Blog – Medical Research News and Interviews

04 Aug Compression Stockings May Reduce Sleep Apnea in Some Patients

Posted at 23:36h in Sleep Disorders

August 4 2011 Newswise — Wearing compression stockings may be a simple low-tech way to improve obstructive sleep apnea in patients with chronic venous insufficiency, according to French researchers. ”We found that in patients with chronic venous insufficiency, compression stockings reduced daytime fluid accumulation in the legs, which in turn reduced the...

04 Aug Making sperm from stem cells in a dish

Posted at 18:56h in Stem Cells

Researchers have found a way to turn mouse embryonic stem cells into sperm. This finding, reported in the journal Cell in a special online release on August 4th, opens up new avenues for infertility research and treatment. A Kyoto University team has coaxed mouse embryonic stem cells into sperm precursors,...

04 Aug Scientists map genetic mutations in the second-most common form of brain cancer, oligodendroglioma

Posted at 18:44h in Brain Cancer - Brain Tumors

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have completed a comprehensive map of genetic mutations occurring in the second-most common form of brain cancer, oligodendroglioma. The findings, reported in the Aug. 4 issue of Science, also appear to reveal the biological cause of the tumors, they say. To create the map, the...

04 Aug Poorly controlled asthma more than doubles healthcare costs

Posted at 18:37h in Asthma

Poorly controlled asthma more than doubles healthcare costs associated with the disease and threatens educational achievement through a dramatic increase in school absence, according to researchers at National Jewish Health. The research team reported in the August 2011 issue of The Archives of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology that children with...

03 Aug New Breast Cancer Strategies Presented at Conference

Posted at 20:24h in Breast Cancer, Cancer Research, Nature

ORLANDO, Fla. — August 3, 2011 — In their lifetime, women have more than a 12 percent risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer. 1 This week, research on novel approaches to breast cancer treatment is being presented at the Era of Hope (EOH) conference, a scientific meeting hosted by...

03 Aug Potential Links between Maternal Diet in Pregnancy and Breast Cancer in Daughters

Posted at 20:18h in Breast Cancer

ORLANDO, Fla. — August 3, 2011 — During pregnancy, women are counseled to refrain from consuming certain types of foods, beverages and medications in order to avoid jeopardizing the health and development of the fetus. In fact, the American Pregnancy Association has a list of a dozen items they recommend...

03 Aug Exploring Breast Cancer Mechanisms of Spread and Treatment Options

Posted at 20:15h in Breast Cancer

ORLANDO, Fla. — August 3, 2011 — Research into new methods to prevent and slow metastatic breast cancer will be presented this week at the Era of Hope conference, a scientific meeting hosted by the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP). Approximately 6 percent of women with breast...

03 Aug Study examines relapses after hospitalization for depression

Posted at 20:11h in Depression, Mental Health Research

For Immediate Release – August 3, 2011 – (Toronto) – Twenty-five percent of people who were hospitalized for depression were readmitted or visited an emergency room again for depression within 30 days of discharge, according to a new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The results...

03 Aug The power of positive thoughts and emotions to treat depression

Posted at 20:09h in Depression, Mental Health Research

New Rochelle, NY, August 3, 2011—Positive activity interventions (PAIs) offer a safe, low-cost, and self-administered approach to managing depression and may offer hope to individuals with depressive disorders who do not respond or have access to adequate medical therapy, according to a comprehensive review article in The Journal of Alternative...

03 Aug Simpler test to decide which lung cancer pts benefit from crizotinib

Posted at 01:10h in Lung Cancer

A relatively simple and inexpensive method may be used to determine whether a lung cancer patient is a candidate for crizotinib therapy, according to research published in the August issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the official monthly journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer...

01 Aug Combining dasatinib with Tamoxifen, may overcome Tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer

Posted at 20:45h in Breast Cancer

August 1 20100 PHILADELPHIA—Taking a leukemia chemotherapy drug may help breast cancer patients who don't respond to tamoxifen overcome resistance to the widely-used drug, new research from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson suggests. Interestingly, researchers found that taxoxifen combined with dasatinib, a protein-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, reverses the chemo-resistance caused by cancer-associated...

01 Aug New brain imaging research reveals why autistic individuals confuse pronouns

Posted at 20:26h in Autism

PITTSBURGH—Autism is a mysterious developmental disease because it often leaves complex abilities intact while impairing seemingly elementary ones. For example, it is well documented that autistic children often have difficulty correctly using pronouns, sometimes referring to themselves as "you" instead of "I." A new brain imaging study published in the journal...

01 Aug Research Supports Upcoming Alzheimer’s Disease Guidelines

Posted at 20:11h in Alzheimer's - Dementia

Reston, Va.–Two new studies published in the August issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM) provide insight intothe potential of positron emission tomography (PET) to differentiate between types of dementia and to identify pharmaceuticals to slow the progress of dementia. With proposed National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the...

01 Aug Young African American Men and “alternative” Tobacco Products

Posted at 10:48h in Smoking, Tobacco Research

Alexandria, VA — Tobacco related disease is a primary source of mortality for African American men. Recent studies suggest that "alternative" tobacco products may have supplanted cigarettes as the most common products used by young African Americans, according to new research published in the August 2011 issue of Otolaryngology –...

31 Jul National asthma genetics consortium releases first results

Posted at 23:45h in Asthma, Wake Forest

Discovers new asthma gene in African-Americans, replicates 4 others A new national collaboration of asthma genetics researchers has revealed a novel gene associated with the disease in African-Americans, according to a new scientific report. By pooling data from nine independent research groups looking for genes associated with asthma, the newly-created EVE Consortium...

