Enhancing innate immunity improves Crohn's disease symptoms
...le from one (mild) to 600 (severe). After eight weeks of treatment, 48 percent of those who received GM-CSF had a 100-point improvement in their CDAI score. Only 26 percent of those who received the placebo had a similar improvement. In all, 40 percent of those who received the drug went into remission,...Corticosteroids do not help head injuries
...corticosteroids increased the risk of death at two weeks when compared with a placebo. (Lancet 2004; 364: 1321-28) In this final 6-month follow-up the CRASH trial investigators found the risk of death or severe disability was also higher in the corticosteroid group than in the placebo group. Dr Edwards com...Immune factor GM-CSF significantly improves Crohn's disease symptoms
...injections. Participants were evaluated every two weeks during the study period and 30 days after treatment concluded. Based on a standard index of Crohn's disease symptoms, significantly more participants receiving GM-CSF were judged to have major improvement or remission of their symptoms than were tho...Newly developed treatment for severe grief shown more effective than standard therapy
...ed in 16 sessions during an average interval of 19 weeks per participant. IPT included identifying and reviewing symptoms, focusing on grief. The IPT therapist helped patients arrive at a more realistic assessment of the relationship with the deceased, addressing both its positive and negative aspects, an...Home-based intervention increases physical activity in breast cancer survivors
...ol group. Participants in the PA group received 12 weeks of PA counseling via weekly telephone calls, as well as weekly tip sheets through the mail. At the end of 12 weeks, researchers also found that participants in the PA group improved significantly on a field test of fitness; after intervention, they ...Experimental shingles vaccine proves effective in nationwide study
...t same area of skin; the rash can take two to four weeks to heal. Anyone who has had chickenpox--which includes most adults in the United States--could develop shingles, though not all will. The two major risk factors are increasing age and declining immunity. Half of all people who live to age 85 will g...Despite alternatives, addictive drugs most often prescribed for sleep problems
...nzodiazepines are usually effective for just a few weeks when used to treat insomnia. But addiction can develop relatively quickly", Balkrishnan said. "A person can develop a strong psychological and physical dependence on these drugs in a short time, and experience severe withdrawal-like symptoms once he ...Chemotherapy options improve for patients with advanced colorectal cancer
...th of time without progression of disease was 34.7 weeks in the FUFOX arm and 30.3 weeks in the CAPOX arm, respectively, a difference that was not statistically different (p=0.1), the autho...Newly published summer camp health guideline advises parents, camp directors
...with a little effort by parents and doctors in the weeks before camp. The new guideline, published in the ...ckness prevention, the authors write, should start weeks before a child goes off to camp, and can be led by parents with the help of the doctor or other heal...Use of high hydrostatic pressure to inactivate Hepatitis A virus in oysters studied
...depuration, HAV may persist in oysters for several weeks after exposure. The virus also is fairly resistant to heating and may remain viable in shellfish after up to five minutes of steaming. For these reasons, high hydrostatic pressure treatment of raw oysters is especially appealing to oyster processors ...TV confuses children about which foods are healthy, new study finds
...wing, once at the onset of the study and again six weeks later. On average, the children reported that they watched 28 hours of television a week; there was no correlation between gender and age and the amount of television watched. In the nutritional knowledge part of the study, children were presented wi...Johns Hopkins study shows home test kits highly effective against sexually transmitted diseases
...esults were made available to the women within two weeks via a secured telephone answering service that used kit numbers and passwords. For women who tested positive for Chlamydia or gonorrhea, referrals were also provided to a local community health clinic for treatment, as part of the confirmation telep...Physiotherapist' advice may be as good as physical treatment for low back pain
... in the treatment of low back pain of less than 12 weeks duration. The pain management programme included general fitness and exercise advice, and educational strategies to overcome psychosocial barriers to recovery. The investigators recruited 400 adults with low back pain between 2000 and 2002 from 28 ge...Drinking for just eight weeks impairs learning and memory in mice
...ow that continuous drinking for as little as eight weeks can produce deficits in learning and memory that last up to 12 weeks after drinking stopped. Both human and animal studies have shown that chronic alcohol consumption c...Investigating 'brain shrinkage' in alcoholics
...grow and spread again after periods of abstinence weeks to months and have been accompanied by improved b...patial ability may continue to show impairment for weeks to months with sobriety, with prolonged sobriety these brain functions can show improvement." - ...Arthritis of the spine often overlooked in children
...ut symptoms of joint aches and pains that last for weeks are unusual," said Warren. "Parents who notice these symptoms in children should speak with their physician and determine if they should see a pediatric rheumatologist. With early diagnosis and proper treatment, children with AS can experience signif...Fine tuning drug levels in neuroblastoma patients is effective, St. Jude researchers show
...cells if administered for five days a week for two weeks instead of the standard one-week course of therapy. His group also identified the optimal topotecan concentration range that should be maintained to get maximum benefit from the drug. In the current study, the investigators administered topotecan i...European working time directive may put doctors' and patients' lives at risk
...led to the imposition of 91 hour nocturnal working weeks for most trainee doctors," they conclude....VCR - US patent litigation update
...or discovery and interrogatories on Heartware some weeks ago and, following the Court's ruling, the plaintiffs will pursue the discovery process with expedition. Ventracor will continue to pursue infringers of its patents. In this litigation Heartware has never denied infringing but rather sought to argue...Researchers develop way to identify individuals at high-risk of stroke after a 'mini-stroke'
...st strokes that occurred in the first few days and weeks after a TIA occurred in patients who have been referred to a hospital clinic for investigation but had not yet been seen. The authors believe that the guidelines on the urgency with which TIA patients are investigated should be revised. The authors a...