Multiple Sclerosis Could Have Two Types Suggests Study
New research from the US suggests there may be two types of multiple sclerosis, each with a different response to beta-interferon, the main drug used to treat the disease. You can read about the study, led by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine, online in the 28 March issue of Nature Medicine. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society in the US estimates there are some 400,000 Americans living with the disease…
Multiple Sclerosis Could Have Two Types Suggests Study
New research from the US suggests there may be two types of multiple sclerosis, each with a different response to beta-interferon, the main drug used to treat the disease. You can read about the study, led by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine, online in the 28 March issue of Nature Medicine. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society in the US estimates there are some 400,000 Americans living with the disease…
GE Healthcare Introduces New Ultrasound Elastography Capability
GE Healthcare (NYSE: GE) announced that an important new feature has been added to its LOGIQ E9 platform; elastography. The enhanced device is on display at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine’s (AIUM) 2010 Annual Convention in San Diego (booth 301). GE’s LOGIQ E9 introduces ultrasound elastography utilizing a high frequency E-series transducer with a simple compression technique which helps make elastography easier to perform and a more reproducible method of examination…
Duke Cell Therapy Center Benefit From Robertson Foundation Donation
A $10.2 million commitment from the Robertson Foundation to create a state-of-the-art Translational Cell Therapy Center (TCTC) will advance Duke Medicine’s pioneering cell therapy research and treatment programs for children and adults with cancer, cerebral palsy, stroke and brain injuries suffered at birth. In making the announcement, Victor J…
Causes Found For Stiff Skin Conditions
By studying the genetics of a rare inherited disorder called stiff skin syndrome, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have learned more about scleroderma, a condition affecting about one in 5,000 people that leads to hardening of the skin as well as other debilitating and often life-threatening problems. The findings, which appear this week in Science Translational Medicine, open doors to testing new treatments. “Scleroderma is a common and often devastating condition yet its cause remains mysterious…
Sports And Medicine-Focused Story Ideas
Listed below are story ideas from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with a partial focus on the upcoming NCAA basketball tournaments. NCAA Basketabll Tournament Coaches, Referees, Players And Fans: It’s Your Voice! From the first tip-off of March Madness to the championship’s final buzzer, thousands of people will relentlessly scream and shout, placing tremendous strain on the voice. While no one is recommending silence, the constant pressure on the vocal chords can cause great damage…
Predicting The Progression Of Alzheimer’s
An assessment has been developed which reliably predicts future performance in cognition and activities of daily living for patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers writing in BioMed Central’s open access journal Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy followed 597 patients over 15 years to identify factors associated with slow, intermediate and rapid progression. Professor Rachelle Doody worked with a team of researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, US, to carry out the study…
SRC-3 gene sends signal to cell membrane to promote cell motility
The master gene called SRC-3 (steroid receptor coactivator 3) not only enhances estrogen-dependent growth of cancer cells by activating and encouraging the transcription of a genetic message into a protein, it also sends a signal to the cell membrane to promote cell motility or movement – a key element of cancer spread or metastasis, said Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) researchers and collaborators in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Molecular Cell.
Cardiologist Available To Comment On Bill Clinton’s Heart Condition
On Thursday, February 11, former president Bill Clinton experienced chest pains and was taken to a New York City hospital where he underwent a stent procedure to open one of his coronary arteries, according to published reports. This, six years after he had quadruple bypass surgery. Brian H. Annex, M.D., chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of Virginia Health System, is available to speak expertly about Clinton’s procedure and the signs and symptoms of heart disease that should not be ignored…
Diabetic retinopathy: 5.3M U.S adults suffer
Despite major progress in diagnosis and treatment, diabetic retinopathy remains the major cause of blindness in adults under 60 in the U.S., said Thomas C. Lee, director, Retina Institute in The Vision Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, associate professor of clinical ophthalmology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and attending physician at Doheny Eye Institute.
Early-Stage Breast Cancer: Short-Term Radiation Therapy Is Successful
Research suggests that a concentrated three-week course of radiation therapy is just as efficient as the standard five-week regimen for women with early-stage breast cancer. A team of researchers was led by Dr. Tim Whelan, a professor of oncology of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University. Their findings showed that women who received the accelerated therapy have a low risk of breast cancer for as long as twelve years after treatment. The results are to be published in the Feb. 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)…
Possible New Approach To Treating Breast And Prostate Cancers
In a new approach to developing treatments for breast cancer, prostate cancer and enlarged hearts, Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine researchers are zeroing in on a workhorse protein called RSK. When activated, RSK is involved in cell survival, cell proliferation and cell enlargement. These properties contribute towards cancer progression, heart enlargement and tumors associated with a genetic disease called Carney complex. Loyola researchers have discovered that a regulatory protein binds to RSK. This regulatory protein effectively keeps RSK’s activity in check…
Antibodies From Plants May Help Fight Disease
The first head-to-head comparison of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies produced from plants versus the same antibodies produced from mammalian cells has shown that plant-produced antibodies can fight infection equally well. Scientists from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Arizona State University conducted the comparison as a test of the potential for treating disease in developing nations with the significantly less expensive plant-based production technique. The results are reported online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…
NICE Announces Chair Of New Diagnostics Advisory Committee
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has announced the appointment of Professor Adrian Newland as the first Chair of its independent Diagnostics Advisory Committee, which was recently set up to evaluate diagnostic technologies and make recommendations for their use within the NHS in England. Professor Newland has been a Consultant Haematologist at Barts and the London NHS Trust for almost 30 years, and Professor of Haematology at Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry (Barts and the London), since 1995…
Possible New Drug Target For Iron Deficiency, Overload
US researchers have discovered a protein that appears to play an important role in regulating blood levels of iron and suggest it could be a new target for drugs to treat iron deficiency, which is quite common, as well as the much rarer opposite condition, iron overload. Corresponding author Dr. Wen-Cheng Xiong, a developmental neurobiologist at the Augusta-based Medical College of Georgia Schools of Medicine and Graduate Studies, and colleagues, have written about their discovery in a paper published in this month’s issue of the journal Blood…
