NewsRx Health back issues from January 2009:
Phosphorus-lowering drugs linked to lower mortality in dialysis patients.
Jan 04, 2009 ... For patients on dialysis, taking medications to reduce levels of the mineral phosphorus in the blood may reduce the risk of death by 25 to 30 percent, reports a study in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The drugs, called phosphorus binders, were ...
Adult survivors of childhood leukemia have lower bone mineral density, study finds.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Men who survived childhood leukemia treatment into adulthood were more likely to have low bone mineral density than other adults their age, putting them at risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures, according to a new study. The study, led by James G. Gurney, Ph.D., of the ...
New study 'pardons' the misunderstood egg.(Report)
Jan 04, 2009 ... A study recently published online in the journal Risk Analysis(1) estimates that eating one egg per day is responsible for less than 1 percent of the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in healthy adults. Alternatively, lifestyle factors including poor diet, smoking, obesity and physical ...
Better patient outcomes with drug eluting stents.(Clinical report)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Patients receiving drug eluting stents (DES) u stents coated with medication to prevent narrowing of the artery u as part of an angioplasty had better outcomes one year later than patients with bare metal stents, according to a new study to be published in CMAJ ...
'Zinc zipper' plays key role in hospital-acquired infections.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Hospital-acquired infections that are resistant to traditional antibiotic treatment have become increasingly common in recent years, confounding health care professionals and killing thousands of Americans. Now, in studies that could lead to new ways to prevent this growing ...
A fading sense of smell may signal onset of Parkinson's disease.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Many individuals with Parkinson's disease are able to recall losing their sense of smell well before the onset of more commonly recognized symptoms such as tremors, impaired dexterity, speech problems, memory loss and decreased cognitive ability. To determine if a fading sense of smell may ...
Meta-analyses of global trials finds in favor of aromatase inhibitors.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Two separate meta-analyses of clinical trials from around the world that tested tamoxifen against aromatase inhibitor drugs in postmenopausal women with early breast cancer have each reached the same conclusion: aromatase inhibitors are more effective in preventing breast cancer from ...
Vitamin E shows possible promise in easing chronic inflammation.
Jan 04, 2009 ... With up to half of a person's body mass consisting of skeletal muscle, chronic inflammation of those muscles u which include those found in the limbs u can result in significant physical impairment. According to University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor ...
Study finds optimal type of dialysis treatment differs among kidney disease patients.
Jan 04, 2009 ... For kidney disease patients who need to undergo dialysis, one type of treatment is not best for all, according to a study appearing in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The findings indicate that certain patient characteristics should be ...
Tool helps identify gene function in soybeans.
Jan 04, 2009 ... In the race for bioengineered crops, sequencing the genome could be considered the first leg in a multi-leg relay. Once the sequence is complete, the baton is passed forward to researchers to identify genes' functions. A draft sequence of the soybean genome is now available, and the ...
Doctors question standardized training requirements.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Doctors lack confidence in their procedural skills after completing the current NHS postgraduate training curriculum. A survey of 181 doctors, published in the open access journal BMC Medical Education, has shown that from ten of the procedures medics are officially required to be ...
Pre-existing diabetes for persons diagnosed with cancer associated with increased risk of death.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Patients with diabetes at the time of a cancer diagnosis have an increased risk of death compared to patients without diabetes, according to a meta-analysis of studies reported in the December 17 issue of JAMA. Approximately 20 million Americans have diabetes mellitus, which is ...
Alcohol and a polymorphism of the monoamine oxidase a gene predict impulsive violence.
Jan 04, 2009 ... The monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene is an outer membrane mitochondrial enzyme that breaks down monoamines such as serotonin, noradrenalin and dopamine. A common polymorphism in MAOA results in high- or low-activity MAOA, and both genotypes have been linked to aggression and violence. A ...
Are older antidepressants better for depression in Parkinson's disease?(Report)
Jan 04, 2009 ... A new study shows that antidepressant drugs which only affect serotonin, often used as first choice treatments, may not be best for depression in people with Parkinson's disease. The new research is published in the December 17, 2008, online issue of Neurology[R], the medical journal of ...
Columbia University scientist devises new way to more rapidly generate bone tissue.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Using stem cell lines not typically combined, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have designed a new way to "grow" bone and other tissues. The inability to foster angiogenesis u a physiological process involving the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing ...
Single virus used to convert adult cells to embryonic stem cell-like cells.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Whitehead Institute researchers have greatly simplified the creation of so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, cutting the number of viruses used in the reprogramming process from four to one. Scientists hope that these embryonic stem-cell-like cells could eventually be used to ...
