Two seemingly unrelated Native American children have one painful thing in common: juvenile Paget’s disease (JPD), an extremely rare, bone metabolism disorder. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Shriners Hospitals for Children, St. Louis, have discovered that the two patients also share an unusual genetic defect. The research team found that both patients are completely missing the gene for a recently discovered protein called osteoprotegerin, known to
Researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have found that women in a large study who used estrogen replacement therapy after menopause were at increased risk for ovarian cancer. The report was published in the July 17, 2002, issue of JAMA.* The scientists followed 44,241 women for approximately 20 years. Compared to postmenopausal women not using hormone replacement therapy, users of estrogen-only therapy had a 60 percent greater risk of developing ovarian cancer. The risk increased with
The annual sunburn is still a tradition for many Americans, with nearly 60 percent of young adults reporting at least one sunburn in the past year, according to a new study.
Sun damage is the leading preventable cause of both the most deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma, and of the most common forms, basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer, occurring in more than 1 million Americans annually. Sunburn represents severe skin damage and
Despite two decades of consistent warnings from public health authorities that pregnant women should not drink alcoholic beverages, the vast majority of widely used medical textbooks fail to communicate this message unequivocally, a new study reveals. Many texts, including those published recently, contradict these public health guidelines, researchers report in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. “Medical texts are used for training as well as for reference,” ob
A team of Johns Hopkins researchers has identified and successfully tested in animals a potential new treatment for liver cancer, a disease for which there are few effective treatments. Writing in the July 15 issue of Cancer Research, the scientists report that only cancer cells were killed when the compound, 3-bromopyruvate, was given to rabbits with experimental liver tumors. “It’s very exciting because we expected the compound to be pretty toxic, but somehow normal c
Disease-free survival from advanced prostate cancer could be almost doubled if hormone-suppression therapy is used during and after radiotherapy for a duration of 3 years, suggest authors of an international study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.
Long-term survival after radiotherapy for people with advanced prostate cancer is poor. Michel Bolla from University Hospital, Grenoble, France, and colleagues investigated the added value of long-term male-hormone (androgen) suppression in locally ad
Children in America are less likely to die during infancy than they were in previous years, less likely to smoke in 8th or 10th grade, and less likely to give birth during adolescence, according to the 6th annual report, America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2002. The report also noted improvements in some of the economic security indicators: children are more likely to have at least one working parent and to have health insurance. Moreover, children from ages 3 to 5 are mor
Dr. Irv Binik investigates pain during intercourse For some women sex can be uncomfortable. For others it can be downright painful. Dr. Irv Binik, a Psychology professor at McGill and director of the Royal Victoria Sex and Couples Therapy Service is trying to ease the pain. He has been studying the problem of sex-associated pain in women, paying particular attention to two recurrent acute conditions, pain during or after intercourse (dyspareunia) and involuntary spasms of the vagina (v
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked for additional information, but no additional clinical trials, as it considers approval of FluMist, an influenza vaccine delivered as a nasal spray. FluMist was invented by Hunein “John” Maassab after more than four decades of research at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Gaithersburg, Md.-based MedImmune has licensed the rights to FluMist from U-M, and has a marketing agreement with pharmaceutical giant Wyeth. “I am
A report in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation has found that a group of drugs currently under development for the treatment of Type II diabetes caused both increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure in animal studies. These new findings regarding glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) receptor agonists suggest that the brain’s GLP-1 system has the ability to affect autonomic function, leading to changes in heart rate and blood pressure. A naturally occurring
While most scientists believe that allergies cause asthma, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are uncovering a second potential cause for this common respiratory illness. Their new model suggests that a viral infection in the first years of life may leave a lasting mark on the immune system, causing chronic respiratory problems later on. “While the allergic response may increase during an asthma attack, our research suggests that the anti-viral response also
Interrupting anti-HIV treatment for an extended period and then re-initiating therapy might be safe in some patients, according to a study by Northwestern University infectious disease experts. Chad Achenbach, M.D., and co-investigators from The Feinberg School of Medicine presented data from their research today at the XIV International AIDS Conference. In an observational study, 25 HIV-infected patients with viral suppression for at least six months while receiving highly active a
Smokers who inherit a particular genetic trait could triple their chances of getting lung cancer according to a report in the British Journal of Cancer.* While tobacco is the biggest cause of lung cancer. the risk of developing it varies. This has led scientists to believe that genetics may have a crucial role in deciding who is most susceptible to the disease. German researchers have found that a quarter of patients with the most common form of lung cancer carry a particular version of a g
Eating a diet rich in soya products such as tofu can affect the make-up of breast tissue, potentially reducing the risk of breast cancer, according to a new study* from Cancer Research UK.
Scientists have previously suggested that soya intake might contribute to the low rates of breast cancer in countries like China and Japan but research has proved inconclusive.
However, the new findings from a collaborative study involving scientists from the National University of Singapore, Can
A study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET highlights a reduction in both HIV-1 incidence (the number of new cases) and prevalence (the number of cases in the population) from the beginning to the end of the past decade among a rural Ugandan population. Authors of the study conclude that the results could offer hope for other sub-Saharan countries where the HIV-1 infection rate remains high.
HIV-1 incidence rates in a community are a more accurate measure of epidemic trends than prevalence r
New screening techniques for Down`s syndrome are less effective than previously supposed, despite a government initiative to offer all pregnant women the new tests by 2004, finds a study in this week`s BMJ.
Researchers identified all cases of Down`s syndrome in eight district general hospitals in the Wessex region between 1994 and 1999. During these six years, 155,501 babies were delivered 335 cases of Down`s syndrome were identified.
Across the region, seven different screening pol
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