Mouse model reveals potential way to reduce cardiac deaths in kidney patients
St. Louis, March 29, 2005 -- Scientists have identified an important link between kidney damage and cardiac problems, creating new possibilities for treating the primary cause of death in kidney disease patients. ......Researchers tracked a chain reaction that leads from kidney damage to weakening of the skeleton to increased phosphorous in the blood. They showed that higher phosphorous levels we...Organizational traits associated with quality patient care are essential to home care nursing
NEWARK, N.J. Organizational traits that support hospital-based nurses' efforts to provide high quality patient care and enhance their job satisfaction are also essential to home care nursing, according to a study conducted by a Rutgers College of Nursing faculty member. ...This is the first step towards researching the impact of the nurse work environment on patient care outside of hospital set...NIAID initiates trial of experimental avian flu vaccine
Fast-track recruitment has begun for a trial to investigate the safety of a vaccine against H5N1 avian influenza, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today. ...... Sites in Rochester, NY, Baltimore and Los Angeles will enroll a total of 450 healthy adults. The clinical sites are part of the NIAID-sponsored V...Liverpool to lead 20M Department of Health initiative to develop medicines for children
Many of the medicines used to treat children have been designed for adults, and have not been properly tested on the young. Health professionals use their skill and judgement when prescribing medicines for children but uncertainty can result in inappropriate dosing or inadequate efficacy. ...... The initiative will take the development of children's medicines to a new level, with the establishmen...Aspirin's potential ability to prevent colon polyps may not apply equally to all
The association between regular aspirin use and a reduced risk of precancerous colon polyps may be strongest in those with particular genetic variants. In the March 16 Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers report that aspirin use appears to reduce the incidence of colon polyps more strongly in women with alternative forms of a gene involved in the metabolism of aspirin than in th...Most hospital executives have substantial concerns about mandatory error reporting systems
A survey of hospital leaders indicates that many have serious reservations about a mandatory error reporting system, including that it would discourage event reporting and increase the risk of lawsuits, according to a study in the March 16 issue of JAMA....... Since the early 1990s, much has been learned about medical errors in health care settings, and about their impact on illness, death, and c...Use of potentially inappropriate medications among elderly common in some European countries
There are substantial differences between European countries in the potentially inappropriate use of medications among elderly home care patients, according to a study in the March 16 issue of JAMA....... Use of potentially inappropriate medications in elderly patients is a major health care concern, according to background information in the article. It is likely to increase the risk of adverse...Multi-center study shows direct link between residential radon exposure and lung cancer
Two University of Iowa researchers were part of a large multi-center study that provides compelling direct evidence of an association between prolonged residential radon exposure and lung cancer risk. ...... The study, an analysis of data pooled from seven different North American residential radon studies, demonstrates an 11 to 21 percent increased lung cancer risk at average residential radon...Potential treatment for Fragile X Syndrome demonstrated in fruit fly model
(Philadelphia) - Fragile X Syndrome is one of the most commonly inherited forms of mental retardation, with an incidence of 1 in 4,000 males and 1 in 8,000 females. Not many medications exist to help Fragile X patients. Now, in a fruit fly model of the disease, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and their colleagues have shown that it is possible to reverse some of...Study documents initial differences in sexual transmission of HIV between males and females
A genetic analysis of viral RNA from 10 heterosexual couples, in which one partner has sexually transmitted HIV to the other, provides the first documentation of some differences in how the virus infects males and females. According to the Hopkins researchers who led the study, this initial research is essential to understanding why these differences occur and for future development of a vaccine...Major review of subway systems suggests potential for significant health and safety hazards
New York, February 24, 2005 Although information on subway safety is generally very limited, a new paper by safety experts at the Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health provides the first comprehensive look at health and safety hazards that might affect both riders and subway workers. The report, published in the Journal of Urban Health in a special issue on mass transit, indicat...Potential drug target for treating cocaine abuse found
WASHINGTON, DC February 17, 2005 -- A substance similar to a drug used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease blocks the stimulating effects of cocaine and could potentially be used to develop drug therapy for cocaine abuse, new research shows....... In an article published in the February 23, 2005, issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, Jonathan Katz and his colleagues at the National Institute...The courage to change the rules: A Proposal for an essential health R&D treaty
Although biomedical science and technology are developing at a more rapid pace than ever, the medical needs of many of the world's population go unmet. Only 1% of new drugs approved between 1975 and 1999 were specifically developed for tropical diseases and tuberculosis - diseases that account for over 10% of the global disease burden. What we need, argue Nicoletta Dentico and Nathan Ford of the...Jefferson scientists uncover potential trigger of diabetic kidney disease
