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Standardized guidelines for stroke care offer improved outcomes and fewer complications

Patients suffering from a stroke are more likely to have improved outcomes and fewer complications when hospitals use standardized guidelines for stroke care during a patient's admission and discharge from the hospital, according to a study led by researchers at UCSF Medical Center.

11 Aug 2005

Cells direct membrane traffic by channel width

For a glycerol molecule, a measly angstrom's difference in diameter is a road-closed sign: You can't squeeze through unless you are a sleek, water-molecule-sized sports car, say scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

11 Aug 2005

Snorers can blame the shape of their throats

Scientists have discovered, by carrying out head and neck scans of snorers and non-snorers, why it is that some people are chronic snorers.

11 Aug 2005

Ethanol treatment may be instrumental in fighting IV-based infections

Inserted through the skin and into a vein, long-term intravascular devices such as IV catheters deliver to patients a range of life-saving medications, nutrition and fluids, among other uses.

11 Aug 2005

Third case of swine flu in Hong Kong

A 78-year-old woman has become the third case in Hong Kong of swine flu, since the outbreak of the disease in southwest China in recent weeks.

11 Aug 2005

Little convincing evidence that dietary antioxidant supplements such as vitamin E prevent heart disease

Instead there has been a surprise finding, which relates to a synthetic antioxidant, the drug Probucol, which is no longer prescribed in Australia.

11 Aug 2005

New study points to new treatments for some forms of Lou Gehrig's disease

A new study indicates that mutant Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) enzymes that are associated with an inherited form of Lou Gehrig's disease cause the protein to become sticky in tissues. Partial unfolding of the mutant protein can expose hydrophobic residues that may promote abnormal interactions with other proteins or membranes in the cell.

11 Aug 2005

Taking parathyroid hormone followed by a year on alendronate shows strong osteoporosis benefit

Postmenopausal women who took a bone-building drug for one year followed by a year on a standard drug that fights bone loss experienced greater increases in bone density than has been reported from any other drug regimen, an NIH-sponsored study has found. Bone density is the standard predictor of fracture risk associated with osteoporosis.

11 Aug 2005

Researchers discover that tumors secrete fatty acids which inhibit the cytotoxic T lymphocytes' ability to kill tumor cells

Researchers have discovered that tumors release fatty acids that interfere with the cells that are trying to kill them. Consequently, strategies that reduce the amount of fatty acids surrounding the tumors may give a boost to anti-cancer therapeutics.

11 Aug 2005

Ground-breaking discoveries that provide hope of an alternative treatment option for haemophilia sufferers

Haemophilia is a hereditary blood disease, primarily affecting males, where the blood fails to clot causing potentially life-threatening 'bleeds'. About one in 6000 Australian males is born with haemophilia in severe, moderate or mild form. People with haemophilia rely on intravenous infusion of recombinant Factor VIII clotting protein.

11 Aug 2005

Lifestyle changes may affect the progression of any type of cancer

Men with early stage prostate cancer who make intensive changes in diet and lifestyle may stop or perhaps even reverse the progression of their illness, according to a new study.

11 Aug 2005

Preliminary molecular diagram of the early stages of embryo formation

A team of genomic researchers headed by biologists at New York University's Center for Comparative Functional Genomics, in collaboration with researchers at Harvard University, the Max Planck Institute, and Cenix Biosciences, has mapped out a preliminary molecular diagram of the early stages of embryo formation, offering for the first time a global look at how a single cell begins its path into a multi-cellular organism.

11 Aug 2005

Cancer causing potential of the sex hormones

The cancer causing potential of the sex hormones used in hormone therapy has been known since the 1930s, say researchers and women's health advocates in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

11 Aug 2005

Excessive alcohol consumption increases risk of certain cancers

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new chemical analysis method that has assisted researchers at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), National Institutes of Health, in demonstrating a potentially important chemical link between alcohol consumption and cancer.

11 Aug 2005

Childhood cancers are strongly linked to pollution from engine exhausts

The postal addresses of 22,500 children who had died of cancer in Britain between 1955 and 1980 were linked to emissions hotspots for specific chemicals.

11 Aug 2005

Study queries value of ear tube surgery for childrens' speech and language development

After conducting a study of nearly 400 children in 2001, researchers at the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, have come to the conclusion, that putting tubes in the eardrum to help drain a young child's middle ear infection does not guard against developmental problems later in life.

11 Aug 2005