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WHO to tackle heart disease, diabetes, cancers, road safety as well as diseases

The World Health Assembly, the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organization, has raised global public health to a new level, by resolving to take more action to prevent death and illness resulting from heart disease, diabetes, cancers, road safety, and lack of access to health services as well as from diseases spread by viruses, bacteria and other dangerous microbes.

22 May 2004

Using gene therapy to fight rheumatoid arthritis

Guided by a similar principle, arthritis researchers at the University of Florida and Harvard University hope to use gene therapy to help joint cells pump out a harmless protein that parks in receptor sites, leaving a notorious inflammatory agent “circling the lot” and unable to cause pain, swelling and possible joint damage.

21 May 2004

Pulsed-dye laser surgery for voice disorders better all round

The newly developed pulsed-dye laser surgery for voice disorders has been found to be faster, cheaper, better tolerated, and less complicated than standard surgery that requires general anesthesia, more time and a longer recovery, surgeons reported here today at an international conference on problems associated with laryngopharyngeal reflux.

21 May 2004

FDA finalizes new rule on donor eligibility for human tissues and cells

FDA today published a final rule establishing donor eligibility criteria for donors of human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue-based products (HCT/Ps) to help prevent the transmission of communicable disease when these products are transplanted.

20 May 2004

Cell division can be halted in multiple ways, with implications for cancer

Brown University researchers have found that there are multiple independent ways to stop cell division, a phenomenon that prevents the spread of genetic mutation, which can make cells cancerous. Results of this research, along with an accompanying editorial, were published in the current issue of the journal Molecular Cell.

20 May 2004

Network formed to tackle potentially fatal reaction to smallpox vaccine

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), launched the Atopic Dermatitis and Vaccinia Network (ADVN), a nationwide research group that seeks to reduce the risk of eczema vaccinatum (EV), a severe and potentially deadly complication of smallpox immunization.

19 May 2004

$20.7 million to make smallpox vaccine safer

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a five-year, $20.7 million grant to National Jewish Medical and Research Center to lead a consortium of academic medical centers trying to make smallpox vaccines safer for millions of people with atopic dermatitis, also known as eczema.

19 May 2004

Damaged metal halide lamps can cause sunburn

Ever think you could get a nasty sunburn — severe enough to peel — by attending an indoor event? Seems improbable, but it can happen. And it has — three times recently in Middle Tennessee.

19 May 2004

$1.5 billion annual cost of surgical site infections can be reduced

A research paper published in the American Journal of Infection Control says a systematic approach to preparing patients for surgery can reduce both secondary, hospital-acquired patient infections and related healthcare expenses nationwide.

19 May 2004

Study comparing the efficacy of REMICADE® to Azathioprine alone and in combination With REMICADE®

Centocor, Inc., and Schering-Plough Corporation announced today the initiation of the SONIC (Study of Immunomodulator Naive patients in Crohn's Disease) trial that will evaluate the efficacy of REMICADE® (infliximab) versus azathioprine, a conventional immunosuppressive agent, alone and versus the combination of both drugs for the treatment of patients with Crohn's disease.

18 May 2004

Interventional radiologists now are able to treat using minimally invasive procedures

Interventional radiologists at Temple University Hospital now are able to treat many patients with minimally invasive procedures not available only a few years ago. “Conditions that used to require extensive surgery now take an hour or less, and patients leave with a bandaid and walk home,” says Gary Cohen, M.D., Section Chief of Interventional Radiology and Vice Chairman of Radiology. “How can you beat that?”

17 May 2004

Connetics issued U.S. patent for emollient-foam technology

Connetics Corporation, a specialty pharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes dermatology products, announced today that on May 4, 2004 the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued to Connetics Patent No. 6,730,288 B1. The patent has 7 independent product claims, and covers a pharmaceutical aerosol foam composition having occlusive capability.

17 May 2004

Researchers demonstrate wearable electronics to aid health and fashion

Soon you may be wearing your computer, or elements of it, according to a team of researchers and designers at Arizona State University. The era of smart bodysuits is about to begin.

17 May 2004

Five million village doctors in rural China to be re-trained

A memorandum which is to lead to the re-training of five million village doctors in rural China is to be signed on 23 May in Beijing, China. The memorandum goes back to the initiative of Terence Ryan, Professor of Dermatology at the University of Oxford, who has been instrumental in drawing it up and will participate in the signing.

14 May 2004

Study of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for severe, treatment-resistant lupus

The study will include a basic research component to examine the roles of B and T cells, white blood cells in the immune system, in triggering lupus symptoms.

14 May 2004

Expert panel to review toxicity associated with exposure to acrylamide

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will hold an expert panel meeting May 17-19, in Alexandria, Virginia, to review the scientific evidence regarding the potential reproductive and/or developmental toxicity associated with exposure to acrylamide.

10 May 2004

Bone marrow and stem cell transplantation rejection averted by UV light exposure

One of the unfortunate side effects of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation is that the newly implanted cells often stage an internal attack against the patient they're intended to help.

10 May 2004

Soybeans may reduce the risk of colon cancer

A substance found in soybeans may reduce the risk of colon cancer, the third most common form of cancer in the world according to the World Health Organization.

10 May 2004

Alternative vaccine to Dryvax for smallpox

Not everybody can safely be vaccinated against smallpox using the current FDA-approved vaccine. Scientists hope another study vaccine, now undergoing its first testing in the United States at Saint Louis University, will give a choice to people who can't be given the current vaccine, known as Dryvax®.

10 May 2004

British parents ignore skin cancer warnings

Over a third of parents in Great Britain admit their child has been sunburnt, despite the majority knowing that over-exposure to the sun can cause skin cancer.

9 May 2004