Epstein-Barr virus protein crucial to its role in blood cancers
(Philadelphia, PA) Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a link between a critical cancer pathway and an Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) protein known to be expressed in a number of EBV-associated cancers. Their findings demonstrate a new mechanism by which EBV transforms human B cells from the immune system into cancerous cells, which can lead to development...Reducing hostility in young coronary artery disease patients is important piece of rehabilitation
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Young coronary artery disease patients have a higher prevalence of hostility than older patients with the disease, researchers explain in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The authors say reducing hostility in these patients should be part of a rehabilitation program....... Of the 500 patients in the study, hostility scores were 2.5 times higher in patients under 5...How effective are herbal supplements in reducing illnesses in children?
The use of herbal supplements in women is increasing. Many mothers may also be giving herbal supplements to their children to treat or prevent various illnesses, including asthma, hyperactivity, colds, and respiratory infections. A study in the March issue of reviews the medical literature to provide information about the effectiveness of some of the most common herbal supplements in children...The impact of cruciate ligament rupture on osteoarthritis of the knee
As many professional athletes know, tears of the cruciate ligaments the two ligaments that in the knee that keep it stable can lead to short-term as well as long-term problems, including severe osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Rupture of the front or anterior cruciate ligament is, in fact, known to provoke premature knee OA. However, much about the relationship between knee OA and cruciate lig...Reducing side effects of retinoic acid cancer treatment
ITHACA, N.Y. -- For some time doctors have been using a vitamin A derivative, retinoic acid (RA), to treat several cancers, particularly prostate cancer and leukemia, and they are now experimenting with the drug to treat breast cancer. The great drawback to RA, however, is that it requires high levels of the medication in order to turn genes "on" and "off," often triggering devastating and potent...Promising treatments for Huntington's disease identified in UCI study
Irvine, Calif., Feb. 14, 2005 -- UC Irvine researchers have identified several promising drug compounds that when combined show the potential to treat Huntington's disease....... In tests on fruit flies, Larry Marsh and Leslie Thompson found that combinatorial drug therapies developed from these compounds halted the brain-cell damage caused by the fatal, progressive neurodegenerative disorder. S...UCI study uncovers how plaque in neck artery leads to stroke-inducing blood clots
Irvine, Calif., Feb. 7, 2005 -- A UC Irvine Stroke Center study reveals how plaque in the main neck artery plays a critical role in creating blood clots that greatly increase the risk of stroke....... Dr. Mark Fisher, director of the UCI Stroke Center, and colleagues found that in the carotid artery, the primary source of blood to the brain, plaques form lesions that support the growth of the str...Reviparin effective in reducing risk of death after heart attack
The drug reviparin (a low molecular weight heparin anticoagulant), when administered to patients with a heart attack, is effective in reducing the risk of death and the risk of a subsequent heart attack, according to a study in the January 26 issue of ....... Approximately 15.5 million cardiovascular deaths occur every year, according to background information in the article. Of these, about hal...Hearing aid signal not clear? Then switch frequency to FM, finds UCI study
Irvine, Calif., Jan. 25, 2005 -- There's a reason why we listen to music on the FM dial of our radios it just sounds better than it does on AM....... And this reason also holds true for cochlear implants and hearing aids. UC Irvine School of Medicine researchers have found that improving frequency modulation, or FM, reception on cochlear implants and hearing aids may increase the quality of life...Fat quality more important than fat quantity in reducing risk of cardiovascular deaths in men
CHICAGO The type of dietary fats consumed by middle-aged men, especially polyunsaturated fats and linoleic acids, may be more important than total fat intake in reducing the risk of cardiovascular deaths, according to a study in the January 24 issue of , one of the JAMA/Archives journals....... According to background information in the article, substitution of dietary polyunsaturated fat has b...Type of weight loss surgery more effective at reducing insulin resistance
Excessive weight can bring with it many medical problems, including insulin resistance and often type 2 diabetes. Bariatric surgery for severely obese patients leads to weight loss and improves insulin sensitivity. In a study published in the current issue of , researchers from the State University of Campinas, So Paulo, Brazil; Catholic University, Rome, Italy; and the University of Pisa, Italy...Program effective at reducing depression in teens
An intervention for adolescents aimed at improving the quality of treatment for depression is effective at reducing depression, according to a study in the January 19 issue of JAMA....... Lifetime prevalence for major depression in adolescence is estimated at 15 percent to 20 percent, current prevalence is estimated as high as 6 percent, and 28.3 percent of adolescents report periods during the p...Scientists discover enzyme crucial to the transportation of proteins within cells
VANCOUVER, B.C. - December 16, 2004: Scientists at the University of British Columbia have discovered an enzyme in mammals crucial to the transportation of proteins within cells. Published today in Neuron, this discovery opens new avenues of understanding of the mechanisms underlying neuronal function and new therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers and Huntington...Reducing anti-rejection meds after transplant shows less complications
