SLU hepatologist to present findings at national conference in Boston

Interim study results indicate a certain drug combination treatment may suppress the hepatitis C virus more quickly than another. Researchers at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and six other research sites throughout the country found that combining the drug Pegasys® with ribavirin resulted in a greater reduction in hepatitis C viral levels than patients treated with Peg-Intron® and an equal dose of

Daily consumption drops

Employees in workplaces with no smoking restrictions smoke almost five more cigarettes daily than those whose workplaces completely ban smoking, says a study by the University of Toronto’s Ontario Tobacco Research Unit (OTRU). “Usually, the reason given for banning smoking in the workplace is to benefit non-smokers and this is a valid and important reason,” says OTRU’s Dr. Thomas Stephens. “What this study shows is that the bans also have health b

Children and adolescents with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) respond best to a combination of both psychotherapy and an antidepressant, a major clinical trial has found. Supported by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health, the study recommends that treatment begin with cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), either alone or with a serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant. The research spotlights the need for improved access to CBT, since m

A world-leading team of Canadian scientists thinks that diet may play a critical role in limiting the body’s absorption of the toxic heavy metal mercury, and they’re lining up to test the idea on themselves.

The scientists from the NSERC-funded Collaborative Mercury Research Network (COMERN) have identified dramatic differences in the extent to which mercury from eating fish is absorbed by people in a variety of small Canadian communities.

Since 2000, COMER

Long-term use of new non-calcium, non-aluminum phosphate binder maintains bone health status

Shire Pharmaceuticals Group plc (NASDAQ: SHPGY, LSE: SHP.L, TSE: SHQ CN) announces that long-term treatment with FOSRENOL® (lanthanum carbonate), a new non-calcium, non-aluminum phosphate binder, does not promote bone softening or cause harmful effects on bone, according to data presented today at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) annual meeting in St. Louis, Mo.

Even wit

Designing physical activity programs and interventions geared to breast cancer survivors will increase well-being and may improve prognosis, Yale researchers report in a recent issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

“Despite the evidence suggesting that regular physical activity can protect against weight gain, decrease breast cancer risk, and potentially improve breast cancer prognosis, efforts to encourage physical activity are not a routine part of the cancer t

Johns Hopkins researchers report potentially life-threatening hospital infections with bacteria resistant to the antibiotic methicillin can occur even if patients havent been treated with that drug. But, they add, these infections can be stopped with one of medicines oldest and most powerful antibacterial treatments: hand washing.

We know there is more to MRSA infection than just exposure to antibiotics, says infection control and antibiotic management expert Xiaoyan Song, M.D.,

The most populated country on the planet may also be heading towards the worst tobacco-related health crisis on the planet, say Tulane University researchers. More than 300 million Chinese adults either smoke or are exposed to cigarette smoke at work or at home.

“Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in China and worldwide,” says author Jiang He, chair of the epidemiology department at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. “China is in

Symptoms of an enlarged prostate — known medically as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) — can range from a weak, slow urinary stream, to hesitancy and straining to urinate, to an inability to empty the bladder completely, to more serious complications including recurrent urinary tract infections and kidney damage.

If a man lives long enough, he will almost certainly experience some degree of BPH. Although 50%–60% of men with this condition may never develop any symptoms, BPH can

The first step against infection is the detection of microorganisms capable of causing disease. This is done through the recognition of molecular structures not shared by the host, but also present in other harmless or even useful microbes. A question that has puzzled scientists for many years is how the host knows exactly against which microbes to mount an immune response. But now, in the November issue of Nature Immunology, scientists describe for the first time an ingenious bacteria-recogn

A new method for visual impairment treatment has been discovered by researchers of the Institute of Human Brain, Russian Academy of Sciences. The patients suffering from visual impairment can be helped if a healthy donor’s cerebrospinal fluid is introduced to the parent’s vertebral canal – this method is called liquortransfusion. Physiologists have determined that the method is effective even when prescription of visual impairment exceeds five years. Eyesight improves with 83 percent of patient

When Darwin’s skeptics attack his theory of evolution, they often focus on the eye. Darwin himself confessed that it was “absurd” to propose that the human eye evolved through spontaneous mutation and natural selection. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have now tackled Darwin’s major challenge in an evolutionary study published this week in the journal Science. They have elucidated the evolutionary origin of the human eye.

Researchers in the labora

Insect-borne parasites usually like to “stick” around inside their hosts while they mature and prepare to infect again. Now, Jesus Valenzuela and colleagues have identified the molecular receptor inside the midgut of the sand fly Phlebotomus papatasi that provides the “flypaper” for the parasite that causes the major form of leishmaniasis, a tropical disease with both mild and fatal forms. PpGalec is the receptor protein that the parasite uses to bind to the fly’s midgut and avoid being excreted a

Did that lobster on your dinner plate inherit its big crusher claw…or did it evolve through need, without the help of genes?
Genetics aren’t the only triggers for the traits a species develops, according to findings from a University of Alberta professor. The research challenges the classical Darwinian theory of evolution as being the sole explanation for how new life forms arise.

In a paper published October 29 in the journal Science, Dr. Richard Palmer, a U of A profess

A potential new therapeutic approach to Alzheimer’s disease protects brain cells in culture by drastically reducing the neurotoxic amyloid protein aggregates that are critical to the development of the disease. The treatment involves dispatching a small molecule into the cell to enlist the aid of a larger “chaperone” protein to block the accumulation of the brain-clogging protein.

The new “Trojan horse” technique overcomes a major challenge in drug design – namely, the lim

Researchers at the University of Chicago have found genetic evidence to support the sodium-retention hypothesis, a controversial 30-year-old theory that the high rate of hypertension in certain ethnic groups is caused, in part, by an inherited tendency to retain salt.

In the December issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, (available now on-line) the researchers show that the frequency of one version of a gene that plays a crucial role in salt retention correlates with