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Patients need doctors to advise them on health care decisions

"Sick people need to be able to rely on their doctors not just for an expert recital of choices" when it comes to medical treatment, "but also for advice about what to do, and doctors should accept responsibility for the outcome," Marcia Angell, a senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and guest columnist for the Boston Globe, writes in an opinion piece.

5 Mar 2007

FDA is using a "dysfunctional" computer system to track the safety of prescription drugs

...and efforts to establish a new system to track adverse drug events have been delayed by at least four years, according to a November 2006 report commissioned by the agency, the Wall Street Journal reports.

5 Mar 2007

Lactulose improves quality of life in patients with cirrhosis who have minimal hepatic encephalopathy

A study on patients with cirrhosis who had minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE), a condition in which behavioral, psychological and neurological changes are associated with advanced liver disease, found that cognitive function and health related quality-of-life improved when they took lactulose. Lactulose is a drug used to help eliminate toxins such as ammonia that are normally cleared by the liver.

5 Mar 2007

The model for end-stage liver disease

A review of the studies on the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) found that it is an accurate predictor of survival of patients with a variety of liver diseases, is particularly useful in allocating organs for liver transplants, and can also be used to help determine the course of treatment in certain cases. However, it is possible to improve the accuracy of the model and efforts at refining will continue.

5 Mar 2007

Exercise moderates risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in smokers

Moderate to high levels of regular physical activity are associated with lower lung function decline among smokers and help to moderate their risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a large retrospective cohort study.

5 Mar 2007

Effect of depression in mothers with breast cancer on their children's concerns

A woman's breast cancer diagnosis can wreak as much havoc on her emotions as it does on her physical health. Mothers who experience bouts of depression during their battles with breast cancer may find that the effects reach beyond their own psyches to those of their children.

5 Mar 2007

Australian researcher unveils pregnancy mystery

Belinda Hardman completed the study for her PhD with Deakin's Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology under the supervision of Dr Leigh Ackland.

5 Mar 2007

New Alzheimer's genes found

Cardiff University researchers have found evidence for new genes involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

5 Mar 2007

New drug delivery method incorporates drug molecules in fat

Devastating blood-borne fungal infections that can be lethal for HIV/AIDS, cancer, and organ transplant patients may be treated more successfully, thanks to a new drug delivery method developed by researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

5 Mar 2007

Biomarker for lung cancer identified

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have identified a gene expression marker that distinguishes smokers with lung cancer from smokers without the disease. The findings, reported in the March 1, 2007 advanced on-line edition of Nature Medicine, may have immediate clinical relevance and public health impact.

5 Mar 2007

Stress increases acne in teens

The largest study ever conducted on acne and stress reveals that teenagers who were under high levels of stress were 23 percent more likely to have increased acne severity, according to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues.

5 Mar 2007

Scientists answer brain mystery

The taste of champagne, the sound of a train, the flash of a pop fly into left field - indeed all of human perception ' begins in the brain's center. That's where sensory information passes from the thalamus to the neocortex for processing.

5 Mar 2007

Copper good for your heart

Including more copper in your everyday diet could be good for your heart, according to scientists at the University of Louisville Medical Center and the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center.

5 Mar 2007

Life-saving cancer genetic testing vastly underutilized

A study released today at the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists 38th Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer found few patients were aware of genetic cancer syndromes and the high risk of developing cancer if genetic mutations were found. Fewer still were motivated to follow up on this information with their own healthcare provider or genetic counseling/testing services.

5 Mar 2007

Lilly to acquire neuroscience drug discovery co. Hypnion

Eli Lilly and Company and Hypnion, Inc. today announced that they have signed a definitive merger agreement whereby Lilly will acquire Hypnion, a privately held neuroscience drug discovery company focused on sleep disorders.

5 Mar 2007

QLT settles Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary patent lawsuit

QLT Inc. announced that the parties have settled the litigation brought in 2001 by Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary ("MEEI") against QLT and Novartis Ophthalmics, Inc., case # 01-10747, in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (the "District Court").

5 Mar 2007

Translaminar technique reduces neck pain without significant risk of paralysis

In the largest series of patients to date, recent research shows that the translaminar approach to cervical spinal steroid injections can reduce neck pain in eighty-three percent of those treated.

5 Mar 2007

Inaugral conference of Society for Acute Medicine to be held in UK

The Society of Acute Medicine has announced that the 1st International Conference for Acute Medicine is to be held at the Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre, Glasgow, on the 1st and 2nd October 2007, and will be officially opened by Dr Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland.

5 Mar 2007

Senate hearing to debate junk food in schools

Tomorrow the Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on school nutrition issues, a move that the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) says signals new hope for strong, national action to get junk food out of schools.

5 Mar 2007

Improvement of cancer-targeting therapy, using nanocarriers for intractable solid tumors by inhibition of TGF-beta signaling

Administering a small amount of a potent but potentially toxic anticancer agent along with nanoparticles loaded with a second anticancer agent produced a dramatic inhibition of tumor growth in normally intractable cancers. These findings suggest a new approach to treating malignancies such as pancreatic cancer and diffuse gastric cancer.

5 Mar 2007