Scientists at Jefferson Medical College and Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified a protein that plays a leading part in triggering kidney disease in diabetic patients, a condition known as diabetic nephropathy and the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide. The finding, which they report February 22 in the journal ...According to study co-author Kumar Sharma, M.D., director of the C...Sites chosen for public-private Osteoarthritis Initiative
Four clinical centers and a data coordinating center have been selected to conduct the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI), the public-private partnership that will bring together new resources and commitment to... help find biological and structural markers (biomarkers) for development and progression of this joint disease. Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and the major cause...Initially recommended drug dosages often too high, study finds
(Washington, DC)--More than 20% of the drugs approved in the United States are approved at a dosage level that is later discovered to be too high, resulting in the subsequent lowering of the recommended dosage level, according to research conducted at Georgetown University's Center for Drug Development Science (CDDS). Two papers on this subject have been published in the August issue of the Briti...Rat makes a partial recovery following a spinal cord lesion
Scientists at the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research have developed an experimental therapy which enables rats with a spinal cord lesion to partially recover from their paralysis. Up until now not even the slightest degree of recovery was possible. PhD student Bas Blits was part of this team. ...The method uses a combination of transplantation and gene therapy. For the transplantation, the...Chemists Closing In On Commercial Potential Of Alkanes
. BERKELEY, CA -- The elusive goal of harnessing the vast potential of one of.the earth's most plentiful materials is another step closer to realization..Using ultrafast spectroscopic techniques that provide "stop-action" images.within a trillionth of a second, scientists at the U.S. Deparment of Energy's.Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have obtained the first detailed picture.of an al...Penn Researchers Initiate Ground-Breaking New Trials To Treat
(Philadelphia, PA) -- Surgeons and radiation oncologists at the...University of Pennsylvania Medical Center have recently initiated...ground-breaking new protocols to treat locally advanced cases of...lung cancer and mesothelioma for patients who are generally...considered untreatable at other institutions. These new clinical...trials are applying innovative combination treatments with...photod...Johns Hopkins scientists receive presidential medals
Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., and astrophysicist Riccardo Giacconi, Ph.D., have been named recipients of the 2003 National Medal of Science, the United States' top scientific recognition, the White House announced today. ...... The two will be the seventh and eighth Johns Hopkins faculty members to receive this honor. Giacconi and Snyder will receive the medals in a White...Clot-busting drugs may help detect potentially deadly leg clots
A possible diagnostic use for clot-dissolving drugs such as tPA has been found by Medical College of Georgia researchers working to improve a test that identifies potentially deadly blood clots in the legs.... ..."This study is a fairly simple concept," says Dr. Vincent J.B. Robinson, nuclear cardiologist at MCG and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta and lead author of a study in the...Penn joins major NCI research initiative to advance breast cancer therapies
(Philadelphia, PA) - The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine was recently selected to become a member of the National Cancer Institute's Mouse Models of Human Cancers Consortium (MMHCC). The MMHCC was established in 1999 to design and characterize mouse models that more accurately reflect the way that human cancers develop and respond to therapy. The research groups comprising the MMHCC...'Broken heart' syndrome: Real, potentially deadly but recovery quick
Shocking news, such as learning of the unexpected death of a loved one, has been known to cause catastrophic events, such as a heart attack. ...... Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that sudden emotional stress can also result in severe but reversible heart muscle weakness that mimics a classic heart attack. Patients with this condition, called stress cardiomyopathy but known co...Opportunity missed: TIA patients receive less aggressive attention than those with stroke
NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 3 Transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients receive less aggressive diagnostic testing, treatment and education compared to stroke patients, which is a missed opportunity to prevent permanent disability or death, researchers reported at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2005. ... "There needs to be a paradigm shift in the way the public and phys...No magic pill for treating dementia symptoms
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Many of the drugs commonly prescribed to treat agitation, delusions and other symptoms that can accompany dementia are not effective, researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues report this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association....... "Our review of 29 research studies found that drug therapies are not particularly effective...Sequential MDCT sufficient for determining possible risk of coronary artery disease
Sequential MDCT offers an adequate way to stratify which patients have calcium build-up in their coronary arteries--a possible risk factor for developing coronary artery disease, a new study shows. ...... "Most equipment manufacturers recommend a sequential MDCT examination for the detection of coronary artery calcification, and we wanted to assess the reproducibility of these examinations," sai...Health initiatives can help peace building in the Middle East
