Archive for August, 2008
Recent scientific findings explain why patients with a rare immunodeficiency disorder are unusually susceptible to certain common infections. By revealing the exact molecular mechanisms involved, they also give us clues as to why some ‘healthy’ people are more prone to these infections than others, and suggest potential treatments.
People with Hyper IgE Syndrome, or ‘Job’s Syndrome’, suffer from devastating complications of skin, gut and lung infections caused Read the rest of this entry »
New guidelines for diagnosing and treating allergic rhinitis were released this month, just in time for the crush of fall allergy sufferers seeking relief from their allergist/immunologists.
The diagnosis and management of rhinitis: An updated practice parameter is featured in the August edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Read the rest of this entry »
As allergy-sufferers nationwide tackle their nose nemeses or keep scratching their heads - literally - in the quest to identify the source of their allergen angst, they can consider these tips for combating allergies in the home.
The most common allergens are dust mites and animal dander found mostly inside, not outside, the home sweet home. The Asthma Read the rest of this entry »
Researchers in Norway found symptoms of depression and anxiety to be significantly higher among people with MS compared with those without MS. This study provides important data on the occurrence of emotional changes in people with MS, Read the rest of this entry »
When surgeons need to remove part of the pancreas, performing the operation with minimally invasive techniques offers patients a shorter hospital stay and fewer complications, researchers have concluded.
A study of more than Read the rest of this entry »
Patients with accident or trauma related chronic pain often have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. What isn’t clearly known, however, is how PTSD relates to mood disorders and pain severity in chronic pain patients.
University of Michigan researchers examined the contribution of PTSD to the pain experience, functional Read the rest of this entry »
An article published in The Lancet finds that
cancer patients who received a care package called "Depression Care for
People with Cancer" (DCPC) had lower levels of depression than those
who received the usual care (antidepressants and mental health services
recommended by the cancer team). Professor Read the rest of this entry »
Men’s Health News
A simple blood test may help doctors better predict whether prostate cancer will recur or spread in patients who have undergone surgery for the disease, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.
In a study published in the June 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, UT Southwestern scientists identified a panel of seven biomarkers that can predict with 86 percent accuracy which prostate cancer patients Read the rest of this entry »
The Buyers Health Care Action Group, a health care purchasing coalition in Minnesota for large employers, on Wednesday announced a pay-for-performance pilot program that will reward physicians who effectively treat depressed patients, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. The program will start in 2009 (Forster, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 5/28). The program is modeled after similar pay-for-performance initiatives Read the rest of this entry »
Interim results from the ACCOMPLISH
(Avoiding Cardiovascular Events through COMbination Therapy in Patients
LIving with Systolic Hypertension) trial demonstrate that high-risk, high
blood pressure patients treated with Lotrel(R) (amlodipine besylate and
benazepril HCl) had 20% fewer cardiovascular events than those Read the rest of this entry »
Cytos Biotechnology Ltd (SWX:CYTN) announced
results from two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled,
multicentre phase II studies
with CYT003-QbG10 monotherapy for the treatment of house dust mite and cat
allergy, and with
CYT005-AllQbG10 combination therapy for the treatment of house dust mite
allergy. The studies were
conducted in order to determine whether QbG10 acts through an
allergen-independent or allergendependent
mechanism Read the rest of this entry »
People with high blood pressure are up to six hundred per cent more likely to develop dementia according to new research, released by Alzheimer’s Society during Dementia Awareness Week (6- 12 July 2008). High blood pressure led to a six fold increase in vascular dementia, the second most common form of dementia in the UK, according to the research.
High blood pressure, which affects one in three adults Read the rest of this entry »
UroToday.com - While erectile dysfunction has been described since ancient times, adequate treatment has only been available for the last three decades. Modern penile prosthetic devices were first developed in the early 1970s when Small et al. along with Scott et al. reported the implantation of penile prosthetic devices into the corpora cavernosa to fill the corpora cavernosa and provide Read the rest of this entry »
Moving house or the separation of parents can significantly increase the risk of children developing allergies later on. These are the results from a long-term study correlating life-style, immune system development and allergies, led by the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig (UFZ), the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen and the "Institut f??r Umweltmedizinische Forschung" Read the rest of this entry »
New research findings suggest that some food-allergic children may not be equipped with enough potentially life-saving medication to reverse a severe allergic reaction.
According to research to be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, a second dose of epinephrine - the drug of choice for treating severe allergic reactions - was needed in nearly 1-of-5 Read the rest of this entry »
A major Canadian-led global study has found that a new blood pressure medication is effective in reducing cardiovascular death, with fewer side effects than the current standard of care.
The study found a new drug telmisartan is as effective as the popular drug ramipril in reducing cardiovascular death in Read the rest of this entry »
UroToday.com - This a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, parallel group, multicenter study involving 200 men with or without erectile dysfunction. Men (25-64 years of age) did not have ejaculatory dysfunction. Subjects were randomized to daily treatment with vardenafil, sildenafil or placebo for 6 months. Baseline sperm concentrations Read the rest of this entry »
Employees who work overtime are at increased risk of anxiety and depression, suggests a study in the June Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).
Elisabeth Kleppa and colleagues of the University of Bergen, Norway, analyzed data on work hours from Read the rest of this entry »
Cancer patients are three times more likely to think they would be "better off dead" or to contemplate suicide than the rest of the population - a Cancer Research UK study reports Read the rest of this entry »
More people suffer from being overweight and have high blood pressure and metabolic disturbances in East Germany than in West Germany. This is the result of a study with almost 36 000 patients, published in the current edition of the Deutsches ?
Hoping to answer a question raised by the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) study, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have designed the Combining Medication to Enhance Outcomes of Depression (CO-MED) trial to test multiple-medication treatment of depression.
"We are trying two active, Food and Drug Administration-marketed antidepressant medicines available Read the rest of this entry »
Health minister Ivan Lewis announced the 32 sites who will
begin to roll out talking therapies around the country.
Each of the 32 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) will receive a share of the
??33 million first instalment of new money announced for the purpose
by Health Secretary Alan Johnson on World Mental Health Day last year
(10 October).
The funds will help the NHS create a new workforce that can Read the rest of this entry »
Women and men tend to have different types of stress-related psychological disorders. Women have greater rates of depression and some types of anxiety disorders than men, while men have greater rates of alcohol-use disorders than women. A new study of emotional and alcohol-craving responses to stress has found that when men become upset, they are more likely than women to want alcohol.
Results will Read the rest of this entry »
UroToday.com - Currently, the most common curative treatment options for men with localized prostate cancer are radical prostatectomy, external beam radiotherapy and interstitial permanent brachytherapy and radical prostatectomy. Treatment decisions should particularly consider Read the rest of this entry »
New data presented at the XXVII Congress of the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) in Barcelona, Spain, demonstrate AERIUS® (desloratadine) significantly reduces allergy symptoms, including nasal congestion, sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal pruritus and ocular pruritus, in patients with intermittent allergic rhinitis (IAR) who experience symptoms Read the rest of this entry »