Medical News

RSS

Canada leads in new heart valve replacement surgery

Canada is the world leader in a new surgical technique that is transforming the lives of patients too sick to undergo conventional treatment to replace diseased aortic valves.

22 Oct 2007

Bacteria use plant defence for genetic modification

Bacteria that cause tumours in plants modify plant genomes by skilfully exploiting the plants' first line of defence.

22 Oct 2007

Addicts renting their cars in exchange for drugs

A growing number of crack cocaine users are renting their cars in exchange for drugs, according to criminologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Justice Sciences.

22 Oct 2007

New explanation for evolutionary changes in genetic sex-determination systems

In animals with separate sexes, embryos commit to becoming male or female at an early stage.

22 Oct 2007

800-year-old mummies from Mongolia help advance DNA extraction

Dr. Heather Coyle and three forensic science graduate students at the University of New Haven have developed a new method for preparing certain skeletal remains for DNA extraction thanks to some 800-year-old mummies from Mongolia and the research the group is doing for the Smithsonian Institution.

22 Oct 2007

Smurfs a major cause of osteoarthritis

A new clinical trial seeks to predict who is most likely to experience osteoarthritis, and to test whether an experimental treatment can prevent it altogether.

19 Oct 2007

West Nile virus' spread through nerve cells linked to serious complication

Scientists believe they have found an explanation for a puzzling and serious complication of West Nile virus infection.

19 Oct 2007

Study examines effects of caregiving

A new study from the USC Davis School of Gerontology found that caregivers of different ethnicities showed few negative mental or physical health effects as a result of tending to a family member with dementia.

19 Oct 2007

Transgenics sped up

A new method of constructing artificial plant chromosomes from small rings of naturally occurring plant DNA can be used to transport multiple genes at once into embryonic plants where they are expressed, duplicated as plant cells divide, and passed on to the next generation -- a long-term goal for those interested in improving agricultural productivity.

19 Oct 2007

Exposure to sunlight may decrease risk of advanced breast cancer

A research team from the Northern California Cancer Center, the University of Southern California, and Wake Forest University School of Medicine has found that increased exposure to sunlight - which increases levels of vitamin D in the body - may decrease the risk of advanced breast cancer.

19 Oct 2007

Why some succumb to stress - new brain mechanism identified

Results of a new study may one day help scientists learn how to enhance a naturally occurring mechanism in the brain that promotes resilience to psychological stress.

19 Oct 2007

Researcher identify specific cell that causes eye cancer, disproving long-held theory

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have identified the cell that gives rise to the eye cancer retinoblastoma, disproving a long-standing principle of nerve growth and development.

19 Oct 2007

Services for patients with Borderline Personality Disorder need to be improved say psychiatric nurses

Eighty per cent of psychiatric nurses believe that people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) receive inadequate care, despite the fact that one in fifty adults suffer from the condition, according to the October issue of the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing.

19 Oct 2007

New pathway identified by which cancer cells grow and survive

Cancerous tumors are wildly unfavorable environments. Struggling for oxygen and nutrients while being bombarded by the body's defense systems, tumor cells in fact require sophisticated adaptations to survive and grow.

19 Oct 2007

New biomaterial from Rutgers

A revolutionary, new biomaterial, developed at the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials (NJCBM) at Rutgers University, has moved from the lab bench to field testing in record time.

19 Oct 2007

Discovery of binocular vision gene

A team of researchers at the Bosch Institute have identified an important gene responsible for binocular vision.

19 Oct 2007

Random drug and alcohol testing does not reliably keep student-athletes from using

In fact, the mere presence of drug testing increases some risk factors for future substance use, Oregon Health & Science University researchers report. Their findings are published in the November issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, the journal of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

19 Oct 2007

Identifying psychiatric and behavioral problems in teens

Your teen is moody. He's not doing well in school. He wants to be left alone. Does he have a learning disability? Depression? Or maybe he's just a normal teen?

19 Oct 2007

Preventing tuberculosis reactivation

Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death due to infectious disease in the world today.

19 Oct 2007

Oral medication restores missing protein in boys with muscular dystrophy

PTC124, an oral medication that changes the way muscle cells interpret genetic information, holds promise as a treatment for some patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the Muscular Dystrophy Association ( http://www.mda.org/ ) announced today.

19 Oct 2007