29 Jul NIH awards researcher $1.7 million to study non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Posted at 13:01h in NIH

DETROIT – Kezhong Zhang, Ph.D., assistant professor of molecular medicine and genetics and of immunology and microbiology in the School of Medicine at Wayne State University, was awarded $1.7 million by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health to explore how...

29 Jul Study examines how blood protein levels change as breast cancer develops before it is clinically detectable

Posted at 01:38h in Breast Cancer, Nature

SEATTLE – Using a "systems biology" approach – which focuses on understanding the complex relationships between biological systems – to look under the hood of an aggressive form of breast cancer, researchers for the first time have identified a set of proteins in the blood that change in abundance long...

28 Jul US Gout prevalence increases over last 2 decades

Posted at 15:19h in Gout

A new study shows the prevalence of gout in the U.S. has risen over the last twenty years and now affects 8.3 million (4%) Americans. Prevalence of increased uric acid levels (hyperuricemia) also rose, affecting 43.3 million (21%) adults in the U.S. Greater frequency of obesity and hypertension may be...

28 Jul Breast density tied to specific types of breast cancer

Posted at 15:16h in Breast Cancer, Cancer Research

Women with breasts that appear dense on mammograms are at a higher risk of breast cancer and their tumors are more likely to have certain aggressive characteristics than women with less dense breasts, according to a study published online July 27 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Mammographic breast...

28 Jul Increased muscle mass may lower risk of pre-diabetes

Posted at 15:11h in Diabetes, JCEM, Nature, UCLA

Study shows building muscle can lower person's risk of insulin resistance A recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) found that the greater an individual's total muscle mass, the lower the person's risk of having insulin resistance, the major precursor of type...

27 Jul Scientists Develop New Therapy for HER2-Positive Breast Cancer

Posted at 10:38h in Breast Cancer, Cancer Research

Newswise — PHILADELPHIA — Patients with HER2-positive breast cancer may have an alternative therapy when they develop resistance to trastuzumab, also known as Herceptin, according to a laboratory finding published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Jacek Capala, Ph.D., D.Sc., an investigator at the...

26 Jul Antibiotic appears more effective than cranberry capsules for preventing urinary tract infections

Posted at 20:24h in Infections, JAMA, Urinary Tract Infections

In premenopausal women who have repeated urinary tract infections (UTIs), the antibiotic trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) appeared more effective than cranberry capsules for preventing recurrent infections, at the risk of contributing to antibiotic resistance, according to a report in the July 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives...

26 Jul Hormone therapy may be hazardous for men with heart conditions

Posted at 18:00h in Cancer Research, Hormone Therapy, Prostate Cancer

Fairfax, Va., July 26, 2011 – Adding hormone therapy to radiation therapy has been proven in randomized clinical trials to improve overall survival for men with intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer. However, adding hormone therapy may reduce overall survival in men with pre-existing heart conditions, even if they have high-risk...

26 Jul New Avenues Open Up for Mesothelioma Targeted Therapy

Posted at 00:12h in Cancer Research

Newswise — July 25, 2011 (Philadelphia, PA) --Researchers from the lab of Antonio Giordano, M.D., Ph.D., the Founder and Director of the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, have identified new potential anti-tumor agents that might be effective in treating mesothelioma, one of the deadliest cancer tumors. Scientists tested...

25 Jul Substance may extend time to prevent brain damage after Stroke

Posted at 21:35h in Nature, Stanford, Stroke, UCLA

STANFORD, Calif. — A naturally occurring substance shrank the size of stroke-induced lesions in the brains of experimental mice — even when administered as much as 12 hours after the event, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have shown. The substance, alpha-B-crystallin, acts as a brake on the immune system,...

25 Jul Study examines screening for pancreatic cancer in high-risk populations

Posted at 19:43h in Cancer Research, Dartmouth

OAK BROOK, Ill. – July 25, 2011 – Researchers from New England report in a new study that using a tumor marker, serum CA 19-9, combined with an endoscopic ultrasound if the tumor marker is elevated, is more likely to detect stage 1 pancreatic cancer in a high-risk population than...

24 Jul 2 genetic variations predict second cancers after radiation for children with Hodgkin lymphoma

Posted at 23:01h in Cancer Research, Nature, Sloan Kettering, University of Pennsylvania

A genome-wide association study published in the August issue of Nature Medicine has found two tiny genetic variations that can predict which patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma are most likely to develop radiation-induced second cancers years after treatment. Knowing in advance who is at risk could help physicians tailor treatment to...

22 Jul Atherosclerosis linked to Dementia

Posted at 19:32h in Alzheimer's - Dementia

American Stroke Association Scientific Statement Statement Highlights: • High blood pressure is related to the development of age-related vascular cognitive impairment. • Maintaining a healthy heart may also maintain a healthy functioning brain, according to the statement. • Screening elderly patients for heart and stroke risk factors may also identify those at risk of...

22 Jul Optimism associated with lower risk of having stroke

Posted at 19:28h in Stroke, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania

American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal Report Study Highlights: • A large-scale observational study shows that optimism is associated with lower risk of stroke. • On a 16-point scale, each point increase in optimism correlated with a 9 percent reduction in stroke risk. • This study adds to the increasing body of research on...

22 Jul Hepatitis C is transmitted by unprotected sex between HIV-infected men

Posted at 18:50h in Hepatitis - Liver Disease, HIV

Sexual transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is considered rare. But a new study by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), provides substantial evidence that men with HIV who have sex with other men (MSM) are at increased risk...