Medical Research News

RSS

Researchers say heart bypass a better option than drug-eluting stents

Major clinical research has found that for many patients with clogged arteries, bypass surgery is a better option than drug-eluting stents.

2 Sep 2008

Atomic bomb's effect results in adult-onset thyroid cancer

Radiation from the atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, likely rearranged chromosomes in some survivors who later developed papillary thyroid cancer as adults, according to Japanese researchers.

1 Sep 2008

Playing and watching sports improves language skills

Being an athlete or merely a fan improves language skills when it comes to discussing their sport because parts of the brain usually involved in playing sports are instead used to understand sport language, new research at the University of Chicago shows.

1 Sep 2008

Neuroimaging links chronic insomnia to reversible cognitive deficits without changes in behavior

A neuroimaging study in the Sept. 1 issue of the journal Sleep is the first to find that cognitive processes related to verbal fluency are compromised in people with insomnia despite the absence of a behavioral deficit. These specific brain function alterations can be reversed, however, through non-pharmacological treatment with sleep therapy.

1 Sep 2008

American Indian/Alaska natives have significantly higher alcohol-related death percentage than general population, CDC reports

Nearly 12% of American Indian and Alaska Native deaths over a four-year period were alcohol related, according to a CDC report released on Thursday, AP/USA Today reports.

1 Sep 2008

New biomarkers in acute cardiac care

In conjunction with clinical assessment and the ECG, simple and rapid blood tests have become the standard for the detection of myocardial infarction. Starting in the year 2000, recommendations by the European Society of Cardiology and other major cardiology societies worldwide have begun to state uniformly that a rise in cardiac troponins - sensitive and specific markers for dying cells in the heart - is a prerequisite for the clinical diagnosis of myocardial infarction.

1 Sep 2008

Intima media thickness of the carotid artery

Both in the clinic and in the research area we look for a toll to identify subjects who will develop cardiovascular disease. Decades of silent arterial wall alterations precede vascular clinical events, which then reflect advanced atherosclerotic disease.

1 Sep 2008

Reality television programmes fuelling demand for cosmetic surgery

Reality television programmes which focus on extreme weight loss and drastic changes to a person's appearance may be behind a dramatic increase in cosmetic and weight reduction surgery, according to University of Auckland researchers.

1 Sep 2008

Save your life by taking the stairs instead of the lift

Researchers say walking up the stairs at work instead of taking the lift could be a lifesaver.

1 Sep 2008

Issues on cholesterol: diet, statins and genetics

Genetic lipoprotein disorders are frequently seen in patients with premature coronary artery disease (CAD). An example of strong genetic predisposition is the disorder: familial hypercholesterolemia, where a single gene defect (the low density lipoprotein receptor) contributes to most of the familial expression of CAD.

1 Sep 2008

New genetic link to inflammatory bowel diseases discovered

A study which entailed scientists trawling through the genetic code of thousands of people, has revealed two new genes involved in childhood inflammatory bowel disease, a painful condition that includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC).

1 Sep 2008

Genetic link discovered to common form of leukaemia

Researchers in the UK have discovered a genetic link to a common form of leukaemia.

1 Sep 2008

Discovery of tumour growth enzyme could lead to new cancer drugs

Scientists say a landmark study has revealed an enzyme which is vital to the growth of many cancers.

1 Sep 2008

Faster heart rate linked to increased heart attack risk

A long-term study has revealed a link between a faster heart rate and the risk of a heart attack and the researchers say that heart disease patients with a pulse of more than 70 beats a minute are most at risk.

1 Sep 2008

Best use of drug-eluting stents: When should they be avoided?

Compared with bare metal stents, drug-eluting stents substantially reduce the risk of angiographic and clinical recurrence but do not affect mortality or the short term or long term risk of myocardial infarction.

31 Aug 2008

DES in diabetic patients

The issue of using or not using DES in patients with diabetes will be debated between Professor Wijns, who discourages DES and Professor Silber, who feels that they should be used.

31 Aug 2008

Genetic testing for sudden cardiac death

Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) is a major contributor to mortality in industrialized nations, affecting around 500,000 individuals annually in the Western World, and causing more deaths than AIDS, lung and breast cancer and stroke together.

31 Aug 2008

Positive exercise testing in athletes: What does that mean?

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) during sports activity is an uncommon, but catastrophic event. Different efforts to reduce the risk of SCD related to sports have been undertaken. What is the role of the exercise test in this context? What does a positive exercise test mean?

31 Aug 2008

Should we use echocardiography to screen young athletes?

Sudden and unexpected deaths in young competitive athletes are uncommon but highly visible events, which raise concern and ethical issues in both the lay public and medical community. Which is the best strategy to timely identify individuals with cardiac disease responsible for sudden death (primarily, HCM) is largely debated. Namely, the extent to which sophisticated testing, such as echocardiography, is needed is still undefined.

31 Aug 2008

TIME-CHF Trial: Elderly HF patients do not benefit from intensive medical therapy

Intensified, BNP-guided therapy was no more effective than a standard, symptom-guided approach in elderly heart failure patients in reducing the number of deaths and all-cause hospitalisations. However, the response to this intervention differed significantly between patients aged 60-74 years and those aged ¡Ý75 years. This indicates the need for specific data in this large subset of very old heart failure patients who have been largely excluded from large treatment trials.

31 Aug 2008