Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), primarily seen as a cause of illness in infants and children, often affects the elderly and high-risk adults as much as influenza, a study by University of Rochester Medical Center researchers demonstrates.

Although pediatricians are well aware of RSV, most internists rarely consider RSV in adult patients. However, an estimated 14,000 elderly and high-risk adults die annually from an RSV infection, according to research by Ann R. Falsey, M.D.,

The HIV Medicine Association has released guidelines for managing chronic kidney disease in patients living with HIV infection. They are published in the June 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

The guidelines are the first of their kind. They recommend screening for kidney disease at the time of HIV diagnosis to identify early this serious complication of HIV infection.

Nearly one-third of HIV-infected patients have abnormal amounts of prot

A new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies proposes a number of changes to the WIC nutrition assistance program to encourage participants to consume more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, as well as to promote breast-feeding, among other goals. If implemented, these revisions would be the most substantial changes to the mix of foods offered through WIC since the supplemental nutrition program for low-income women, infants, and children was launched in 1974. The reco

Children facing surgery can be made more comfortable with little risk by allowing them to have certain liquids up to two hours before the operation, a new review of recent studies has found.

Like adults, children are often required to go without food or drink up to a half-day before surgery to prevent their stomach contents from being regurgitated or sucked into the lungs under general anesthesia. In the review of 43 randomized controlled trials involving 2,350 children, only one

An image of Saturn’s small moon, Epimetheus (epp-ee-MEE-thee-uss), was captured by the Cassini spacecraft in the closest view ever taken of the pockmarked body.

Epimetheus is irregularly shaped and dotted with soft-edged craters. The many large, softened craters on Epimetheus indicate a surface that is several billion years old. The moon shares an orbit with another of Saturn’s small moons, Janus. The two dance in a planetary tango as they move in almost identical orbits, exchang

Many patients already take herbal supplement available over counter

When it comes to her health, Janice Winfield of Portland, Ore., does her research. That’s why the stay-at-home mom, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in July 2000, was willing to turn to popular, over-the-counter herbal supplements like ginkgo biloba to deal with memory problems, fatigue and occasional muscle pain.

“I’m definitely interested in alternative medicine,” said Winfield, 49, whose for

A recently completed clinical study has found new prognostic markers that may help clinicians identify those children with leukaemia who are at high risk of relapse and are most in need of intensified treatment to improve their chance of survival.

The retrospective clinical study, performed jointly by the Centre for Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders (CCC&BD)at Sydney Children’s Hospital and Children’s Cancer Institute Australia, was recently published in the in

A multidisciplinary centre launched today will promote a far broader understanding of the role sugars play in human disease, scientists say.

Focused on glycobiology, the study of how sugars in human cells affect our biology, researchers hope it will accelerate the development of therapies for diseases such as HIV, cancers and muscular dystrophy.

The Glycobiology Training, Research and Infrastructure Centre (GlycoTRIC), established at Imperial College London, will promo

Everyone’s lives are touched by cancer – it is a disease that affects 1 in 3 of us throughout our lifetime. Future developments that lead to earlier diagnosis and more effective therapy lie in further successful collaboration between high energy physicists and the healthcare industry.

This was the key message to come from an event today (28th April) which brought together 130 leading healthcare professionals and physicists. Speaking at “The Future of Medical Imaging and Radiot

The high concentration of ceramides extracted by means of supercritical fluid technology has provoked great interest in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. Due to their composition, these ceramides increase the hydration of the skin and accelerate the repair of damaged skin tissue.

A fluid in a supercritical state is one that has been subject to conditions above their critical pressure and temperature parameters and which have corresponding intermediate properties – b

Starvation, malnutrition and re-feeding can have deadly consequences for humans and most animals but not Australia’s green-striped burrowing frog.

PhD student Rebecca Cramp from The University of Queensland has found that unlike most animals, which can’t digest food after long periods of starvation, the green-striped burrowing frog is able to absorb nutrients 40 percent more effectively after 3 months without food, than frogs that had eaten regularly. “They can take ma

A significant debate is currently underway in the scientific community over the evolution of the Great White shark, and Chuck Ciampaglio, Ph.D., an assistant professor of geology at the Wright State University Lake Campus, is right in the middle of it.

The issue is if the Great White, one of the most feared predators of the sea, evolved from the huge prehistoric megladon shark or if its ancestry rests with the mako shark. “Most scientists would probably say the Great Whites ev

The National Academies today recommended guidelines for research involving human embryonic stem cells, and urged all institutions conducting such research to establish oversight committees to ensure that the new guidelines will be followed. The guidelines are intended to enhance the integrity of privately funded human embryonic stem cell research by encouraging responsible practices, said the committee that wrote the report, a joint project between the National Academies’ National Research

Results from two clinical trials show that patients with early-stage breast cancer who received trastuzumab (Herceptin®) in combination with chemotherapy had a 52 percent decrease in risk for breast cancer recurrence, compared with patients who received the same chemotherapy without the drug. The difference is statistically highly significant.

Dr. Edward Romond, associate professor of medicine at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and UK Markey Cancer Center, acts as pr

UT Southwestern Medical Center is the lead research site testing a new treatment for a rare form of multiple sclerosis. Called “primary progressive,” this type of MS affects about 15 percent of patients with the neurodegenerative disease. “There really hasn’t been a lot of research or treatment options for patients with this form of MS,” said Dr. Kathleen Hawker, assistant professor of neurology, who is heading up the clinical investigation.

UT Southwestern researchers are test

Enzymes that make the gas nitric oxide (NO) not only protect the heart from damage due to high blood pressure or a heart attack, but also promote heart failure through overgrowth and enlargement of the muscle tissue, say animal researchers at Johns Hopkins.

The Hopkins study, to be published in the May 2 edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, is believed to be the first to suggest future therapies for heart failure using chemical cofactors that control the enzymes’