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pSivida intensifies research activities

Following extremely encouraging Phase IIa clinical trial results showing successful tumor regression and safety in man, nanotechnology pioneer pSivida Limited is intensifying development of its fully patented invention of nanostructured bioactive, biodegradable and biocompatible silicon (BioSilicon™) for multiple potential healthcare applications.

21 Mar 2005

New contact lenses cause less infections

Sleeping with your contact lenses in can give you a nasty eye infection (keratitis), but now a new generation of silicone hydrogel lenses cuts that risk fivefold, according to research in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

21 Mar 2005

STD incidents amongst students who pledge viginity

Hannah Brückner, assistant professor of sociology at Yale University and Peter Bearman, professor of sociology at Columbia University, in new research say young adults who make virginity pledges as adolescents are just as likely to be infected with sexually transmitted diseases as those who do not take virginity pledges, and that virginity pledges may even encourage higher risk sexual behavior.

21 Mar 2005

African genome research given impetus

Millions of victims in Africa, die each year from preventable diseases like tuberculosis and malaria and researchers say only a relatively small proportion of money is spent on developing vaccines, much more is spent on drugs aimed at tackling diseases more prevalent among rich, Western consumers.

21 Mar 2005

New research in mice sheds light on the causes behind male infertility

For 40 percent of the estimated six million American couples battling infertility, the problem lies with the man. But help may be on the way.

21 Mar 2005

Virginity pledges may even encourage higher risk sexual behavior among young adults

Young adults who take virginity pledges as adolescents are as likely to be infected with sexually transmitted diseases as those who do not take virginity pledges, Yale and Columbia University researchers report in the March 18 issue of Journal of Adolescent Health.

21 Mar 2005

Drinking two to three glasses of red wine daily is good for the heart

A review article of the latest studies looking at red wine and cardiovascular health shows drinking two to three glasses of red wine daily is good for the heart, according to a Yale School of Medicine researcher in the Journal of American College of Surgeons.

21 Mar 2005

Calls to regionalize the care of patients with heart attacks are premature

Calls to regionalize the care of patients with heart attacks are premature, and do not account for potential unintended consequences, according to a commentary by Yale researchers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

21 Mar 2005

Scientists find microRNA regulates Ras cancer gene

Research in the laboratory of Assistant Professor Frank J. Slack at Yale University has identified a new way that a familiar gene is regulated in lung cancer, presenting new possibilities for diagnosis and treatment. The work is reported in March issues of the journals Cell and Developmental Cell.

21 Mar 2005

Genomic analysis may one day be a primary diagnostic tool for physicians deciding on a course of treatment for trauma

The researchers showed that state-of-the-art techniques for rapidly analyzing changes in activity of all human genes will likely produce useful insights into the health of critically ill patients. The findings, which are available online and will be published in the March 29 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, make it possible for physicians to begin answering important questions about critical care through genomic analysis.

21 Mar 2005

Harm caused by alcohol consumption among college students may exceed previous estimates of the problem

Researchers report that unintentional fatal injuries related to alcohol increased from about 1,500 in 1998 to more than 1,700 in 2001 among U.S. college students aged 18-24.

21 Mar 2005

Sixteen per cent of people who use cannabis for medical reasons say that their doctor suggested it

"The results of our UK survey, including the extent of use and reported effects, lend support to the further development of safe and effective medicines based on cannabis" says lead author Dr Mark Ware principal investigator and pain physician at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) Pain Centre.

21 Mar 2005

Images of brain activity may hold clues to the onset of schizophrenia

Images of brain activity may hold clues to the onset of schizophrenia in people at high risk for the disease, according to a study headed by psychiatry researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

21 Mar 2005

Chemists say they have identified a gene that appears to play a key role in the development of type 1 diabetes

In the current study, the researchers focused on the formation of the MIF protein (macrophage migration inhibitory factor), a proinflammatory protein that they showed in previous studies is elevated in diabetic animals and may be involved in the cascade of immunological events that leads to the destruction of the pancreas and the subsequent onset of type 1 diabetes.

21 Mar 2005

RNA loops and knots guide genetic modifications

University of Connecticut Health Center scientist, Robert Reenan, has uncovered new rules of RNA recoding - a genetic editing method cells use to expand the number of proteins assembled from a single DNA code.

21 Mar 2005

Rapid rise in obesity may reverse life expectancy trend

It's been assumed that U.S. life expectancy would rise indefinitely, but a new data analysis, published as a special report in the March 17 New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that this trend is about to reverse itself -- due to the rapid rise in obesity, especially among children.

21 Mar 2005

Is life getting manic? A survey of bipolar symptoms in the community

A group of investigators of he University of Bologna have tested the frequency of symptoms related to the psychiatric concept of mania (being easily distracted, irritable, with racing thoughts, etc..) in the community.

21 Mar 2005

Psychiatric diagnostic criteria fail to identify psychological suffering in oncology

A group of researchers of the University of Ferrara studied the psychological and psychosomatic distress associated with cancer in the march issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.

21 Mar 2005

Drugs alone are not enough for fighting obsessions and compulsions

Both medication and psychotherapy are effective in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, they both have disadvantages. A group of researchers at the La Sapienza University studied the long-term effectiveness of integrated treatment compared with medication alone.

21 Mar 2005

Does depression predict mortality in heart attacks?

A group of Danish investigators, headed by Per Bech (Hillerod) surveyed the the literature on depression in patients with myocardial infarction to assess the methodological quality and to test whether depression leads to an increased postmyocardial infarction mortality.

21 Mar 2005