An article published online by THE LANCET today (Tuesday January 25, 2005) describes how health initiatives have led to Arab and Israeli cooperation in the Middle East. ...... Harvey Skinner (University of Toronto, Canada) and colleagues outline the work of the Canada International Scientific Exchange Program (CISEPO), which has successfully fostered collaborative work in the region involving Isr...Cardiovascular risk factors in midlife strongly linked to risk of dementia
ST. PAUL, Minn. High cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, and smoking have long been considered and treated as risk factors for cardiovascular disease. A new study has concluded that these same cardiovascular (CV) risk factors in middle age may also increase significantly the risk of dementia in old age. The study of nearly 9,000 northern Californians is published in the January 25 issue of Neur...Moderate alcohol intake may reduce risk of dementia in older women
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Older women who drink a moderate amount of alcohol each day may be helping to keep their minds sharp, according to researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues.... ..."In our study, older women who drank moderate amounts of alcohol tended to perform better on tests for cognitive function and dementia," said Mark Espeland, Ph.D., lead researcher....Antibody treatment partially reverses nerve damage in Alzheimer disease
Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine have shown that an antibody treatment administered to the brain surface in mice with Alzheimer disease is capable of rapidly reversing disease-related structural nerve damage. The study will appear online on January 20 in advance of print publication in the February 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.... ...One of the many ha...Weight loss may be an early sign of dementia in the elderly
CHICAGO Dementia-associated weight loss begins before the onset of the definite dementia symptoms and accelerates by the time of the diagnosis, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.... ...Weight loss in old age is common and may be related to various diseases, according to background information in the article. "It has long been...Health report-card fears make doctors forgo potential life-saving heart treatment
Nearly 80 percent of interventional cardiologists in New York State admit they have avoided performing a risky but potentially life-saving angioplasty on a patient, out of fear that if the patient dies it skews the doctor's personal mortality "report card," according to a University of Rochester survey.... ...The anonymous poll was designed to measure whether the state Department of Health's syst...Potential cure for lymphoma in HIV patients
(WASHINGTON, January 7, 2005) Stem cell transplants have become the standard of care for Patients with relapsed lymphoma, but not for Patients who suffer from both this disease and HIV. A new study showing that this treatment is a viable option for select Patients with HIV-associated lymphoma will be published in the January 15, 2005, issue of , the official journal of the American Society of H...Doctors must consider potentially inappropriate medications when treating elderly
Just as our bodies physically slow down as we age, changes occur in the way that older bodies handle pharmaceuticals, and prescribing physicians need to be aware of those medications inappropriate for the elderly. ... "With age, drugs tend to build up in the body, and the distribution and elimination of drugs from the body changes as well," says Dr. Donna M. Fick, R.N., associate professor of nur...UCLA-VA study names India dietary staple as potential Alzheimer's weapon
A dietary staple of India, where Alzheimer's disease rates are reportedly among the world's lowest, holds potential as a weapon in the fight against the disease. ...... The new UCLA-Veterans Affairs study involving genetically altered mice suggests that curcumin, the yellow pigment in curry spice, inhibits the accumulation of destructive beta amyloids in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and al...MDCT angiography can potentially help determine which patients are at greater risk of stroke
MDCT angiography can potentially help determine which patients with narrowed...carotid arteries are at greater risk of having a stroke, a new study shows....This information could help identify which patients need surgery and which...can be treated with less invasive procedures. ......The study reviewed 31 patients who had greater than 60% carotid artery...stenosis18 had symptoms of carotid arte...Timing appears essential to combining antiangiogenesis and radiation therapy
Although the earliest clinical trials of the cancer-fighting potential of antiangiogenesis drugs did not have the dramatic results that some hoped for, subsequent trials showed that combining agents that suppress blood-vessel growth with therapies that destroy cancer cells can improve patient survival. In the December issue of Cancer Cell, researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH...Potentially fatal toxicities occur with off-label use of cancer drugs
CHICAGO --- Food and Drug Administration policies prevent pharmaceutical manufacturers from informing patients about potentially fatal toxicities that occur with some cancer drugs -- policies that should be revised immediately, according to Northwestern University researchers. ... Andrew M. Evens, D.O., instructor in medicine, and Charles L. Bennett, M.D., professor of medicine, Northwestern Un...Some herbal medicine products contain potentially toxic amounts of heavy metals
An analysis of a sample of Ayurvedic herbal medicine products found that 20 percent contained metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic at levels that could be toxic if taken as directed, according to a study in the December 15 issue of . ...... According to background information in the article, approximately 80 percent of India's one billion population uses Ayurveda, a medical system that origi...Voluntary health organizations, publishers announce major information initiative
New York, NY, December 8, 2004 Scientific publishers and the nation's leading voluntary health organizations have announced a groundbreaking initiative to help patients and caregivers close a critical information gap....... ) is a free, online service dedicated to disseminating original medical research directly to consumers. A collaborative effort of leading voluntary health organizations, schol...