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Online patient monitoring

Drivers know whether or not their cars are running properly by observing the dashboard. Physicians can check vital parameters such as the pulse even when their patients are at home. The data can be recorded with the wireless monitoring device VitaSENS.

15 Dec 2005

Robotic microbial protein analysis

Microorganisms have potential as living factories for manufacturing drugs and biochemical products. Rapid mass screening methods are needed to identify new species. A new robotic system also provides useful data for genetic engineering.

15 Dec 2005

New discovery may improve treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and type 2 diabetes

Proteins are large molecular chains that move around cells carrying vital information on the activity of the organism. The role of each protein depends largely on the form it takes, but the proteins occasionally lose this form when they collide and bind with other proteins.

15 Dec 2005

Hidden cost of teen pain in the UK almost £4 billion per year

Teenagers living with chronic pain could be costing the UK more than £3.8 billion each year, according to a new study published in the journal Pain.

15 Dec 2005

The role of genes in the development of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas

An international consortium of epidemilogists - including Dr. Alexandra Nieters and Professor Nikolaus Becker of the Clinical Epidemiology Division of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) - has conducted the first ever investigation of genetic factors in the development of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) in a study called InterLymph.

15 Dec 2005

65% of ovarian cancer cells sideline body's defences

Ovarian cancer tumour cells use two separate mechanisms to evade the body’s defensive reaction - and in so doing also elude a newly discovered counteraction from the surrounding tissue.

15 Dec 2005

How temperature influences our taste

Why does a beer taste better if it comes from the fridge and does a warm beer taste bitter? Why is red Bordeaux wine best drunk at room temperature? And what causes that unique taste sensation of ice cream?

15 Dec 2005

Microfluidics chips for simplifying medical imaging biomarkers of disease

A collaboration between scientists at UCLA, Caltech, Stanford, Siemens and Fluidigm have developed a new technology using integrated microfluidics chips for simplifying, lowering the cost and diversifying the types of molecules used to image the biology of disease with the medical imaging technology, Positron Emission Tomography (PET).

15 Dec 2005

Milk thistle extract treatment for liver disease found to be ineffective

Results of high-quality randomized clinical trials have determined that milk thistle extract, a widely used alternative medication, may not have any significant influence on the course of patients with alcoholic liver disease or hepatitis B or C liver disease.

15 Dec 2005

Rockeby Biomed ships first batch of Avian Flu Test kits

Rockeby Biomed has announced that the first batch of its Avian Flu Test kits was sold early this month and shipped to Singapore, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Romania, Austria, South Africa, Netherlands and UK. The second shipment will be distributed before Christmas.

15 Dec 2005

Recommendations for artificial nutrition and hydration

For two decades, doctors have followed an ethically-established agreement about the appropriate use of artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) for patients who are seriously ill or in a persistent vegetative state.

15 Dec 2005

Researchers discover potential mechanism for tumor growth

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have identified an inherent feature of stem and progenitor cells that may promote initiation and progression of cancerous tumors.

15 Dec 2005

Important skin color gene identified

With help from a common aquarium pet and a recently released online database of human genetic variation, a collaborative team of Penn State researchers has found what could be the most important skin color gene identified to date.

15 Dec 2005

New understanding of Mediterranean spotted fever

New research by a team of scientists in France and the United States has identified both the bacterial and host receptor proteins that enable Rickettsia conorii, the Mediterranean spotted fever pathogen, to enter cells.

15 Dec 2005

Increase in pregnancy obesity

A growing number of women are overweight or obese when they become pregnant, a condition that is risky to both mother and baby, a new study conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo has shown.

15 Dec 2005

Aromatase inhibitors may slow growth of lung cancer

A few years ago researchers discovered that, much like breast tumors, some lung tumors also thrive on estrogen. Now a medical student conducting research on a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) fellowship and colleagues have managed to stop the growth of human lung cancer cells in mice with a class of breast cancer drugs called aromatase inhibitors.

15 Dec 2005

New cell findings have implications for cancer, immune disorders

It all started 5 years ago when a University of Calgary neuroscientist sent blood from a patient with a neurological disorder to the laboratory of Dr. Marvin Fritzler, professor of medicine / biochemistry & molecular biology at the University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine.

15 Dec 2005

Long-term stress can impair short-term memory

Researchers believe that this occurs because constant stress affects an area of the brain necessary for learning and memory, and the underlying mechanisms for this may also be to blame in more serious ailments, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severe depression.

15 Dec 2005

Australian bionic ear pioneer awarded science medal

University of Melbourne Laureate Professorial Fellow and bionic ear pioneer Professor Graeme Clark has been awarded the 2006 Ian Wark Medal from the Australian Academy of Science.

15 Dec 2005

Canada's first prescription drug atlas maps billions in spending

Researchers at the University of British Columbia Centre for Health Services and Policy Research have developed a comprehensive portrait of pharmaceutical spending in Canada -- more than $20 billion by the end of 2005 -- and assembled the results into a first-of-its-kind atlas.

15 Dec 2005