Cultural and social factors influence prostate cancer treatment
Researchers say social and cultural factors play a significant role in patients' prostate cancer treatment decisions. A new study published in the May 1, 2005 issue of CANCER ( ), a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, finds non-medical variables, such as marital status, high school education, and race/ethnicity may play a larger role in patients' treatment decisions than previou...Fat may promote inflammation, new study suggests
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Why does extra fat around the waist increase the risk of heart disease? A new study by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center researchers and colleagues suggests that inflammation may be the key....... "It is well known that obesity affects nearly one-third of adults in the United States and is closely linked with heart disease," said Tongjian You, Ph.D., instructor in...Success of liver transplantation may be most influenced by three risk factors
CHICAGO Three risk factors: donor age; the length of time an organ is cooled between procurement and transplantation; and how urgently the recipient needs the transplant; have the greatest impact on patient and graft survival rates for liver transplantation, according to an article in the March issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. ...... Almost 2,000 people with end-s...Dealing with conflict in caring for the dying patient
PITTSBURGH, March 15 How can a dying patient's family members and physicians get along when faced with difficult decisions on end-of-life treatment? The medical and emotional issues surrounding the care of a dying patient are both stressful and complicated, as highlighted in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association Clinician's Corner Perspectives on Care at the Close of Life, wh...Aircraft cabin ventilation influences the transmission of diseases in-flight
Increasing ventilation within aircraft cabins can reduce the spread of infectious diseases in-flight, suggests a review published in this week's issue of THE LANCET....... Mark Gendreau (Lahey Clinic Medical Centre, MA, USA) and colleagues reviewed data from studies looking at the transmission of diseases during commercial air travel. They found that while commercial airlines are a suitable envi...Inflammation elevates risk of cardiac death in rheumatoid arthritis patients
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic epidemiologists have found that the systemic inflammation characterizing rheumatoid arthritis may be to blame for the increased risk of cardiovascular death in patients with the disease. ...... "We believe that inflammation is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease among rheumatoid arthritis patients," says Hilal Maradit Kremers, M.D., lead study investiga...Sunflower seed oil can protect low birth weight babies from infection
Massaging low birth weight babies with sunflower seed oil is a low cost intervention that can protect them from infections, concludes a study published online by THE LANCET....... The skin of a preterm baby is immature and lacks vernix, a protective cutaneous film with antimicrobial properties. Infections and complications resulting from premature birth are responsible for more than half of all n...Parents who quit smoking may influence their offspring to quit as young adults
SEATTLE A new study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center suggests that parents who quit smoking when their children are young may have a big influence on whether their offspring will quit smoking as young adults.... "We found that parents quitting smoking early, before their children reach third grade, is associated with nearly double the chances that their children would qui...Influenza vaccination programmes for children in USA and Canada based on little evidence
Children in the USA and Canada are being vaccinated against influenza without adequate proof that it will work, concludes a study published in this week's issue of THE LANCET.... ...Most immunisation campaigns target people aged 65 years or older. The USA and Canada have recently started vaccinating children, including those aged 6 to 24 months, in the hope of reducing disease spread, admissions...How links with tobacco industry may have influenced the publication of research on second-hand smoke
A paper published in this week's issue of THE LANCET highlights how links with the tobacco industry may be seen to have influenced the publication of research on the dangers of second-hand tobacco smoke....... In 1987 tobacco industry personnel met to consider how to 'improve the industry's position' on passive smoking. Among the many strategies proposed one proposal made by Philip Morris USA wa...Nicotine withdrawal woes shown to be similar to inflammatory response
University Park, Pa. --- In a small study conducted at Penn State, researchers have shown, for the first time, that heavy or moderate smokers who stop smoking have symptoms similar to those experienced by patients undergoing an inflammatory response suggesting that anti-inflammatory medication might ease some nicotine withdrawal woes. ...Dr. Elizabeth Corwin, assistant professor in the school o...Landmark school-based 'social influences' smoking-prevention program found not to work
.SEATTLE - The most ambitious, school-based smoking-prevention study of its kind has found that teaching youth how to identify and resist social influences to smoke - the main focus of smoking-prevention education and research for more than two decades - simply doesn't work. .These findings, to appear tomorrow in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, are based on a 15-year, federally fun...Physicians' Opinions Influenced By Drug Industry
. Researchers examining the effect of financial conflicts of interest.have found a strong association with authors' published positions on the safety.of a type of heart medication and their financial relationships with.pharmaceutical manufacturers. The results of the study are published in the Jan..8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.. "The pharmaceutical industry provide...Inflammatory cells highly promising target in NF 1
Scientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine are closing in on potential treatments for neurofibromatosis, a genetic disease that afflicts 100,000 Americans with nerve tissue tumors, some of which become cancerous. ......Neurofibromatosis can leave its patients miserable and debilitated with chronic itching or pain from disfiguring tumors. Infants affected by the disease face possible...Two studies find evidence that sunlight may have beneficial influence on cancer
Two new studies in the February 2 issue of the have found that sun exposure may have a beneficial influence on some types of cancer. One study found an association between sun exposure and increased survival from melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer for which sun exposure is a risk factor, while the other found an association between sun exposure and a reduced risk of non-Hodgkin...Biochip for detection of inflammatory bowel disease
The project developing the biochip, known as the IBDChip, was carried out with the collaboration of Dr. Miquel Sans of the Gastroenterology Service at the Barcelona Hospital Clnico and Dr. Carlos Cara of UCB Pharma. The biochip is currently analysing 46 mutations related to inflammatory bowel disease (EII) and will shortly begin clinical trials. ...... The polymorphisms analysed are diverse and e...Physician response to conflicts between faith and medicine
How do doctors interpret and respond to conflicts between their best medical advice and a patient's religious concerns? ...... suggests that such conflicts are not uncommon, that most physicians strive to accommodate the demands of a patient's faith, but that certain types of conflict tend to push doctors over a threshold toward negotiation, persuasion, and appeal to other authorities....... "Th...Physicians' response to religion-related conflicts in medicine
CHICAGO Physicians may encounter situations in which their medical recommendations conflict with a patient's religious beliefs, according to an article in the January 10 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.... ...According to background information in the article, many patients use their religious beliefs and values to understand, cope with, and navigate the...USC researchers find evidence that progesterone signaling influences ovarian cancer risk
Los Angeles, CA, Jan. 4, 2005- A woman's risk of ovarian cancer rises significantly if she carries either of two previously unexamined variations in the gene that codes for the progesterone receptor, according to a team of researchers led by scientists from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. ...... , was initially supposed to be a more in-depth look at one parti...CDC: Update on current influenza season and vaccine supply in the United States
Update on current influenza season and vaccine supply in the United States ... ... Thursday, December 16, 2004 ...1 PM, ET ...Brief remarks followed by Q/A. ... ... ...1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta ...Building 16, enter via Clifton Way parking deck ......Parking is available in the Building 16 parking deck located on Clifton Way. Media should arrive at Building 16 entrance by 12:30 p....Inadequate sleep in late pregnancy may influence labor and delivery
A study by researchers at the UCSF School of Nursing has found that women who have less sleep or severely disrupted sleep in late pregnancy are significantly more likely to have longer labors and are more likely to have cesarean births....... Controlling for birth weight of the newborn, the researchers found that women who averaged less than six hours of sleep per night had significantly longer l...Academy meeting examines the vaccine & avian influenza crisis
Effective vaccinations against influenza were established many years ago. However, lack of availability of vaccines and the potential for new influenza subtypes to spread in pandemics represent new challenges to global public health. To alleviate supply issues, some public health experts propose administering low-dose vaccines, but will this be adequate to protect high-risk populations? With t...Resistin integral part of the inflammatory response
(Philadelphia, PA) Chronic inflammation is being implicated in diseases as widespread as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, and most recently, diabetes and obesity. The role of the hormone resistin in people with these diseases has been questioned because it is primarily secreted by immune cells called macrophages in humans rather than fat cells, as in mice. Nevertheless, resistin is el...Study documents decline in rare paralytic disorder linked to influenza vaccination
The number of reported cases of Gillain-Barre syndrome (a rare paralytic disorder) that occur following influenza vaccination has decreased over the past 12 years, according to a study in the November 24 issue of JAMA. ...... Guillain-Barr syndrome (GBS) is a paralytic disorder in which the body's immune system affects part of the peripheral nervous system, according to background information in...Examination of possible conflicts of interest to influence look at suspected adverse drug reactions
A review of the published literature and of internal company documents from the manufacturer of cerivastatin, a cholesterol lowering drug removed from the market in 2001, suggests that information about serious adverse effects of this medication was known to the company within months after this drug was launched, and that company analyses showing substantially increased risk of rhabdomyolysis wer...Computerized orders effective in increasing administration of influenza and pneumococcal vaccines
Computer-based standing orders are more effective than computerized reminders to physicians in increasing influenza and pneumococcal vaccine administration for hospitalized patients, according to an article in the November 17 issue of JAMA. ...... According to background information in the article, few medical interventions rival influenza and pneumococcal vaccines in their ability to reduce illn...Brain inflammation found in autism