Both theories about human cellular aging supported by new research.(Report)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Aging yeast cells accumulate damage over time, but they do so by following a pattern laid down earlier in their life by diet as well as the genes that control metabolism and the dynamics of cell structures such as mitochondria, the power plants of cells. These research findings, ...
UC Davis team refines cancer treatments to reduce potential nerve damage.
Jan 04, 2009 ... While radiation treatments deliver precise doses of high-energy X-rays to stop cancer cells from spreading or to shrink tumors, oncologists have become increasingly concerned about inadvertent exposures during head and neck cancer treatments to nerves responsible for upper body mobility ....
Female genital tissue not foolproof barrier to HIV sexual transmission.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Contrary to a widely-held assumption about heterosexual transmission of HIV, the normal mucosal lining of the female genital tract is not a foolproof barrier to viral penetration, scientists at the Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago report at the American Society for ...
Sex difference on spatial skill test linked to brain structure.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Men consistently outperform women on spatial tasks, including mental rotation, which is the ability to identify how a 3-D object would appear if rotated in space. Now, a University of Iowa study shows a connection between this sex-linked ability and the structure of the parietal lobe, the ...
Few Ontario women with invasive ovarian cancer referred for genetic testing of breast cancer genes.
Jan 04, 2009 ... An Ontario study of 491 women with invasive ovarian cancer found only a small proportion, 19%, were referred for genetic testing of BRCA1 and BRCA2, the breast cancer genes, which means family members are not informed of their cancer risk. Dr. Kelly Metcalfe, an associate ...
National rates of co-occurring substance use and mental disorders call for better service integration.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Canadians are becoming aware of the prevalence of mental health issues and of substance use problems, but how well equipped are we to help the many people who contend with both? Two studies published in the December issue of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry have found that ...
New research projects shortage of general surgeons by 2010.
Jan 04, 2009 ... In less than two years, there may not be enough surgeons in U.S. hospitals to treat the critically injured or chronically ill. A new study suggests that the number of available general surgeons, who often perform life-saving operations on patients in emergency rooms, will not ...
Twin study defines shared features of human gut microbial communities: Variations linked to obesity.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Trillions of microbes make their home in the gut, where they help to break down and extract energy and nutrients from the food we eat. Yet, scientists have understood little about how this distinctive mix of microbes varies from one individual to the next. Now, by cataloging the ...
Pigs and dogs can bridge gap between mice and humans in developing new therapies.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Human and veterinary medicine could receive a big boost through use of larger animals, especially pigs and dogs, in research, with Europe at the forefront. There is the prospect of bringing drugs to the market more quickly at less cost, as well as accelerating progress in other forms of ...
Stem cells drug testing predicted to boom under Obama.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Embryonic stem cells could provide a new way of testing drugs for dangerous side effects, according to a leading British researcher. Speaking at the British Pharmacological Society's Winter Meeting in Brighton today (Thursday, 18 December), Christine Mummery, Professor of ...
Where do the fattest Germans live?(Clinical report)
Jan 04, 2009 ... The population of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt most often suffers from obesity and has the greatest waist circumference, followed by Brandenburg. Hans Hauner of Munich Technical University and his coauthors have performed a study of the regional differences in prevalence in general ...
Seeing the unseen with 'super-resolution' fluorescence microscopy.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Thanks to a new "super-resolution" fluorescence microscopy technique, Harvard University researchers have succeeded in resolving the features of cells as miniscule as 20-30 nanometers (nm), an order of magnitude smaller than conventional fluorescence light microscopy images, according to a ...
Apple or pear shape is not main culprit to heart woes -- it's liver fat.
Jan 04, 2009 ... For years, pear-shaped people who carry weight in the thighs and backside have been told they are at lower risk for high blood pressure and heart disease than apple-shaped people who carry fat in the abdomen. But new findings from nutrition researchers at Washington University School of ...
United States death map revealed.
Jan 04, 2009 ... A map of natural hazard mortality in the United States has been produced. The map, featured in BioMed Central's open access International Journal of Health Geographics, gives a county-level representation of the likelihood of dying as the result of natural events such as floods, ...
Breast cancer genome shows evolution, instability of cancer.
Jan 04, 2009 ... A newly published genome sequence of a breast cancer cell line reveals a heavily rearranged genetic blueprint involving breaks and fusions of genes and a broken DNA repair machinery, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online in the journal Genome ...
Blocking molecular pathway with whimsical name possible therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer.
Jan 04, 2009 ... A possible new therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer, the most lethal form of human cancer, has been identified in the proteins whose DNA recipe comes from gene, "Seven-In-Absentia," according to researchers at the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) 48th Annual Meeting, Dec ....
Broccoli compound targets key enzyme in late-stage cancer.
Jan 04, 2009 ... An anti-cancer compound found in broccoli and cabbage works by lowering the activity of an enzyme associated with rapidly advancing breast cancer, according to a University of California, Berkeley, study appearing this week in the online early edition of the journal Proceedings of the ...
