Sunday 17 November 2013

An Approved Vaccine To Treat Prostate Cancer Has Few Side Effects

An Approved Vaccine To Treat Prostate Cancer Has Few Side Effects.
The newly approved health-giving prostate cancer vaccine, Provenge, is tried and true and has few sect effects, a new study finds. In April, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine for use in men with advanced prostate cancer who had failed hormone therapy. "Provenge was approved based on both aegis and clinical data," said steer researcher Dr Simon J Hall, armchair of urology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

This safeness data shows that there are very limited side effects, Hall added. The usefulness of the vaccine for patients with metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer is that it has fewer ancillary effects than chemotherapy, which is the only other treatment option for these patients, Hall explained. In addition, Provenge has improved survival over chemotherapy, he added.

The common survival time for men given Provenge is 4,5 months, although some patients adage their lives extended by two to three years. "This is a newly handy treatment, with very limited side effects, compared to anything else that a man would be making allowance for in this state," Hall said. Hall was to present the results on Monday at the American Urological Association annual converging in San Francisco.

Data from four phase 3 trials, which included 904 men randomized to either Provenge or placebo, showed the vaccine extended survival, improved prominence of sentience and had only mild side effects. In fact, more than 83 percent of the men who received Provenge were able to do play activities without any restrictions, the researchers noted.

Stem Cells From A New Source For The Treatment Of The Heart

Stem Cells From A New Source For The Treatment Of The Heart.
Stem cells from the amniotic sac that surrounds a fetus may someday be utilized to vamp injure caused by a heart attack, Japanese researchers report. The work, so far only conducted in animals, raises the plausibility of a non-controversial source of stem cells to upon not only heart disease but also many other conditions, said Dr Shunichiro Miyoshi, an assistant professor in the cardiology unit at the Keio University School of Medicine, and co-author of a report in the May 28 online emerge of Circulation Research. "I believe these cells may be utilized in the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as SLA systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis," Miyoshi said.

The amniotic sac is typically discarded after childbirth. SLA is an autoimmune disability in which the body's untouched system cells mistakenly strike healthy tissue. The cells that Miyoshi and his colleagues have used in mouse studies can simply be obtained in large numbers and offer another major advantage: they bypass the call to match donor-recipient cell typing, Miyoshi explained.

So "At the present time there is no obstacle for clinical utilization," he said. "We can obtain amniotic membrane from every delivery. We do not shortage to match donor-recipient matching of complicated HLA typing". HLA refers to the protein markers that are found on most of the body's cells. Transplanted cells that argue from the recipient's HLA type will be attacked and destroyed by the invulnerable system.

The Keio researchers have begun a series of studies aimed at the human use of the amniotic halt cells. "Now we are performing the experiment on a swine model," Miyoshi said. "Immediately after we get a marvellous result, we are planning to perform clinical trials. I believe it will go on within a few years. But it may depend on the strength of our government regulation".

The journal report describes laboratory work in which diminish cells obtained from amniotic membranes were transformed into heart cells, 33 percent of which trounce spontaneously and which improved rat heart function by more than 34 percent when injected two weeks after a soul attack. The injected cells decreased the area of heart damage by 13 percent to 18 percent and survived for more than four weeks in the rats without the use of drugs to free-for-all protected rejection. The amniotic cells are much easier to convert into heart cells than stem cells from other sources, such as bone marrow or fat, Miyoshi said.

Saturday 16 November 2013

Deer Ticks Carry Lyme Disease Germs

Deer Ticks Carry Lyme Disease Germs.
People who go outdoors in several regions of the United States may have something else to responsibility about. Scientists dispatch that there's another troublesome basis hiding in the deer tick that already harbors the Lyme disease bacterium. There are indications that the seed infects a few thousand Americans a year, potentially causing flu-like symptoms such as fever. In one newly reported case, a girl with existing medical problems appeared to have brain tumour and dementia caused by an infection.

It is not clear, however, how serious of a threat may be posed by the germ. For the moment, Lyme affliction appears to be much more prevalent. And four other germs that affect humans hide in deer ticks. Still, scientists say the germ is cause for concern.

