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Gut bacteria boost immune response to tumors

One potent, immune-based treatment for cancer is total body irradiation (TBI). This approach first depletes the body of the population of immune cells known as lymphocytes and then involves the adoptive transfer of tumor-specific T cells to the patient.

27 Jul 2007

Medtronic receives FDA approval for first artificial disc for the neck

Millennium Research Group (MRG) has conducted a detailed analysis of the US spinal implant market in its US Markets for Spinal Implants report.

26 Jul 2007

Long-term herpes treatment may reduce HIV infectivity

Long-term anti-herpes treatment of women infected with both HIV and HSV2, the virus that causes genital herpes, may reduce the proportion of women with detectable HIV virus in their genital secretions according to the results of a trial in Tanzania presented the International AIDS Society Conference in Sydney.

26 Jul 2007

Study links brain anatomy to the ability to learn a second language in adulthood

Think you haven't got the aptitude to learn a foreign language, New research led by Northwestern University neuroscientists suggests that the problem, quite literally, could be in your head.

26 Jul 2007

Mummies provide clues to combat hepatitis B

Mummies that have recently been unearthed in South Korea may provide clues on how to combat hepatitis B, according to Prof. Mark Spigelman of the Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

26 Jul 2007

Latest MRSA bloodstream infections and Clostridium difficile figures

Latest figures for MRSA show there was a 6.4% fall in the number of cases of blood stream infection reported to the Health Protection Agency from January - March 2007.

26 Jul 2007

Gesturing helps kids learn

Kids asked to physically gesture at math problems are nearly three times more likely than non-gesturers to remember what they've learned.

26 Jul 2007

New findings on gene-transcription machinery

For some time, scientists have been tracking down the sequence of biochemical steps required to attract and assemble at the head end of a gene the molecular machinery needed to transcribe that gene to put to work the information it encodes.

26 Jul 2007

GPs antibiotic prescribing practices are still contributing to resistance

GPs are still prescribing antibiotics for up to 80% of cases of sore throat, otitis media, upper respiratory tract infections, and sinusitis, despite the fact that official guidance warns against this practice, according to an analysis of the world's largest primary care database of consultations and prescriptions, published this week in a supplement to the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

26 Jul 2007

New understanding of Sly Syndrome

The scientist who discovered “Sly Syndrome” nearly four decades ago and a team of colleagues at Saint Louis University are a step closer to finding an approach to treat the rare genetic disease.

26 Jul 2007

Concerns noted on study of soft drinks and metabolic syndrome

A recent observational study reported in the journal Circulation ("Soft Drink Consumption and Risk of Developing Cardiometabolic Risk Factors and the Metabolic Syndrome in Middle-Aged Adults") needs to be considered in the proper scientific context, especially in relation to other previously published research that has reached the opposite conclusion.

26 Jul 2007

Smoking may not help relieve real anxiety

Many smokers excuse their habit by claiming that smoking relieves their feelings of stress.

26 Jul 2007

Detecting transmissibility of avian influenza virus in human households

Recent outbreaks of emerging diseases such as SARS and H5N1 avian influenza have underlined the fact that animal pathogens may acquire the ability to spread efficiently in humans but as yet have not.

26 Jul 2007

Court rules in favor of Sandoz on Toprol Xl patent

Sandoz was pleased to learn this week that the U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis has affirmed a summary judgment by U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel invalidating patent protection on Toprol XL(R), a beta blocker used to treat angina, heart failure, and high blood pressure.

26 Jul 2007

New report shows minimum income required by older people in UK

A University of London team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has just published a report in the International Journal of Epidemiology defining the minimum income required by older people to live healthy and decent lives.

26 Jul 2007

Combination of blood pressure-lowering drugs stops loss of kidney function in rare genetic disease

A combination of two types of blood pressure-lowering drugs, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) plus an angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB), added to enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with agalsidase-beta (Fabrazyme, Genzyme Corporation, Cambridge, MA) is the first treatment shown to stop progressive loss of kidney function in patients with severe kidney involvement due to the rare genetic disorder Fabry disease, reports a study in the September Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

26 Jul 2007

WHO announces China and India join clinical trial registry platform

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced the expansion of its clinical trial registry platform to include trial registers from China and India.

26 Jul 2007

Dexamethasone steroid treatment shows no benefit for kids with bronchiolitis

DMC Children's Hospital of Michigan has found that a common steroid treatment often prescribed for kids with bronchiolitis has no impact on improving their symptoms or in reducing hospitalization.

26 Jul 2007

Claim construction decision issued in Digene's patent case

Digene Corp. has announced that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin issued a pre-trial claim construction decision in the pending litigation between Digene and Third Wave Technologies, Inc. In that litigation, Digene alleges that Third Wave infringes its U.S. Patent No. 5,643,715 covering probes and methods for detecting human papillomavirus (HPV) type 52, a high-risk type of HPV.

26 Jul 2007

Study says you're not as generous as you think

A new study out of Carnegie Mellon University reveals that people who regard themselves as humanitarians are even more likely than others to base donations to the poor on whether they believe poverty is a result of bad luck or bad choices.

26 Jul 2007