Elderly women with cervical cancer face double jeopardy. Not only does their advanced age decrease chances of survival, it also decreases the likelihood that they’ll be given the most aggressive treatments for their disease, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The study is reported in the Jan. 1, 2005 issue of the journal Cancer.

“The aging of the U.S. population has increased interest in treatments for geriatric c

Information submitted via new drug applications could easily be made accessible to the public, he says

A researcher at Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center is calling upon the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to share more information provided by pharmaceutical companies regarding their clinical drug trials. This database could be freely accessible to health care providers, researchers and the public. Such a move would be cost

One of the nation’s leading cardiovascular medical researchers has issued a call for less aggressive direct-to-consumer advertising and better safety assurances of medications in a special article posted online today by JAMA because of its relevance to the recent withdrawals and warning labels on the pain-relieving drugs known as COX-2 inhibitors. The article will be published in a print edition of JAMA in early 2005.

Eric J. Topol, M.D., from the Cleveland Clinic Foundatio

A new Mayo Clinic study has for the first time established rates of restless legs syndrome in children, finding that almost 6 percent of children seen in Mayo”s sleep clinic have the disease. The study, published in this month’s issue of Annals of Neurology, also notes that the most common risk factors for the disease in kids are family history of restless legs syndrome and iron deficiency.

“Restless legs syndrome is underdiagnosed in kids,” says Suresh Kotagal, M.D., chai

The polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common endocrine disorder among reproductive-age women, produces a wide variety of body changes with both physical and emotional implications for sufferers.

Many women with PCOS are found to have insulin resistance, a condition that allows excessive levels of insulin to circulate in the blood and increases the risk for Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. PCOS is also the leading cause of androgen excess in women. Althoug

Research on the genome of the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has revealed an unusual molecular structure that looks like a promising target for antiviral drugs. A team of scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has determined the three-dimensional shape of this structure, an intricately twisted and folded segment of RNA. Their findings suggest that it may help the virus hijack the protein-building machinery of infected cells.

The SAR

Mice missing a specific protein from their brains react to stress differently. The genetically engineered mice develop an imbalance in a hormone involved in stress responses, and during stressful situations, they behave as if they are depressed. Genetic variations in the same protein may be a significant cause of human depression, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Their report will be published in the Proceedings of the National Aca

An inexpensive, non-narcotic medication has been identified as an important step in treating acute migraine headaches, according to a study performed by University of Alberta researchers in collaboration with other emergency physicians.

Researchers from the University of Alberta, University of Cambridge, Michigan State University and British Columbia’s St. Paul’s Hospital are recommending metoclopramide be considered a primary step in treating migraine sufferers who v

People with a history of migraines and other headaches lasting at least four hours are more likely to report suffering from the chest pain doctors call angina than people who do not experience such headaches, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study concludes. That is especially true for those who also experience “aura” around the time of their headaches — seeing what appear to be spots or lines before their eyes.

The study, led by Dr. Kathryn M. Rose, research as

Women who have their breast cancers detected by physical examinations are at least twice as likely to undergo toxic treatments than those who have their cancer detected by mammography—regardless of the age of the woman, a new study shows.

The study reviewed 992 women with invasive breast cancer—460 of them had their cancer detected on screening mammography and 532 on physical examination, said the lead author of the study, Richard J. Barth, Jr., MD, Chief of the Division of Su

MDCT angiography can potentially help determine which patients with narrowed carotid arteries are at greater risk of having a stroke, a new study shows. This information could help identify which patients need surgery and which can be treated with less invasive procedures.

The study reviewed 31 patients who had greater than 60% carotid artery stenosis—18 had symptoms of carotid artery disease, including a transient or permanent brief episode s of neurologic dysfunction, while

Findings could shed new light on malignant melanoma

Few things about growing older are as inevitable and obvious as “going gray,” yet scientists have been unable to explain the precise cause of this usually unwelcome transformation.

In a report posted today on the Web site of the journal Science, researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston say they have found the cellular cause of graying hair while investigating the origins of maligna

New research by investigators at Duke University Medical Center has provided insight into a fundamental cellular control mechanism that governs tissue regeneration, stem cell renewal and cancer growth. In humans, malfunctions in the pathway have been implicated in skin and brain cancers, as well as certain developmental defects, according to the researchers.

The team found that the protein beta-arrestin2, earlier linked to a variety of inhibitory functions, also plays a critical

Scientists link gene ’switches’ to specific brain locations

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have compiled the first atlas showing the locations of crucial gene regulators, or switches that determine how different parts of the brain develop – and, in some cases, develop abnormally or malfunction. The scientists say the map will accelerate research on brain tumors and neurological diseases that result from mutations in these switch genes – called “transcrip

For the first time, scientists have found that bacteria can use a Sonar-like system to spot other cells (either normal body cells or other bacteria) and target them for destruction. Reported in the December 24 issue of Science, this finding explains how some bacteria know when to produce a toxin that makes infection more severe. It may lead to the design of new toxin inhibitors. “Blocking or interfering with a bacterium’s “detection” mechanism, should prevent toxin production and limit the s

In a study published in the December 24, 2004 issue of the journal Science, Michael Moore and Greg Early at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have documented bone lesions in the rib and chevron bones of sperm whales, most likely caused by tissue damage from nitrogen bubbles that form when the animals rise to the surface.

The WHOI biologists found that the lesions grow in severity with age, and are found in animals from the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. The lesions w