Vaccination could eradicate cervical cancerCervical cancer could be eradicated within the next 50 years if countries implement national screening programmes based on detection of the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes the disease, together with vaccination programmes against the virus, as per a cervical cancer screening expert.
Professor Jack Cuzick told Europe's largest cancer congress, ECCO 15 ESMO 34 [1], in Berlin today (Thursday 24 September) that while the current HPV........Go to the Cervical cancer blog (Added on 9/24/2009 7:01:56 AM)
Progress in Pancreatic cancer treatmentFor the first time scientists have shown that by inhibiting the action of an enzyme called TAK-1, it is possible to make pancreas cancer cells sensitive to chemotherapy, opening the way for the development of a new drug to treat the disease.
Dr Davide Melisi told Europe's largest cancer congress, ECCO 15 ESMO 34 [1], in Berlin today (Thursday 24 September) that resistance to chemotherapy was the greatest challenge to treating pancreas........Go to the Pancreatic cancer blog (Added on 9/24/2009 6:57:51 AM)
Rethinking Alzheimer's disease and its treatment targetsThe standard explanation for what causes Alzheimer's is known as the amyloid hypothesis, which posits that the disease results from of an accumulation of the peptide amyloid beta, the toxic protein fragments that deposit in the brain and become the sticky plaques that have defined Alzheimer's for more than 100 years.
Billions of dollars are spent yearly targeting this toxic peptide but what if this is the wrong target? What if the disease........Go to the Neurology news blog (Added on 9/23/2009 7:18:12 AM)
Childbearing Increases Chance of Developing the Metabolic SyndromeChildbearing is associated directly with future development of the metabolic syndrome - abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, insulin resistance and other cardiovascular disease risk factors - and for women who have had gestational diabetes, the risk is more than twice greater, as per a co-author of studyed by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) scientists reported in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
UAB Professor of........Go to the OBGYN news blog (Added on 9/23/2009 7:15:14 AM)
Ultrasound can predict survival in melanomaScientists have demonstrated for the first time that patterns of ultrasound signals can be used to identify whether or not cancer has started to spread in melanoma patients, and to what extent. The discovery enables doctors to decide on how much surgery, if any, is mandatory and to predict the patient's probable survival.
Dr Christiane Voit told Europe's largest cancer congress, ECCO 15 ESMO 34 [1], in Berlin today (Wednesday 23 September):........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 9/23/2009 7:06:35 AM)
New cancer drug shows promiseA group of researchers from Hamburg may have taken a big step towards more effective cancer drug development, Europe's largest cancer congress, ECCO 15 ESMO 34 [1], heard today. Dr Ilona Schonn, Director of Cell Culture Research at Indivumed GmbH, told the conference that they had developed a preclinical drug test platform that would enable scientists to analyse tumour tissue for individual patient drug responses on the molecular level.
To........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 9/23/2009 7:01:29 AM)
Why it's hard to be goodBeing seen as either well behaved or naughty at school is never entirely in the hands of the individual child, this study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council shows.
The research demonstrates that being good is not a simple matter. Once some children acquire poor overall reputations among teachers and other school staff, classmates and parents, it becomes difficult for them to be regarded as good. When young children start........Go to the Pediatric news blog (Added on 9/20/2009 6:58:00 PM)
Key factor in regulating placenta and fetal growthResearchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have shown that a common biological protein molecule called SHP-2 is crucial for encouraging placenta growth. The research is published recently in Endocrinology
Dr Melissa Westwood, one of the team at the University of Manchester said: "For fetuses to grow well in the womb they need to get nutrients and oxygen from their mother. These come via the........Go to the OBGYN news blog (Added on 9/20/2009 6:56:37 PM)
New way to calculate body's 'Maximum Weight Limit'Most of us are familiar with the term, Body Mass Index, or BMI, as an index to determine healthy body weight. But, calculating BMI involves a complex formula: weight in pounds is multiplied by 703, and then divided by height in inches squared. Charts or online calculators are then used to show a "healthy weight range" given an individual's height that corresponds to the "healthy range BMI." For example, a BMI chart indicates that a healthy........Go to the Weight watcher's blog (Added on 9/18/2009 6:33:01 PM)
Women Benefit From EnduranceMarilyn Graham was 56 when she signed up for a grueling hour of cycling each morning for 12 weeks, occasionally decked out in a mask, a heart monitor and a bag of intravenous fluid and subjected to needle pricks to obtain blood samples.
"I was probably the biggest whiner of the group, complaining loudly about the seats and how my butt hurt," said Graham, who writes software for business units on the University of California, Berkeley campus.........Go to the Weight watcher's blog (Added on 9/18/2009 6:31:29 PM)
Green tea may help improve bone healthScientists in Hong Kong are reporting new evidence that green tea one of the most popular beverages consumed worldwide and now available as a dietary supplement may help improve bone health. They observed that the tea contains a group of chemicals that can stimulate bone formation and help slow its breakdown. Their findings are in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication. The beverage has the potential to help........Go to the Society medical news blog (Added on 9/17/2009 7:54:28 AM)
Relieving pain affecting millionsAn unprecedented gathering of some of Australia's leading authorities in pain medicine, together with consumer groups representing chronic pain sufferers, will meet in Melbourne today to work towards a national, coordinated approach to managing chronic pain.
The meeting has been called in recognition of the fact that one in five Australians will suffer chronic pain in their lifetime and up to 80% of people currently living with chronic pain........Go to the Society medical news blog (Added on 9/17/2009 7:50:42 AM)
The Impact of Stress on Decision MakingWe are faced with making decisions all the time. Often, we carefully deliberate the pros and cons of our choices, taking into consideration past experiences in similar situations before making a final decision. However, a newly released study suggests that cognitive stress, such as distraction, can influence this balanced, logical approach to decision making.
Psychology experts Jane Raymond and Jennifer L. O'Brien of Bangor University in the........Go to the Psychology news blog (Added on 9/15/2009 9:44:37 PM)
Role of Sleep in Memory FormationA Rutgers University, Newark and College de France, Paris research team has pinpointed for the first time the mechanism that takes place during sleep that causes learning and memory formation to occur.
It's been known for more than a century that sleep somehow is important for learning and memory. Sigmund Freud further suspected that what we learned during the day was "rehearsed" by the brain during dreaming, allowing memories to form. And........Go to the Neurology news blog (Added on 9/15/2009 9:25:25 PM)
Brain's response to seeing food and weight loss maintenanceA difference in brain activity patterns may explain why some people are able to maintain a significant weight loss while others regain the weight, as per a newly released study by scientists with The Miriam Hospital.
The researchers report that when individuals who have kept the weight off for several years were shown pictures of food, they were more likely to engage the areas of the brain linked to behavioral control and visual attention,........Go to the Neurology news blog (Added on 9/15/2009 7:26:05 PM)
Green tea component for stored plateletsIn two separate studies, a major component in green tea, epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG), has been found to help prolong the preservation of both stored blood platelets and cryopreserved skin tissues. Reported in the current double issue of Cell Transplantation (18:5/6), now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct, devoted to organ preservation and transplantation studies from Japan, the two complimentary........Go to the Society medical news blog (Added on 9/15/2009 7:55:33 AM)
New marker for Alzheimer'sGothenburg scientists have discovered a previously unknown substance in spinal fluid that can be used to diagnose Alzheimer's disease. The findings, described in a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, will also be useful in research on new medications.
The substance is a beta-amyloid protein called Abeta16. The thesis shows in two independent studies that Alzheimer's patients have higher levels of the........Go to the Neurology news blog (Added on 9/15/2009 7:52:50 AM)
Treating bone loss in breast cancer survivorsA key statistic that consumer groups and the media often use when compiling hospital report cards and national rankings can be misleading, scientists report in a newly released study.
The statistic is called the mortality index. A number above 1.0 indicates a hospital had more deaths than expected within a given specialty. Lower than 1.0 means there were fewer than the expected number of deaths.
The study by Loyola University Health........Go to the Breast-cancer-blog (Added on 9/15/2009 7:36:11 AM)
New 'adjuvant' could hold future of vaccineResearchers at Oregon State University have developed a new "adjuvant" that could allow the creation of important new vaccines, possibly become a universal vaccine carrier and help medical experts tackle a number of diseases more effectively.
Adjuvants are substances that are not immunogenic themselves, but increase the immune response when used in combination with a vaccine.
However, due to concerns about safety and toxicity, there's........Go to the Research news blog (Added on 9/14/2009 11:56:53 PM)
Size of fat cells and waist size predict type 2 diabetes in womenWhen it comes to assessing risk for type 2 diabetes, not only do waistlines matter to women, but so does the size of their fat cells. This new discovery by a team of Swedish scientists was just published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) and helps explain why some women of normal weight develop type 2 diabetes, despite not having any known risk factors.