Number of female cardiologists nearly doubles, but under-representation and discrimination remain.
Jan 04, 2009 ... The number of female doctors in cardiology nearly doubled in the last decade, and male and female cardiologists both report a high level of job satisfaction, according to findings from a 10-year follow-up survey published in the December 16/23, 2008, issue of the Journal of the American ...
GPs 'could do more' to help obese avoid surgery.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Surgery to treat obesity could be avoided if GPs and healthcare trusts put more time and money into early stage weight management programmes, a senior clinical researcher will say (Wednesday, 17 December, 2008). And he will say that patients suffering from obesity face a "post ...
Einstein researchers develop technique to count messages made by single genes.
Jan 04, 2009 ... In a study in the advance online edition of Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, researchers from Albert Einstein College of Medicine describe a technique for looking more precisely at a fundamental step of a cell's life u a gene, DNA, being read into a message, mRNA. The technique ...
Slippery slope: 1 tiny truffle can trigger desire for more treats.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Indulging in just one small chocolate truffle can induce cravings for more sugary and fatty foodsuand even awaken a desire for high-end status products, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. In a study that examined goals and behavior in consumers, ...
Protection from the own immune system.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Some 80,000 people in Germany suffer from multiple sclerosis u their immune system attacks and destroys healthy nerve tissue. Researchers at the Heidelberg University Hospital and the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg have succeeded in vaccinating mice with specially treated, ...
Exciting discovery could 'stop cancer from killing people'.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Metastasis is the ability of cancer cells to spread from a primary site, to form tumours at distant sites. It is a complex process in which cell motility and invasion play a fundamental role. Essential to our understanding of how metastasis develops is identification of the molecules, and ...
Study reveals antidepressants most common medication for Australian women.(Clinical report)
Jan 04, 2009 ... A new study has revealed the most commonly prescribed medication for Australian women is antidepressants. The study, by researchers from Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Medicare data were linked to survey ...
Home-based pulmonary rehabilitation: More freedom for COPD patients.
Jan 04, 2009 ... This release is available in French. Montreal, December 15, 2008 u Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death in Canada. Although it is an incurable chronic disease, effective treatments exist to relieve symptoms and improve the course of ...
Breast cancer risk varies in young women with benign breast disease, Mayo Clinic researchers say.
Jan 04, 2009 ... A type of benign breast disease (BBD) known as atypical hyperplasia substantially increases a young woman's risk of developing breast cancer, even if there is no history of breast cancer in her family, say researchers at Mayo Clinic. The investigators, who presented their ...
Drug tests will prevent repeat of Northwick Park trial.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Scientists investigating the 2006 Northwick Park drug-trial disaster that left six healthy volunteers hospitalised say they have developed new pre-clinical tests that could have stopped the trial from ever going ahead. But Dr Stephen Poole, speaking at the British ...
New report says racial gap growing in colorectal cancer.(Report)
Jan 04, 2009 ... A new report from the American Cancer Society says despite unprecedented progress in reducing incidence and death rates from colorectal cancer, the gap between blacks and whites continues to grow. The latest data show death rates are about 45 percent higher in African American men and ...
Inside the consumer mind: U of M brain scans reveal choice mechanism.
Jan 04, 2009 ... That gorgeous sweater has your name written on it. But, those red suede pumps are calling your name too. What goes through your mind as you consider these choices? During normal economic times, you might indulge in a whole new wardrobe. But now, with considerably tighter budgets, consumers ...
UIC researchers hunting drugs for devastating parasitic disease.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Hundreds of millions of people, mainly in developing countries, are disabled by infectious diseases, according to the World Health Organization. More than 12 million people in 88 countries are infected with leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease spread by the bite of infected sand ...
Heart regenerates after infarction -- first trials with mice.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Up until today scientists assumed that the adult heart is unable to regenerate. Now, researchers and cardiologists from the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and the Charite u Universitatsmedizin Berlin (Germany) have been able to show that this dogma no longer ...
CPAP improves sleeping glucose levels in type 2 diabetes patients with OSA.
Jan 04, 2009 ... A study in the Dec. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine suggests that screening type 2 diabetes patients for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and treating those who have OSA with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy could improve the management of their ...
Diet may cut second breast cancers in women without hot flashes.
Jan 04, 2009 ... A secondary analysis of a large, multicenter clinical trial has shown that a diet loaded with fruits, vegetables and fiber and somewhat lower in fat compared to standard federal dietary recommendations cuts the risk of recurrence in a subgroup of early-stage breast cancer survivors u women ...
