Widely Used Therapy May Not Be Effective In Treatment Of Acute Stroke
...toward better recovery than did patients receiving only conventional therapy. However, by 3 months after stroke, the conventional therapy group had caught up with the anticoagulant group and both groups were doing equally well. About 75 percent of patients in each group experienced a positive outcome at...UF Psychiatrists Use Antidepressants To Treat Smoking Addiction
...rast, although 80 percent of smokers want to stop, only 20 to 30 percent of those who do are smoke-free a year later. Less than 5 percent quit successfully with no intervention. "This is a very, very tenacious addiction," said UF psychiatrist Dr. Douglas Eaton, an addiction medicine specialist. "...Researchers Identify Candidate Immunosuppressant With Fewer Side Effects
...eswithin the cell. The peptide, on the other hand, only blocks specific bindingbetween calcineurin and NFAT (nuclear factor of activated T cells). Othercalcineurin functions are unimpeded. With the peptide in place, calcineurin is unable to bind to thetranscription factor NFAT and the signaling pa...UB Plants "Seeds" By Investing In Research Projects; Researchers Leverage Investment 14 Times Over
... the program's first year. The financial return is only part of the story: Benefits will accrue long into the future, ultimately improving lives, thanks to the program's investments in research on new technologies, assistive devices and fundamental mechanisms behind common medical conditions, as well as o...Health Workers May Experience Costly Dislocation As Health Spending Growth Slows
...cs show that total non-government health jobs grew only 2.2% between 1995 and 1996, slightly slower than total jobs for the private non-farm economy, which grew 2.6%. The mix of jobs will need to change, consistent with shifts in spendingwithin the health sector. Bishop finds that "there currentl...Identification Of Brain Areas Could Help Eliminate Side Effects Of Pain Medication
...a safety. He adds, "The discovery of anesthesia is only about 150 years old, and it is important to remember that for no anesthetic or opioid do we know exactly how these drugs work to eliminate wakefulness and block the perception of pain." Steve Mortazavi, M.D., an anesthesia resident working with...Area of Research Outlined For Promising New Cancer Drugs
...nistered to cancer-bearing mice. Normally, only limited angiogenesis takes place in organisms afte...hepotential beauty of these drugs is that they may only be required for short-termtreatment, and that many of these other issues will be manageable." ......nother 63 years whereas his Russian counterpart is only likely to have another 44 years). The WHO can also become a source of tried and tested knowledge for countries as they reform their healthcare systems and provide a useful framework for implementing change. Finally the historical role of WHO as gua...Earliest Warning Sign Indicates Need To Test For Condition Associated With Fetal Deaths
...y at Buffalo are recommending that the presence of only one of the known clinical signs is sufficient reas...nfant death, Gugino and colleagues found that if only one of these symptoms is present, chorioamnionitis should be suspected and patients should be tested...Communication Between Doctors And Asthma Patients Is Key
...ts. She also noted that physicians tended to treat only episodes of bronchospasm ofpatients, instead of treating the underlying inflammation. National guidelinesfor management of asthma call for treating inflammation. After receivingcommunications training, doctors were more inclined to treat the underl...Researchers Synthesize Compounds For New Class Of Antibiotics
...eria.Before this breakthrough, the compounds could only be isolated from theirbacterial source, a process that yielded quantities too small to be usable. From a therapeutic standpoint, the compounds look particularly promisingbecause of their selectivity. Harmful bacteria contain DNA-dependent pol...Scientists Create Extremely Sensitive Test For Detecting Radiation Damage
... with such a specific and sensitive assay, one can only begin toimagine some of the possibilities," the editorial writer said. "For instance,scientists should more easily detect the type and frequency of DNA lesions inliving tissues after exposure to environmental radiation or chemicalcarcinogens."......or a longerperiod of time, than patients receiving only hydrocortisone and a placebo. Inaddition, patients who did not receive suramin were 50 percent more likely toundergo further progression of the disease. Suramin has long been suspected of being an anti-prostate cancer agent, butbecause it has alway...New Drug Prevents Breast Cancer In Postmenopausal Women, UCSF Researchers Report
...men who weregiven placebo developed breast cancer, only 11 or .21 percent of those assignedto raloxifene developed the disease. However, like tamoxifen and estrogen,Cummings noted that raloxifene does increase a woman's risk of developing bloodclots. He added that raloxifene also reduced the risk of estr...ONYX Pharmaceuticals Reports Phase II Clinical Trial Results At ASCO Meeting
...amatic early finding,"Dr. Kirn said. "But we have only evaluated ten patients at this point. While weare encouraged by these initial results, we remain cautiouslyoptimistic." "Of course, because this is an ongoing study, we do not yet have informationregarding durability of responses. We will be able......urse of chemotherapy." "In 1998 we are not only talking about first-line therapy NSCLC, but wenow need to pursue second-line chemotherapy," concluded Dr. Belani. The ongoing phase III studies with the paclitaxel/carboplatin regimenbeing performed by the SWOG, ECOG, CALGB will further subst...National Office Of Drug Safety Is Needed, Experts Say In JAMA
...1,400 employees working on approving newdrugs, but only 52 monitor the safety of 5,000 drugs already in th... Division ofPharmacovigilance and Epidemiology has only seven physicians and oneepidemiologist. In a reorganization expected later this year, the office wil...Advisory: Nasal Spray Influenza Vaccine
...nza vaccine significantlyreduces the frequency not only of febrile otitis media, but also in theanitbiotic use during influenza outbreaks." The nasal spray vaccine is a fine mist that will be marketed by Aviron asFluMist. It may be available to the public by the summer of 1999. The vaccinehas proven to ...Dermatologists Recommend Raising Age for Insurance Coverage for Acne Drugs to Age 40 -- or Beyond
...prescriptions for adults over the cut-off age, but only if their doctor getspre-authorization from the company to issue the prescription. Feldman and Fleischer undertook their study to give insurance companiesa more rational basis for setting age criteria for tretinoin coverage. They studi......gh the newly reported Phase I clinical trial aimed only atestablishing the maximum tolerated dosage for th...Henry Friedman. The current study included only patients with recurrent cancers or thosewith refractory disease. However, applying the treatment to ...