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MRC awards grant to design new drug for treatment of chronic pain

Scientists at the University of Liverpool and the Royal Liverpool University Hospital have been awarded -1.4 million to design a new drug for the treatment of chronic pain.

24 Aug 2012

Employee benefits, stable leadership improve nurse retention in homes

Nursing homes wanting to improve their rates of registered nurse retention should offer career-advancement opportunities and reward attendance, employee benefits such as health insurance, and develop long-tenured leaders, show the results of a US study.

24 Aug 2012

Statins reduce pancreatitis risk

Statins reduce the risk for pancreatitis in patients with normal or mildly elevated triglyceride levels, say the authors of a large meta-analysis.

24 Aug 2012

Heating as well as cleaning contact lens cases kills bacteria best

Heating contact lens cases to a temperature of 60°C while disinfecting with a multipurpose disinfecting solution could improve case hygiene by killing biofilms created by bacteria, report Australian researchers.

24 Aug 2012

Vandetanib shows efficacy in thyroid cancer

The tyrosine kinase inhibitor vandetanib could significantly extend progression-free survival in patients with locally advanced or metastatic differentiated radioiodine-refractory thyroid cancer, show results of a small phase II randomized trial.

24 Aug 2012

Children may benefit from having older mothers

The children of older mothers may have improved health and development up to 5 years of age, say researchers in the British Medical Journal.

24 Aug 2012

Revision surgery improves upper limb amputation outcome

Revision surgery can significantly reduce pain and increases prosthesis use in veterans who undergo combat-related major upper-extremity amputation, US research demonstrates.

24 Aug 2012

Concern over tattoo-related infections

More care should be taken to prevent infections associated with tattooing, suggest researchers who describe a series of tattoo-related Mycobacterium chelonae infections in the USA.

24 Aug 2012

HIV-like immunodeficiency observed in Asia

Researchers have discovered an adult-onset immunodeficiency syndrome with symptoms similar to those of advanced HIV in Thailand and Taiwan.

24 Aug 2012

Vigorous exercise associated with mental illness vulnerability

Contrary to expectations, engagement in vigorous exercise is positively associated with the incidence and prevalence of psychiatric disorders, particularly bipolar II disorder and alcohol dependence, US researchers report.

24 Aug 2012

Prescription drug monitoring systems alert abuse

Electronic prescription monitoring programs may significantly improve drug-abuse detection and could alert clinicians to “doctor shopping,” say researchers.

24 Aug 2012

Radiating fears over diabetes in childhood cancer survivors

People who undergo pancreatic irradiation during childhood cancer therapy are at an increased risk for developing diabetes later in life, report researchers.

24 Aug 2012

Sleep apnea is not necessarily a male disorder

Women, particularly those with hypertension or obesity, have high rates of sleep apnea, study findings show.

24 Aug 2012

Bleeding risk from aneurysm high in hemorrhagic AVM radiosurgery

In patients undergoing stereotactic radiosurgery for hemorrhagic arteriovenous malformations, endovascular or surgical strategies that reduce bleeding risk should be used if an aneurysm is found, advise US researchers.

24 Aug 2012

Incidence of early-onset schizophrenia ‘increasing’

The incidence of diagnosed early-onset schizophrenia has increased in recent years, study results show.

24 Aug 2012

Study highlights importance of using appropriately treated water for sinus irrigation

When water containing the Naegleria fowleri ameba, a single-celled organism, enters the nose, the organisms may migrate to the brain, causing primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a very rare-but usually fatal-disease. A new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases describes the first reported cases in the United States implicating nasal irrigation using disinfected tap water in these infections.

24 Aug 2012

Close contact strategy does not work for young people after suicide attempts

Researchers, doctors and patients tend to agree that during the high-risk period after an attempted suicide, the treatment of choice is close contact, follow-up and personal interaction in order to prevent a tragic repeat. Now, however, new research shows that this strategy does not work. These surprising results from Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark and the University of Copenhagen have just been published in the British Medical Journal.

24 Aug 2012

Gibbons use same vocal techniques as professional soprano singers

Have you ever heard an opera singing ape? Researchers in Japan have discovered that singing gibbons use the same vocal techniques as professional soprano singers. The study, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, explains how recording gibbons singing under the influence of helium gas reveals a physiological similarity to human voices.

24 Aug 2012

New disease causes AIDS-like symptoms but not spread through virus

"Researchers have identified a mysterious new disease that has left scores of people in Asia and some in the United States with AIDS-like symptoms even though they are not infected with HIV," the Associated Press reports.

24 Aug 2012

Study shows how cancer survival rates developed in West Germany

Data from the 1970s and 1980s show that people affected by cancer survived significantly longer in West Germany than cancer patients behind the Iron Curtain.

24 Aug 2012