"Increased knowledge of the link between enlarged fat cells and the........Go to the Weight watcher's blog (Added on 9/11/2009 7:47:52 AM)
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Excess body weight causes over 124,000 new cancers a year in EuropeAt least 124,000 new cancers in 2008 in Europe may have been caused by excess body weight, as per estimates from a new modelling study. The proportion of cases of new cancers attributable to a body mass index of 25kg/m2 or more were highest among women and in central European countries such as the Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovenia and Bulgaria.
The main author of the study [1], Dr Andrew Renehan, told Europe's largest cancer congress, ECCO 15........Go to the Weight watcher's blog (Added on 9/24/2009 6:59:20 AM)
Alcohol abuse, depression, and obesity There is new evidence that depression, obesity and alcohol abuse or dependency are interrelated conditions among young adult women but not men.
Using data collected when young adults were 24, 27 and 30 years of age, a team of University of Washington scientists observed that nearly half the sample of 776 young adults tracked during the study met the criteria for one of these conditions at each of these time points.
"The proportion of........Go to the Psychology news blog (Added on 9/23/2009 7:26:21 AM)
'Lies my parents told me'Parents say that honesty is the best policy, but they regularly lie to their children as a way of influencing their behavior and emotions, finds new research from the University of Toronto and the University of California, San Diego.
Surprisingly little scholarship has been published on the subject of parental lying, so Gail Heyman, professor of psychology at UC San Diego, Diem Luu, a former UCSD student, and Kang Lee, professor at the........Go to the Psychology news blog (Added on 9/23/2009 7:21:57 AM)
Occupational safety monitoringScientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with private industry and other government agencies, have produced a new reference material for beryllium. Beryllium, an exotic rare-earth metal used as a hardener in high-performance alloys and ceramics, can cause berylliosisa chronic, incurable and sometimes fatal illness. The new reference material is expected to dramatically improve methods used to........Go to the Society medical news blog (Added on 9/23/2009 7:08:11 AM)
Trial of new treatment for advanced melanomaBerlin, Gera number of: Scientists have made significant advances in the therapy of metastatic cancerous melanoma one of the most difficult cancers to treat successfully once it has started to spread as per a research studyto be presented at Europe's largest cancer congress, ECCO 15 ESMO 34 [1], in Berlin on Thursday.
In the phase I extension study, scientists have seen rapid and dramatic shrinking of metastatic tumours in patients........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 9/23/2009 7:04:08 AM)
Sorafenib for breast cancerOne of the first of a series of trials to investigate the use of sorafenib a targeted anti-cancer drug for the therapy of advanced breast cancer has observed that if it is combined with the chemotherapy drug, capecitabine, it makes a significant difference to the time women live without their disease worsening.
Principal investigator of the study, Professor Jos Baselga told Europe's largest cancer congress, ECCO 15 ESMO 34 [1], in Berlin........Go to the Breast-cancer-blog (Added on 9/23/2009 7:02:54 AM)
New blood tests for gastrointestinal cancersPromising results from two new blood tests that can aid in the early identification of patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers will be presented at Europe's largest cancer congress, ECCO 15 ESMO 34 [1], in Berlin today (Monday September 21). The tests will make GI cancer detection simpler, cost-effective, and more acceptable to patients than current methods, the scientists say.
In the first study, Dr Joost Louwagie, from the company........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 9/20/2009 7:01:19 PM)
Genetic link between cardiac arrhythmias and thyroidGenes previously known to be essential to the coordinated, rhythmic electrical activity of cardiac muscle -- a healthy heartbeat -- have now also been found to play a key role in thyroid hormone (TH) biosynthesis, as per Weill Cornell Medical College researchers.
The authors' findings, published online this week by the peer-evaluated journal Nature Medicine, suggest that mutations of either of two gene products -- proteins called KCNE2 and........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 9/20/2009 6:51:31 PM)
Tamoxifen Can Also Cause Serious Side EffectsThree drugs that reduce a woman's chance of getting breast cancer also have been shown to cause adverse effects, as per a new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
The report is based on a study led by Heidi D. Nelson, M.D., M.P.H., research professor in the Oregon Evidence-Based Practice Center at Oregon Health & Science University and medical director of the Women and........Go to the Breast-cancer-blog (Added on 9/18/2009 6:37:08 PM)
New rabies vaccine may require only a single shotA person, commonly a child, dies of rabies every 20 minutes. However, only one inoculation appears to be all it takes for rabies vaccination, as per new research reported in the Journal of Infectious Diseases by scientists at the Jefferson Vaccine Center.