Alcohol and licensing policy could be changing the habits of young drinkers.(Report)
Jan 04, 2009 ... In a new report published online today in the January issue of Addiction, researchers question whether current licensing policies have contributed to a rise in the phenomenon of "pre-drinking" amongst young people. "Pre-drinking" or "pre-gaming" involves planned heavy drinking, ...
Low-income men diagnosed more often with advanced prostate cancer.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Coincident with the widespread adoption of PSA screening, the proportion of American men diagnosed with organ-confined, low risk prostate cancer has increased significantly during the last two decades. In a study scheduled for publication in the February 2009 issue of The Journal of ...
Mayo researchers find potential links between breast density and breast cancer risk.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Having dense breasts - areas that show up light on a mammogram - is strongly associated with increased breast cancer risk, but "why" remains to be answered. Now, by examining dense and non-dense tissue taken from the breasts of healthy volunteers, researchers from Mayo Clinic have found ...
Researchers solve piece of large-scale gene silencing mystery.
Jan 04, 2009 ... A team led by Craig Pikaard, Ph.D., WUSTL professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, has made a breakthrough in understanding the phenomenon of nucleolar dominance, the silencing of an entire parental set of ribosomal RNA genes in a hybrid plant or animal. Since the machinery ...
Joslin research finds nearly three-quarters of youths with diabetes insufficient in vitamin D.
Jan 04, 2009 ... BOSTON u [Dec. 15, 2008] u Three-quarters of youths with type 1 diabetes were found to have insufficient levels of vitamin D, according to a study by researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center u findings that suggest children with the disease may need vitamin D supplementation to prevent ...
An ESC statement on gender differences in medical care and survival after myocardial infarction.(Report)
Jan 04, 2009 ... A paper published online by the journal Circulation on 8 December 2008 concluded that, while men and women have a similar in-hospital death rate following acute myocardial infarction, women with STEMI had an adjusted mortality rate almost twice as high as men (10.2% versus 5.5%). These ...
Mathematical models of adaptive immunity.
Jan 04, 2009 ... More than five million people die every year from infectious diseases, despite the availability of numerous antibiotics and vaccines. The discovery of penicillin to treat bacterial infections, along with the development of vaccines for previously incurable virus diseases such as polio and ...
Higher levels of obesity-related hormone found in patients with psoriasis.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Patients with the skin disease psoriasis appear more likely to have higher levels of leptin (a hormone produced by fat cells that may contribute to obesity and other metabolic abnormalities) than persons without psoriasis, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of ...
Comparable data on maternal and infant in Europe available for the first time.(Report)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Promoting healthy pregnancy and safe childbirth is a goal of all European health care systems. Despite progress in recent decades, mothers and their babies are still very much at risk during the perinatal period, which covers pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum. The European ...
New test for depression.
Jan 04, 2009 ... A new universal test to predict the risk of someone succumbing to major depression has been developed by UCL (University College London) researchers. The online tool, predictD, could eventually be used by family doctors and local clinics to identify those at risk of depression for whom ...
Gene subnetworks predict cancer spread.
Jan 04, 2009 ... The metastasis or spread of breast cancer to other tissues in the body can be predicted more accurately by examining subnetworks of gene expression patterns in a patient's tumor, than by conventional gene expression microarrays, according to a presentation at the American Society for Cell ...
Big-3 bankruptcy: Job loss less than half oft-cited figure, says UM study.
Jan 04, 2009 ... The impact of a Big-3 bankruptcy and restructuring would be severe, but frequently-quoted job loss figures are misleading and overstated, according to a new projection by the University of Maryland's Inforum economic research unit. In the worse case scenario, peak job dislocation from ...
New technique allows simultaneous tracking of gene expression and movement.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Flies expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) in their retina cells or other tissues can be tracked by specially modified video cameras, creating a real time computer record of movement and gene expression. The new technique, described in the open access journal BMC Biotechnology, will ...
Annals colonoscopy study underscores importance of quality standards.(Clinical report)
Jan 04, 2009 ... A study by Baxter, et al. released this week and scheduled to be published in the Jan. 6, 2009, edition of Annals of Internal Medicine, concluded that while screening colonoscopy is associated with fewer deaths from colorectal cancer, the association is primarily limited to deaths from ...
Stressed-out mice reveal role of epigenetics in behavior.
Jan 04, 2009 ... Research conducted by a team in Switzerland suggests that a family of genes involved in regulating the expression of other genes in the brain is responsible for helping us deal with external inputs such as stress. Their results, appearing in the December 11 advance online version of the ...
MU researcher calls for increase in sexual assault awareness programs on college campuses.
Jan 04, 2009 ... The statistics for sexual assault are unsettling; the Department of Justice reports that one in five college women will be the victim of attempted or actual sexual assault during their college years. In a new study, researchers from two universities, including the University of Missouri, ...