SAN DIEGO, Dec. 10 Transplant researchers at the University of Pittsburgh's Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute have dramatically improved intestinal transplant graft survival, and reduced rejection and infection rates by successfully using a novel immunosuppression minimization protocol, thus improving patients' overall quality of life and avoiding the use of several anti-rejection drugs...HPV vaccine shown effective at reducing cancer-causing infections
A vaccine that could reduce cervical cancer rates by 75 percent is safe and 95 percent effective, according to a study of 1,113 women in North America and Brazil....... . ...... "This study provides objective evidence that this vaccine will work, it's going to save lives and will have a major impact on women's health care," says Dr. Da...Team-centered program effective in reducing disordered eating among athletes
CHICAGO A peer-led, sport team-centered program reduces eating disordered behavior and body-shaping drug use in female high school athletes, according to an article in the November issue of , one of the JAMA/Archives journals....... According to the article, about half of male and female high school students participate in school sports. For young women, pressures to be thin may be compounded...Scientists discover enzyme crucial to HIV replication
Scientists have discovered that a cellular enzyme helps ferry HIV genetic instructions out of the cell nucleus where they can then be translated into proteins to begin their most destructive work. The cellular enzyme represents a potential new target for developing improved HIV drugs, say the researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National...Nicotine more addictive when combined with other tobacco smoke chemicals, UCI study finds
Irvine, Calif., Oct. 28, 2004 -- Acetaldehyde, one of the main chemical components of tobacco smoke, appears to increase the addictive properties of nicotine, according to animal studies conducted by the UC Irvine Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (TTURC). In addition, the researchers found that adolescents are most vulnerable to the rewarding effects of the nicotine-acetaldehyde comb...UCI's Brain Imaging Center chosen to help advance nation's Roadmap for Medical Research
Irvine, Calif., Oct. 5, 2004 -- With two new grants totaling $2.7 million, the Brain Imaging Center at UC Irvine's College of Medicine will be working with the National Institutes of Health to help advance the federal agency's ambitious "Roadmap for Medical Research" program....... The NIH Roadmap is a series of far-reaching initiatives designed to transform the nation's medical research capabili...Teacher-training for hospital residents improves medical students' education, UCI study shows
Irvine, Calif., Aug. 17, 2003 - Resident physicians make better...instructors for medical students and interns when they receive formal...teaching training, a UCI College of Medicine study has found. ......The study is among the first to quantify how specialized training for...resident physicians improves their teaching and mentoring skills....Traditionally, medical students and interns at a hosp...UCI launches nation's first medical education program focused on Latino culture
Irvine, Calif., July 8, 2004 -- Sarah Lopez wants to improve health care for the large Latino community in her California hometown. Gabriel Rivera plans to advance medical research to help Mexican American immigrants across the country. And Gabriela Diaz seeks to break down the cultural barriers limiting health care access for America's migrant farm workers. ...As inaugural class members of UC Ir...UCI center finds perchlorate may be acceptable in drinking water at higher levels
Irvine, Calif., June 8, 2004 -- Even at significantly higher levels than recommended by the state's leading health assessment agency, the contaminant perchlorate in drinking water seems to pose no additional risks to healthy people, according to a recent report issued by the UC Irvine Urban Water Research Center.... ...The center reached this conclusion following a broad review of existing resear...UCI Tobacco research center reports why teens are most vulnerable to smoking addiction
Irvine, Calif., May 20, 2004 -- Teenagers have long been regarded as the age group most vulnerable to the addictive lure of cigarettes, and a new report compiling five years of studies from a UC Irvine tobacco research program provides details why this is very likely true. ... ...The report, "Closing the Gap on Youth Tobacco Use," determines that adolescents are more susceptible than adults to th...Sleep apnea treatment could save lives & money by reducing auto accidents, according to researchers
Each year, potentially 980 lives could be saved and $11.1 billion in automobile-accident costs could be avoided if drivers who suffer from a disorder called obstructive sleep apnea were successfully treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), according to a study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. ......Published in the May 2004 iss...Cultural sensitivity crucial when seeking organ donors
Requests for organ donors must be tempered by a better understanding of cultural differences, says a University of Toronto researcher....... "We're seeing different cultural perceptions of life and death and that affects end-of-life decisions," says Kerry Bowman, a U of T professor with the Joint Centre for Bioethics and the clinical ethicist at Mount Sinai Hospital. Health care workers need to b...One form of vitamin E appears beneficial in reducing bladder cancer risk
ORLANDO -- One form of vitamin E appears to offer protection against development of bladder cancer, while a second form has no beneficial effect, say a team of researchers led by The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. These findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.... ...In a five-year study, which included 468 newly diagnosed...Researchers: Diet a significant factor in reducing risk of three common cancers
ORLANDO While those wanting to lose weight consider the relative merits of counting carbs versus counting calories, those hoping to lower their risk for three of the most prevalent forms of cancer may be better off doing as Mother said: Take your vitamins and eat your vegetables. ......Two case-control studies presented here today at the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cance...Sufficient evidence for reducing sugar intake to tackle obesity?
