ACTIVE-A and ACTIVE-I to continue

Study treatments for the ACTIVE W trial of the ACTIVE (Atrial Fibrillation Clopidogrel Trial with Irbesartan for Prevention of Vascular Events) program have been discontinued due to a significant difference in efficacy, in favour of the standard oral anticoagulation (OAC) over antiplatelet therapy (clopidogrel plus aspirin).

The ACTIVE trial, the largest randomised international trial program ever conducted in atrial fibrillation (AF), was

Registry Sheds Light on Procedure’s Risks and Benefits

Episodes of dangerously low blood glucose, or hypoglycemia, were greatly reduced in people who received an islet transplant for poorly controlled type 1 diabetes, according to an analysis of outcomes in 138 patients who had the procedure at 19 medical centers in the United States and Canada. This is one of the conclusions of the Collaborative Islet Transplant Registry (CITR), which tracks many factors affecting the success o

National study calls for more use of CT scans in evaluating spinal injury

A new national study indicates that patients with a cervical spinal injury (CSI) may harbor additional spinal damage not visible on regular x-rays. In fact, more than a third of patients who were thought to have low-risk injuries actually have additional damage that may include significant fractures with the potential to produce serious spinal problems if not detected and treated properly.

This s

New research shows that bacteria lurking in household dust produce chemicals that may trigger asthma and asthma-related symptoms such as wheezing. These bacterial chemicals, called endotoxins, particularly those found on bedroom floors, were linked with increased respiratory problems in adults. This study, supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a part of the National Institutes of Health, is the first nationwide study of endotoxins in the household envir

Researchers at Westmead Millennium Institute have discovered a safe, non-surgical method of identifying brain infections such as brain abscess, and an accurate and rapid way of diagnosing meningitis.

Several hundred serious brain infections such as abscesses and meningitis are diagnosed in Australians every year. Neurological infections require immediate identification and treatment, however doctors have always faced difficulty in accurately and rapidly diagnosing an infection, in

3D MRI can detect pancreatic cancer when it is smaller and patients have a greater likelihood of survival, a new study shows.

The study included 57 patients who had clinical symptoms of pancreatic cancer. All had contrast enhanced 3D gradient-echo MRI examinations. Radiologists correctly identified pancreatic cancer in 24 patients, said Richard Semelka, MD, professor of radiology, at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and an author of the study. Eight of the cancers fo

The link between humans and animals may be closer than we may have realised. Research by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) has found that our furry relatives may share many of the same emotions that humans experience in everyday life.

Dr Filippo Aureli, reader in Animal Behaviour and co-director of the Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology at LJMU will present his findings today (September 6) at the BA Festival of Science in Dublin.

He exp

Researchers have capitalized on the unique properties of a sperm cell to follow cell membrane fusion as it occurs during fertilization, tracking the full cascade of events for the first time. The findings could reveal new ways to enhance or block fertilization, as well as how to control the secretion of neurotransmitters and hormones such as insulin.

Luis Mayorga, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) international research scholar, and colleagues at the National University o

Currently, the best way to predict whether a breast cancer is likely to recur is to determine whether tumor cells have invaded the lymph nodes near the breast. But new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine suggests that looking at the immune cells in those lymph nodes – instead of the tumor cells – will yield a more accurate forecast. The finding could help clinicians determine which cancers to treat more aggressively to ensure the cancer goes away and doesn’t come back.

A new study has confirmed that research done with zebrafish may be able to play a critical role in learning about the genetic basis of cancer and the mutations that can lead to it – and identified one gene in particular, B-myb, whose function is essential to preventing tumors.

The findings were published in a professional journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, by researchers from Oregon State University and two Boston hospitals, the Brigham and Women’s H

The Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT has developed a new method, which increases product development cycle. This process will also enhance the competitiveness of drug development and reduce costs. VTT is working in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline, GSK, one of the leading international pharmaceutical companies, to enhance quality control for drugs by using Process Analytical Technologies (PAT). The goal of the PAT is to develop drug process’ production analysis into real-time qu

The molecular biologist Cathrine Persson at Umeå University has been allotted SEK 2.5 million from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research on a vaccine against malaria.

The project “Immunogenicity of synthetic peptide malaria vaccines” spans five years and is designed to study the protection offered by various synthetic vaccines against malaria. Cathrine Persson is collaborating with Professor Elizabeth Nardin, NYU School of Medicine in New York.

Repeat interventions to treat restenosis are the Achilles heal of stenting. The new drug-eluting stents (DES) have reduced the need for repeat interventions significantly compared to bare-metal stents (BMS), however, they are so much more expensive, that their use in all patients threatens to ‘kill’ hospital budgets. This has led to difficult discussions among physicians, patients and hospital administrators with regard to who should or could get DES and it was questioned whether withholding DES fo

JUPITER II is an international multi-centre, double blind, randomized clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of JANUS Tacrolimus-eluting Carbostent in the treatment of coronary lesions in “direct stenting” procedures as compared to TECNIC Carbostent. A total of 332 patients were enrolled in 16 European centers and randomized to either JANUS (166 patients) or TECNIC (166 patients). Enrolment was completed on 21 December 2004 and direct stenting was performed in 86.1% of proce

Chronic heart failure (CHF) is a frequent syndrome with an increasing prevalence. It is a frequent cause of impeding symptoms, has a negative prognosis and absorbs about two percent of the budgets of health-care systems in the industrialized nations.

Optimal management of patients with chronic heart failure has to detect emerging symptoms of a beginning hemodynamic imbalance in time and to administer an appropriate therapy in order to avoid decompensation and hospital admission. T

March of Dimes calls on FDA to increase fortification levels to save more babies

Folic acid fortification of grain foods has produced a one-third decline in serious birth defects of the brain and spine, but the March of Dimes urged federal officials to help spare a greater number of babies from these devastating conditions by requiring higher levels of the B vitamin.

The March of Dimes restated its longtime position in response to two articles published today in Pediatrics.