A replication-deficient rabies virus vaccine that lacks a key gene called the matrix (M) gene induced a rapid and efficient anti-rabies immune response in mice and non-human primates, as........Go to the Infectious disease blog (Added on 9/18/2009 6:28:53 PM)
New vitamin K analysis supports the triage theoryOakland, CA An important analysis conducted by Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute researchers suggests the importance of ensuring optimal dietary intakes of vitamin K to prevent age-related conditions such as bone fragility, arterial and kidney calcification, cardiovascular disease, and possibly cancer (1). Vitamin K is concentrated in dark green plants such as spinach or Swiss chard, and is either not present or present in only........Go to the Society medical news blog (Added on 9/18/2009 7:52:58 AM)
How HIV cripples immune cellsIn order to be able to ward off disease pathogens, immune cells must be mobile and be able to establish contact with each other. The working group around Professor Dr. Oliver Fackler in the Virology Department of the Hygiene Institute of the Heidelberg University Hospital has discovered a mechanism in an animal model revealing how HIV, the AIDS pathogen, cripples immune cells: Cell mobility is inhibited by the HIV Nef protein. The study was........Go to the Infectious disease blog (Added on 9/17/2009 7:52:43 AM)
Reading Kafka Improves LearningReading a book by Franz Kafka -- or watching a film by director David Lynch -- could make you smarter.
As per research by psychology experts at UC Santa Barbara and the University of British Columbia, exposure to the surrealism in, say, Kafka's "The Country Doctor" or Lynch's "Blue Velvet" enhances the cognitive mechanisms that oversee implicit learning functions. The researchers' findings are published in an article reported in the recent........Go to the Psychology news blog (Added on 9/15/2009 9:46:21 PM)
Oxygen-saturated blood reduces levels of damaged heart tissueResults of a clinical trial published recently in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions demonstrate that an infusion of blood that is "supersaturated" with oxygen (SS02) can reduce the amount of damaged heart muscle immediately following a life-threatening heart attack.
"The benefit of this treatment increased with the scope of the heart attack," said Gregg W. Stone, M.D., main author and professor of medicine at Columbia University........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 9/15/2009 9:43:06 PM)
Space-related radiation research to help cancer patientsA research project looking for ways to reduce bone loss in astronauts may yield methods of improving the bone health of cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy.
It is well documented that living in the microgravity environment of space causes bone loss in astronauts, but until recently, little was known about the effects of space radiation on bones. Dr. Ted Bateman leads a project funded by the National Space Biomedical Research........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 9/15/2009 2:51:26 PM)
Link Between Protein And Lung DiseaseIn a development that could lead to a novel approach to the therapy of a devastating lung disease, biochemists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston report they are the first to link the osteopontin (OPN) protein to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Findings appear online and will be in the January 2010 print issue of The FASEB Journal, the journal of The Federation of American Societies for Experimental........Go to the Lung-cancer-blog (Added on 9/15/2009 2:41:29 PM)
Stomach acid reducer pneumoniaA popular stomach-acid reducer used to prevent stress ulcers in critically ill patients needing breathing machine support increases the risk of those patients contracting pneumonia threefold, as per scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
Hospital-acquired pneumonia is the leading cause of infection-related deaths in critically ill patients. It increases hospital stays by an average of seven to nine days, cost of care, and........Go to the Gastric cancer blog (Added on 9/15/2009 7:54:28 AM)
Neurons found to be similar to Electoral CollegeA tiny neuron is a very complicated structure. Its complex network of dendrites, axons and synapses is constantly dealing with information, deciding whether or not to send a nerve impulse, to drive a certain action.
It turns out that neurons, at one level, operate like another complicated structure -- the United States, especially its system of electing a president, through the Electoral College.
A new Northwestern University study........Go to the Neurology news blog (Added on 9/15/2009 7:38:27 AM)
Common Pain Cream Could Protect Heart During AttackNew research from the University of Cincinnati shows that a common, over-the-counter pain salve rubbed on the skin during a heart attack could serve as a cardiac-protectant, preventing or reducing damage to the heart while interventions are administered.
These findings appear in the Sept. 14 edition of the journal Circulation.
Keith Jones, PhD, a researcher in the department of pharmacology and cell biophysics, and researchers in his lab........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 9/14/2009 11:59:24 PM)
High-quality child care leads to academic successFor low income parents, finding high quality child care not only boosts the performance of their children in school, but actually combats the effects of poverty, as per a newly released study in the journal Child Development
Children who spent more time in high-quality child care in the first five years of their lives had better reading and math scores in middle school, as per scientists from Boston College, the Harvard Graduate School of........Go to the Society medical news blog (Added on 9/14/2009 11:51:46 PM)
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