Category: Health Problems

Women are underrepresented in clinical trials for heart failure, coronary artery disease and acute coronary syndrome but proportionately or overrepresented in trials for hypertension, atrial fibrillation and pulmonary arterial hypertension, when compared to incidence or prevalence of women within each disease population, according to a study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Cancer patients are commonly treated with the maximum dose they are able to withstand that does not cause too many toxic side effects. However, many patients become resistant to these treatments and develop cancer recurrence. Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center are using mathematical modeling based on evolutionary principals to show that adaptive drug treatments based

Women with an aggressive form of breast cancer who have faults in their BRCA genes do much better on chemotherapy drug carboplatin than standard treatment, a major clinical trial reports. Researchers found that women with advanced ‘triple-negative’ breast cancer who had inherited a BRCA mutation were twice as likely to benefit from carboplatin as docetaxel,

Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have identified a therapeutic RNA molecule that corrects the error in genetic processing that leads to familial dysautonomia, a rare inherited neurodegenerative disorder. The experiments, conducted in cells sampled from patients and in a mouse model of the disease, provide proof of the team’s therapeutic concept. Familial dysautonomia,

Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have begun to unravel how serotonin acts, based on data collected in a first-of-its-kind experiment that utilized electrochemical probes implanted into the brain of awake human beings. The neurotransmitter serotonin is associated with mood and helps shape the decisions we make. The readings were collected during brain

A traditional herbal remedy for the dangerous tropical disease ‘dengue fever’ could be turned into a pill to treat patients thanks to groundbreaking research by scientists at the University of Nottingham’s Malaysia Campus (UNMC).  Papaya leaf juice has for a long time been used in some areas of India and South East Asia as a

From presidents to retirees, more than 17 million people over the age of 50 golf regularly. Knee osteoarthritis, which causes swelling, pain and difficulty moving the joint, is one of the leading causes of disability in this age group. It may seem intuitive that golfers with knee osteoarthritis should stay off their feet and ride

(HealthDay)—For African-Americans, sickle cell trait (SCT) seems not to be associated with the incidence of ischemic stroke, according to a meta-analysis published online April 23 in JAMA Neurology. Hyacinth I. Hyacinth, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., from Emory Children’s Center in Atlanta, and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis to examine whether SCT is associated with increased risk of

Results of the AVIATOR 2 international registry are being presented as late-breaking clinical science at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2018 Scientific Sessions. The AVIATOR 2 is a multicenter prospective observational study of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in 11 international sites. The use of a novel

(HealthDay)—Potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use is relatively prevalent among patients with breast or colorectal cancer, though it is not associated with most adverse outcomes, according to a study published online April 24 in Cancer. Meghan S. Karturi, M.D., from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues examined the impact of

Researchers from the Saint Louis University School of Medicine have discovered why many multiple myeloma patients experience severe pain when treated with the anticancer drug bortezomib. The study, which will be published April 27 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, suggests that a drug already approved to treat multiple sclerosis could mitigate this effect, allowing

Researchers have identified a protein critical for the aggressiveness of T-cell leukemia, a subtype of leukemia that afflicts children and adults. The identification of ubiquitin-fusion degradation 1 (UFD1) allows for better understanding what causes leukemia to progress and become highly aggressive and treatment-resistant, and may lead to a new treatment for this type of cancer.

(HealthDay)—There does not appear to be a clinically meaningful association between baseline or prospective hemoglobin A1c (A1C) and wound healing in patients with diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), according to a study published online April 16 in Diabetes Care. Betiel K. Fesseha, M.D., from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and colleagues retrospectively evaluated the association between

(HealthDay)—Very low doses of hyaluronidase can remove hyaluronic acid filler nodules, but more rapid resolution is seen with slightly higher doses, according to a study published online April 25 in JAMA Dermatology. Murad Alam, M.D., from Northwestern University in Chicago, and colleagues conducted a randomized clinical trial involving nine healthy women to examine the effectiveness

The two most common types of inflammatory bowel disease are ulcerous colitis and Crohn’s disease. These are diagnosed via endoscopy and gut biopsy. The diagnosis is often difficult, and the wrong diagnosis may have severe consequences for patients, because the treatments and medications are different between the two diseases. The development of new and improved

Patients with meningococcal infections generally develop symptoms including a high temperature, vomiting and a stiff neck. But they might also just have a bad stomach ache. It can be so severe that they are sometimes wrongly diagnosed with appendicitis. Teams from the Institut Pasteur and the Department of Pediatrics at Bicêtre Hospital (AP-HP) decided to

New research from the Department of Food Science (FOOD) at the University of Copenhagen suggests that in the not-too-distant future, it might be possible to drink a cocktail of selective viruses (bacteriophages) that travel directly into the gut and kill the disease-causing bacteria without the use of antibiotics, and without harming the beneficial commensal intestinal

A study in today’s issue of JAMA Oncology reports that New York City firefighters exposed to the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster site face an increased risk for developing myeloma precursor disease (MGUS), which can lead to the blood cancer multiple myeloma. The study was conducted by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore

Biomedical engineers have discovered an unlikely potential ally in the global fight against tuberculosis—an FDA-approved drug originally designed to treat cancer. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are naturally produced by animals to break down connective tissue for a wide array of biological processes such as wound repair, growth and tissue development. Many diseases, however, can hijack these

The average profile of an American using a gun for suicide is a married, white male over the age of 50 who is experiencing deteriorating health. “Gun suicides may be preventable particularly among older men who are being treated for failing health,” explained corresponding author Bindu Kalesan, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at Boston