increase the risk of spontaneous abortion, which refers to the naturally occurring termination of a pregnancy – end of th
Women seem to be less susceptible than men to stress and serious stress-related illnesses because of the protective properties of the sex hormone oestrogen, according to a recent study of nurses by the University of Greenwich.
The study indicates that oestrogen reduces the production of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline which, when secreted during long periods of stress, can cause major illnesses such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and osteoporosis.
The urine of 315 ma
A chemical cousin of anti-anxiety medications, such as Valium and Xanax, significantly reduces kidney inflammation in mice inbred to develop a disease resembling human systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of California-Berkeley have found.
Their research, described in the Oct. 16 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, also reveals the novel mechanism by which the compound works, a discovery that could lead to safer and mor
Patterns of proteins found in patients’ blood serum may help distinguish between prostate cancer and benign conditions, scientists from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute*. The technique, which relies on a simple test using a drop of blood, may be useful in deciding whether to perform a biopsy in men with elevated prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels.
Using a test that can analyze
A new study from Johns Hopkins finds that some patients diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) lack any of the more than 1,000 reported disease-causing mutations in the only known CF gene. Scheduled for presentation Oct. 18 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Human Genetics in Baltimore, the findings also recently appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The discovery may mean that another gene, as yet unidentified, is to blame for these cases, or perhaps these patients r
Deguelin may inhibit growth of Akt, an essential molecule in the promotion of precancer
The use of deguelin, a natural plant extract most commonly used as an insecticide in Africa and South American, inhibits the growth of precancerous and cancerous lung cells, with no toxic effects on normal cells, according to a study presented today at the first annual Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting convened by the American Association for Cancer Research. The role of deguelin as a
Researchers have found that immediately treating people who have early stage glaucoma can delay progression of the disease. This finding supports the medical community’s emerging consensus that treatment to lower pressure inside the eye can slow glaucoma damage and subsequent vision loss. These results are reported in the October 2002 issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.
Scientists found that immediate treatment of newly-discovered primary open-angle glaucoma, the most common form of glaucoma
Findings are cover story of Oct. 15 issue of Cancer Research
Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute have successfully tested a new treatment for brain cancer by utilizing neural stem cells to track and destroy cancer cells within the brain. Scientists hope the encouraging results may eventually lead to an effective treatment for glioma, the most aggressive form of primary brain tumor in humans. The study, conducted in mice with experime
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