Inflammation in the brain is clearly a feature of autism, according to a new study published November 15, 2004, in online edition of Annals of Neurology ( ), the scientific journal of the American Neurological Association. The researchers found strong evidence that certain immune system components that promote inflammation are consistently activated in people with autism. ...... "These findings r...NIAID launches influenza genome sequencing project
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced a joint influenza genome sequencing project with several scientific partners. The project will help researchers understand how flu viruses evolve, spread and cause disease. According to its leaders, it has the potential to minimize the impact of annual flu outbreaks...Generic anti-inflammatory causes significantly fewer GI complications than branded medications
DALLAS Nov. 11, 2004 People in search of pain relief who take the generic anti-inflammatory etodolac suffer 60 percent fewer gastrointestinal complications than those who take similar drugs, according to researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center.... ...Use of the drug etodolac instead of drugs like Celebrex or Bextra could save the Ve...Loyola study shows drug-coated stent induces less inflammation than bare metal stent
NEW ORLEANS - In the treatment of coronary artery disease, a sirolimus drug-coated stent causes less inflammation than bare metal stents, according to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association annual meeting by Loyola University Health System, Maywood, Ill.... ..."Inflammatory response is a sign of advancing heart disease, so the less inflammation the better," said lead aut...Annual vaccination against influenza associated with decreased risk of death in elderly
A study from the Netherlands suggests that elderly persons who receive a yearly influenza vaccination have reduced risk of death from all causes, according to a study in the November 3 issue of JAMA.... ..."Influenza-associated morbidity and mortality increase with age, especially for individuals with high-risk conditions," the authors provide as background information in the article. "The effe...Twenty-Year prospective study of pregnant women with inflammatory bowel disease finds healthy babies
ORLANDO (November 1, 2004)--Infants born to women with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) are no more likely to develop congenital malformations than infants born to healthy mothers, according to a study presented at the 69th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology. Researchers from the University of Toronto presented a prospective study of 138 women with IBD who gave...Molecular clock genes influence metabolism of sugar and dietary fats
(Philadelphia, PA) Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that components of the internal molecular clock of mammals have an important role in governing the metabolism of sugars and fats within the body. They found in mice that two of the well-studied proteins in the clock control the ability of animals to recover from the fall in blood sugar that occurs...IDSA recommends ways to strengthen HHS's pandemic influenza plan
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has submitted detailed recommendations to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the agency's Draft Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Plan....... "Although IDSA applauds HHS's efforts on a thoughtful and scientifically based plan, we are proposing a number of recommendations that, if incorporated, could help to strengthen...IDSA offers policy Rx for influenza vaccine shortage
In the midst of the current national shortage of influenza vaccine, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) today renewed its call for Congress and the Administration to implement innovative public policy geared toward removing financial disincentives that have caused pharmaceutical companies to leave the vaccine market.... ..."Infectious disease physicians in hospitals and communities...Health and politics: Lessons learned from the Iraq conflict
A Viewpoint in this week's issue of THE LANCET discusses the complex issues concerning the provision of humanitarian relief in the Iraq conflict. The authors of the article comment that 'the US armed forces have increased engagement in humanitarian projects, such as community health and food programmes. Relief organisations believe that this engagement contributes to insecurity by blurring the li...Gene from 1918 virus proves key to virulent influenza
MADISON - Using a gene resurrected from the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, recorded history's most lethal outbreak of infectious disease, scientists have found that a single gene may have been responsible for the devastating virulence of the virus....... Writing today (Oct. 7, 2004) in the journal Nature, virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison...Proinflammatory mononuclear cells in obese found to contribute to diabetes, heart disease
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Endocrinologists from the University at Buffalo are providing one more link in the growing chain of evidence pointing to chronic cellular inflammation as the precursor of heart disease and diabetes.... In research published in the Sept 21 issue of Circulation, the researchers show for the first time that circulating mononuclear cells -- the body's monocytes (the largest type of...Inflammatory marker may be early sign of blood vessel blockages
The study of 386 Olmsted County, Minn., residents used transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) to obtain high-quality images of the lining of the aorta, the main artery through which the heart pumps blood to the body. TEE images are clearer than traditional echocardiograms because they come from an ultrasound probe inserted down the throat. This enables imaging of the heart and major blood vessels...Most physicians agree that widespread routine influenza vaccination for young children is feasible
CHICAGO Most pediatricians and family physicians who completed a nationwide survey agreed that universal influenza vaccination for infants is feasible, according to an article in the September issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.... ...In 2003, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices published a new recommendation for children 6 to 23...