HealthCare Industry News
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:00:00 +0000
Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a breast cancer charity which until recently had an enviable reputation as being totally impartial and focused purely on saving women's lives, may have caused itself irreparable damage. By announcing a few days ago that it would stop awarding funds to Planned Parenthood, a sexual health organization; it found itself in the middle of an enormous public outcry. Many say this single act might well have been a self-inflicted kiss of death. Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000
Baby boomers in the leading three English-speaking economies, the USA, UK and Canada, are being diagnosed at progressively higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), according to a report written by researchers from King's College London, and Thomas' Hospital London, in the Student British Medical Journal. The authors Dr. Ranjababu Kulasegaram, and final year medical student Rachel von Simson, explain that a significant number of older adults appear not to be practicing safe sex...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000
Approximately 1.2 million humans die each year from malaria, a much higher figure than the previously estimated 600,000, researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, USA, reported in The Lancet this week. The authors added that the majority of deaths occur in children under the age of 5 years, while 42% occur in adults and older children. However, the huge international anti-malaria effort that has taken place over the last ten years is paying off. Malaria mortality has significantly dropped...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000
Unpredictable, ever-changing and with potentially far-reaching effects on the fates of nations, infectious diseases are compelling actors in the drama of human history, note scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. In an essay marking 200 years of publication of the New England Journal of Medicine, NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., and coauthor David M. Morens, M.D...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000
For the first time, scientists have tracked the activity, across the lifespan, of an environmentally responsive regulatory mechanism that turns genes on and off in the brain's executive hub. Among key findings of the study by National Institutes of Health scientists: genes implicated in schizophrenia and autism turn out to be members of a select club of genes in which regulatory activity peaks during an environmentally-sensitive critical period in development...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000
'Tuberculosis patients may receive treatments in the future according to what version they have of a single 'Goldilocks' gene, says an international research team from Oxford University, King's College London, Vietnam and the USA. This is one of the first examples in infectious disease of where an individual's genetic profile can determine which drug will work best for them - the idea of personalised medicine that is gradually becoming familiar in cancer medicine...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000
It can be difficult to distinguish between people with normal age-associated memory loss and those with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). However people with aMCI are at a greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD), and identification of these people would mean that they could begin treatment as early as possible. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Geriatrics shows that specific questions, included as part of a questionnaire designed to help diagnose AD, are also able to discriminate between normal memory loss and aMCI...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000
Stroke experts from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center presented research updates at the International Stroke Conference of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Feb. 1 through Feb. 3 in New Orleans. Highlights included: Thrombin Activity Associated with Neuronal Damage during Acute Stage of Ischemic Stroke After ischemic stroke - the type caused by a clogged artery but with no bleeding into the brain - a normal protein that plays a positive role in blood clotting escapes intact arteries and seriously damages healthy brain cells...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000
National Institutes of Health researchers and their colleagues have identified how resveratrol, a naturally occurring chemical found in red wine and other plant products, may confer its health benefits. The authors present evidence that resveratrol does not directly activate sirtuin 1, a protein associated with aging. Rather, the authors found that resveratrol inhibits certain types of proteins known as phosphodiesterases (PDEs), enzymes that help regulate cell energy...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000
Intermittent exercise with and without low oxygen concentrations (or hypoxia) can improve insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetics, however exercise while under hypoxic conditions provides greater improvements in glycemic control than intermittent exercise alone, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). Exercise improves glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. Previous studies have focused on continuous aerobic exercise with more recent work assessing resistance exercise...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000
Heart failure is associated with a 30 percent increase in major fractures and also identifies a high-risk population that may benefit from increased screening and treatment for osteoporosis, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). Osteoporosis and heart failure are common, chronic and costly conditions that share common etiologic factors like older age, post-menopausal status and diabetes...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000
Combination drug therapy may be needed to combat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Van Andel Research Institute (VARI). The study, "STAT3 is Activated by JAK2 Independent of Key Oncogenic Driver Mutation in Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma," was published online by the Public Library of Science (PLoS) ONE. The study found that in NSCLC - the most common form of lung cancer - that the STAT3 gene is activated in some NSCLC cell lines by the JAK2 protein...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000
A new study published in the journal Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety reveals that internet sites selling prescription statins directly to consumers are widespread, and that most websites advertising statins for sale to the general public contain very poor levels of information relevant to safe use of the medicine and side effects. Researchers led by Professor David Brown, School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Portsmouth, simulated a customer search and evaluation of 184 retrieved sites using evaluation tools focusing on quality and safe medicine use...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000
The February edition of Neurosurgery reports that animal experiments in brain-injured rats have shown that stem cells injected via the carotid artery travel directly to the brain, greatly enhancing functional recovery...
Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000
Drinking decaffeinated coffee may improve brain energy metabolism associated with diabetes type 2, according to a study published in Nutritional Neuroscience and carried out by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Brain energy metabolism is a dysfunction with a known risk factor for dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease...