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Hot summers and hospital admissions

Summer heat waves significantly increase pressure on hospitals, according to research published in the online open access journal, BMC Public Health.

9 Aug 2007

Steep rises in cancers linked to excessive sun exposure, alcohol, smoking and obesity

Rates of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, have risen by over 40 per cent in the past decade, making it the fastest rising cancer in the UK. Incidence of mouth, womb, and kidney cancers has also shown rapid increases in the last 10 years.

8 Aug 2007

New Alzheimer's drugs may help prevent glaucoma

British eye specialists have shown for the first time that key proteins involved in Alzheimer's disease are also implicated in glaucoma.

8 Aug 2007

Chemotherapy and blood stem cell transplantation results in long-term survival for amyloidosis patients

Researchers from the Stem Cell Transplant Program and the Amyloid Treatment and Research Program at Boston University Medical Center (BUMC) have found that high-dose chemotherapy and blood stem cell transplantation can result in long-term survival for patients diagnosed with primary systemic light chain (AL) Amyloidosis.

8 Aug 2007

Vitamin B1 deficiency key to vascular problems for diabetic patients

Researchers at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, have discovered that deficiency of thiamine - vitamin B1 - may be key to a range of vascular problems for people with diabetes.

8 Aug 2007

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene linked to brain aneurysm formation

University of Cincinnati (UC) neurovascular researchers have identified a gene that, when suppressed or completely absent, may predispose a person to brain aneurysms.

8 Aug 2007

New Canadian partnership enhances diabetes education and research

An innovative new partnership between the University Health Network and the University of Toronto's Banting & Best Diabetes Centre will enhance diabetes education, research and patient care and expand the search for a cure.

8 Aug 2007

New player in the control of HDL cholesterol

Researchers have identified a new player in the control of so-called "good" cholesterol that circulates in the bloodstream and reduces heart attack risk, according to a report in the August issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press.

8 Aug 2007

Bcl-3 protein regulates inflammation by blocking ubiquitination

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine recently identified how a regulatory protein called Bcl-3 helps to control the body's inflammation response to infection by interfering a critical biochemical process called ubiquitination.

8 Aug 2007

360 million smokers in China and high prevalence of smoking among physicians

With 360 million smokers, China has more cigarette consumers than any other country - a smoking prevalence of 31 percent among the general population.

8 Aug 2007

E. coli bacteria linked to Crohn's disease

A team of Cornell University scientists from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences have discovered that a novel group of E. coli bacteria, containing genes similar to those described in uropathogenic and avian pathogenic E. coli and enteropathogenic bacteria such as salmonella, cholera, bubonic plague, is associated with intestinal inflammation in patients with Crohn's disease in their research paper published July 12 by the ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology.

8 Aug 2007

UIC receives $9.6 million grant for autism research

The University of Illinois at Chicago has been awarded a $9.6 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish an Autism Center of Excellence.

7 Aug 2007

Scientists tackle gene doping in athletes

Gene doping has the potential to spawn athletes capable of out-running, out-jumping and out-cycling the strongest of champions.

7 Aug 2007

New way to treat Alzheimer's

A team of scientists led by professor Kiminobu Sugaya at the University of Central Florida may have found a new way to treat Alzheimer's disease.

7 Aug 2007

New research may lead to future gene therapies for patients with sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers studying hemoglobin genes, mutations of which play a role in genetic blood disorders like sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia, have identified two proteins that are responsible for regulating overlapping groups of genes during the development of red blood cells.

7 Aug 2007

Overexposure to metals and Alzheimer's disease

A multi-institutional team of researchers led by Emory University has defined for the first time how metal ions bind to amyloid fibrils in the brain in a way that appears toxic to neurons.

7 Aug 2007

Quality of treatment guidelines

Practising physicians are nowadays presented with official guidelines on the treatments they should give their patients.

7 Aug 2007

Potential new biomarker for heart failure also strongly predicts risk of death

A potential new biomarker for heart failure may be more powerful than established measures in identifying patients at increased risk for death from several causes.

7 Aug 2007

Potential new ways to prevent smoking-related cellular damage

In the current issue of PLoS One, researchers show how a poorly understood and previously unsuspected mechanism may be the key to understanding how life-style associated forms of oxidative stress, such as exposure to cigarette smoke, damage cells in the lungs.

7 Aug 2007

Link identified between Alzheimer's disease and glaucoma

UK scientists have shown for the first time that key proteins involved in Alzheimer's disease are also implicated in glaucoma, the major cause of irreversible blindness worldwide.

7 Aug 2007