A Viewpoint article in this week's issue of THE LANCET considers the evidence behind a recent WHO/UN report to restrict consumption of free (added) sugars to counteract obesity and concludes: 'when considered in aggregate they [available studies] provide considerable evidence to suggest that sucrose and other free sugars contribute to the global epidemic of obesity'. ... ...In a joint repor...Study: Carbon dioxide may find new use in producing medical implants
COLUMBUS, Ohio Carbon dioxide, an environmentally friendly solvent for dyeing and dry cleaning, may become a valuable new tool for making medical implants, according to a study at Ohio State University.... ...Engineers here used compressed carbon dioxide (CO2) to push chemicals into a plastic that is often used as a bone replacement. With further development, the technology could be used in a wi...Introducing the patient safety series
Health care providers, hospital administrators, and politicians face competing challenges to reduce clinical errors, control expenditure, increase access and throughput, and improve quality of care. The safe management of the acutely ill inpatient presents particular difficulties. In the first of five Lancet articles on this topic, Julian Bion and J Heffner from the University of Birmingham, UK,...New findings on nerve cell proteins show promise for reducing disability
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. New findings in animals suggest a potential treatment to minimize disability after spinal cord and other nervous system injuries, say neuroscientists from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center....... "Our approach is based on a natural mechanism cells have for protecting themselves, called the stress protein response," said Michael Tytell, Ph.D., a neuroscientist and...Scientists identify crucial gene for blood development
BOSTON Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have pinpointed a crucial gene on which the normal development of the body's entire blood system depends. If the gene is absent, even the most basic blood stem cells cannot be generated. In a mutated form, this gene can cause a rare and devastating form of leukemia. ...Called MLL, the gene makes a protein that regulates the activity of a number...UCI study identifies how new neurons grow in adult brain
Irvine, Calif., March 11, 2004 -- A UC Irvine study on cell growth in the adult brain may provide important clues to the potential use of stem cells in the treatment of memory-related diseases such as Alzheimer's. ...The study shows for the first time how newborn neurons in the adult brain grow and integrate into the area involved with learning and memory. The findings may prove significant becau...Families, media and education crucial in preventing eating disorders
COLLEGE STATION, March 11, 2004 The process of educating young people on the prevention of eating disorders needs to start as early as middle-school, emphasizes Danny J. Ballard, a Texas A&M University health education professor.... ...Ballard, who specializes in women's health and school health education, said that 5 to 10 million women and a million men in the United States suffer from some ty...Insulin-producing cells found in a variety of tissues in diabetes
HOUSTON -- (Feb. 17, 2004) -- Cells that produce insulin have been unexpectedly found in the fat, liver and bone marrow of diabetic mice, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in a report that appeared today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ..."In fact, the appearance of insulin-producing cells occurs in both type 1 (juvenile) and type 2 (adult-onset) diabeti...UCI receives major grant to study how acupuncture can treat cardiovascular ailments
Irvine, Calif., Feb. 5, 2004 -- The Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine at UC Irvine has received a $2 million, five-year federal grant to continue studying how an ancient Eastern healing treatment can help treat cardiovascular illnesses such as heart disease, hypertension and arrhythmias. ...The grant extends a previous five-year grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Instit...Study supports role of aspirin in reducing risk of colorectal cancer
A new study has found that regular intake of aspirin does appear to be associated with a reduced risk of the type of colon polyps that can develop into cancer. However, since risk reduction was strongest with aspirin doses higher than those used to prevent cardiovascular disease, the researchers say further study is needed to determine for whom the benefits of such treatment would outweigh any p...Scientists restore crucial myelin in brains of mice
Scientists for the first time have restored a crucial substance known as myelin in a widespread area of an animal's brain, opening the door toward new ways to improve treatment of an assortment of "demyelinating" diseases as well as the side effects of such common conditions as high blood pressure and heart disease. The research by a team led by Steven Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of R...Malpractice reform must focus on reducing patient injury, not just limiting awards
New York City, January 5, 2004--Reducing medical injury is essential to solving the current medical malpractice crisis, and physicians must play an active role in developing and implementing systems to improve patient safety, according to an article published in the January 6th issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.... ...In "Malpractice Reform Must Include Steps to Prevent Medical Injury," Stephe...Parents' vaccine concerns on the rise, making accurate information crucial
ANN ARBOR, Mich. The doctors who treat America's children are hearing more and more concerns from their patients' parents about vaccines, and occasionally encountering parents who refuse some or all recommended vaccines for their children, according to a newly published study by University of Michigan researchers. ... ...Many of the concerns heard by the nearly 750 pediatricians and family pract...