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Patients with muscular dystrophy mount immune response to dystophin protein prior to gene therapy: Study

A clinical trial designed to replace the genetic defect causing the most common form of muscular dystrophy has uncovered an unexpected aspect of the disease. The trial, based on therapy designed by scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, showed that some patients mount an immune response to the dystrophin protein even before they have received the gene therapy.

7 Oct 2010

Vitamin D supplementation in healthy kids pointless: Study

According to a Cochrane Systematic Review released on October 6th, yesterday vitamin D supplements when given to healthy children with normal vitamin D levels does not improve bone density at the hip, lumbar spine, forearm or in the body as a whole.

6 Oct 2010

Teen sex on the rise and so are STIs: Survey

A survey of 8,800 Australian year 10 and year 12 students in 300 schools around Australia was taken in three snapshots between 1997 and 2008. It was found that with the rise of risky alcohol consumption among Australia's teenagers there is also a surge of sex “under the influence” and number of sexual partners and unsafe and unprotected intercourse. However, the awareness of HIV/AIDS remained high.

6 Oct 2010

Speed cameras reduce road accidents significantly: Study

Although many drivers dislike the idea of speed cameras, a study of international research showed on Wednesday that this kind of monitoring of roads does cut the number of traffic injuries and deaths.

6 Oct 2010

Laptop health risks

Doctors warn that balancing the laptop on the knees can cause severe damage to the skin that includes skin discoloration or even cancer.

6 Oct 2010

Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research announces awards totaling $10.1M

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research announced awards totaling approximately $10.1 million for five new clinical studies and 14 pre-clinical therapeutic development projects. The funding includes $2.5 million to drive four new clinical trials under the Clinical Intervention Awards, one of the Foundation's Edmond J. Safra Core Programs for PD Research.

6 Oct 2010

CoreLab Partners completes first ever regulatory mandated Thorough QT study in the Asia Pacific Rim

CoreLab Partners, Inc, the global entity resulting from the merger between RadPharm and Medifacts International in February of this year, has recently completed the first ever regulatory mandated Thorough QT (TQT) study conducted in the Asia Pacific Rim and the first TQT study for a Japanese new drug application (NDA).

6 Oct 2010

Researchers discover mechanism of body fat accumulation

Using ice cream, candy bars and energy drinks to help volunteers gain weight, Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered the mechanisms of how body fat grows. Increased abdominal fat seems to heighten risk for metabolic disease, while fat expansion in the lower body as in the thighs seems to lower the risk. The findings, appearing in today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), help explain why.

6 Oct 2010

Hypertonic fluids do not improve outcomes or survival for severe traumatic brain injury: Study

Patients with a severe traumatic brain injury (and not in shock because of blood loss) who received out-of-hospital administration of hypertonic fluids (a solution with increased concentration of certain electrolytes and thought to help reduce intracranial pressure) as initial resuscitation did not experience better 6-month neurologic outcomes or survival compared to patients who received a normal saline solution, according to a study in the October 6 issue of JAMA.

6 Oct 2010

New hope for patients with brain injury

New neuroscience research by life scientists from UCLA and Australia may potentially help people who have lost their ability to remember due to brain injury or disease.

6 Oct 2010

Study on potential advantages and disadvantages of medical tourism

Medical tourism is to go under the microscope in a major new study, led by an academic from the University of York, which aims to assess its potential advantages and disadvantages.

6 Oct 2010

Study may lend insight about hallucination mechanism in schizophrenia

Scripps Research Institute scientists have shown for the first time that the neurotransmitter serotonin uses a specialized signaling pathway to mediate biological functions that are distinct from the signaling pathways used by hallucinogenic substances. The new findings could have a profound effect on the development of new therapies for a number of disorders, including schizophrenia and depression.

6 Oct 2010

microRNA miR-33 may help control blood cholesterol level

Thanks to a discovery by a Saint Louis University researcher, scientists have identified an important microRNA that may allow us to better control cholesterol levels in blood.

6 Oct 2010

New biomarker could aid in accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease

A set of proteins found in blood serum shows promise as a sensitive and accurate way to diagnose Alzheimer's disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found as part of a statewide study.

6 Oct 2010

Cancer cells utilize energy-rich intermediates of sugar metabolism: Research

Cancer research is facing a radical change of direction. Cancer cells do not obtain their energy from the breakdown of sugar to carbon dioxide and water, but from energy-rich intermediates of sugar metabolism instead.

6 Oct 2010

Weight loss success linked to amount of sleep: Study

A new study released Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that sleeping may help one to lose fat. The study compared two groups of people who were trying to lose weight. One group was assigned to sleep 5.5 hours each night for two weeks, while the other was able to sleep 8.5 hours. The scientists found that the sleep deprived people had higher levels of ghrelin. It may be this hormone that drives appetite that leads to excess eating, believe researchers.

6 Oct 2010

New approach method could simplify study and treatment of human diseases

Therapeutic antibodies can be an efficient alternative when common drugs do not work anymore. However, antibodies obtained from blood of animals such as mice could not be used: The human immune system recognizes them as foreign and rejects them.

6 Oct 2010

NSSHB study provides update on contemporary Americans' sexual behaviors

Findings from the largest nationally representative study of sexual and sexual-health behaviors ever fielded, conducted by Indiana University sexual health researchers, provides an updated and much needed snapshot of contemporary Americans' sexual behaviors, including a description of more than 40 combinations of sexual acts that people perform during sexual events, patterns of condom use by adolescents and adults, and the percentage of Americans participating in same-sex encounters.

5 Oct 2010

Majority of Canadians with asthma consider their disease 'well controlled'

A new survey, Asthma Insight and Management in Europe and Canada (EUCAN AIM), reveals that a majority of Canadians with asthma considered their disease "well controlled" at the time of the survey. However, in the year prior to the survey, more than half (52 per cent) required acute treatment for asthma, including seeing a doctor for worsening symptoms (45 per cent), unscheduled emergency room visits (28 per cent), and being hospitalized overnight (five per cent).

5 Oct 2010

Intervention program prevents smoking relapse, increases breastfeeding duration

New mothers who smoke are less likely to breastfeed. But those who quit smoking during or just prior to becoming pregnant were significantly more likely to remain smoke free and continue breastfeeding if they received support and encouragement during the first eight weeks following child birth, according to a study presented Monday, Oct. 4, at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in San Francisco.

5 Oct 2010