And "This would not be commonly picked up by any of the accepted tests for Lyme disease," said Victor Berardi, co-author of one of two reports about the bug in the Jan 17, 2013 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The bacterium in problem is Borrelia miyamotoi and is found on deer ticks (also known as blacklegged ticks) in parts of the state where Lyme disease is prevalent.

In 2011, Russian researchers reported that individuals there were infected by the bacterium, and the new reports have found that it has infected people in the United States as well. "We've known about this bacterium for a large time - at least 10 years," said Sam Telford III, a professor of catching disease at Tufts University in Medford, Mass, who co-authored the disclose with Berardi.

Thursday 14 November 2013

Most Americans And Canadians With HIV Diagnosed Too Late.
Americans and Canadians infected with HIV are not getting diagnosed post-haste enough after exposure, resulting in a potentially dangerous hold off in lifesaving treatment, a new large study suggests. The observation stems from an investigation involving nearly 45000 HIV-positive patients in both countries, which focused on a key yardstick for invulnerable system strength - CD4 cell counts - at the time each patient firstly began treatment. CD4 counts measure the number of "helper" T-cells that are HIV's preferred target.

Reviewing the participants' medical records between 1997 and 2007, the yoke found that throughout the 10-year study period, the usual CD4 count at the time of first treatment was below the recommended level that scientists have yearn identified as the ideal starting point for medical care. "The public health implications of our findings are clear," analyse author Dr Richard Moore, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in a despatch release. "Delayed diagnosis reduces survival, and individuals enter into HIV attention with lower CD4 counts than the guidelines for initiating antiretroviral therapy". A poke in getting treatment not only increases the chance that the disease will progress, but boosts the risk of transmission, he added.

Monday 11 November 2013

Special Care For Elderly Pets

Special Care For Elderly Pets.
Old period seems to prowl up on pets just as it does in people. Long before you expect it, Fido and Snowball are no longer able to bolt out the door or romp onto the bed. But with routine visits to the vet, regular exercise and good load control, you can help your beloved pet ward off the onset of age-related disease, one veterinary pundit suggests. "Aging pets are a lot like aging people with respect to diseases," Susan Nelson, a Kansas State University subsidiary professor of clinical services, said in a university bulletin release.

Diabetes, chronic kidney disease, cancer, osteoarthritis, periodontal disease and heart infection are among the problems pets face as they grow older, she noted. "Like people, assigned exams and tests can help detect some of these problems earlier and make treatment more successful," Nelson added, making a significant reference to heartworm prevention and general vaccinations. "It's also impressive to work closely with your veterinarian," Nelson said, because "many pets are on more than one type of medication as they age, just match humans".

Cats between 8 and 11 years (equal to 48 to 60 in human years) are considered "senior," while those over the mature of 12 fall into the category of "geriatric," Nelson explained. For dogs it depends on weight: those under 20 pounds are considered chief at 8 years, and geriatric at 11 years. Those 120 pounds and up, however, are considered ranking at 4 years and geriatric at 6 years, with a sliding age-scale applied to canines between 20 and 120 pounds.

Sunday 10 November 2013

The Mortality Rate For People With Type 1 Diabetes Is Reduced

The Mortality Rate For People With Type 1 Diabetes Is Reduced.
Death rates have dropped significantly in public with specimen 1 diabetes, according to a late study. Researchers also found that kinsmen diagnosed in the late 1970s have an even downgrade mortality rate compared with those diagnosed in the 1960s. "The encouraging fetish is that, given good diabetes control, you can have a near-normal verve expectancy," said the study's senior author, Dr Trevor J Orchard, a professor of epidemiology, c physic and pediatrics in the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, Penn. But, the analyse also found that mortality rates for consumers with model 1 still remain significantly higher than for the general population - seven times higher, in fact accutane. And some groups, such as women, take up to have disproportionately higher mortality rates: women with typeface 1 diabetes are 13 times more plausible to die than are their female counterparts without the disease.

Results of the scrutiny are published in the December proclamation of Diabetes Care. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune bug that causes the body's immune system to mistakenly attack the body's insulin-producing cells. As a result, proletariat with quintessence 1 diabetes make little or no insulin, and must rely on lifelong insulin replacement either through injections or pint-sized catheter attached to an insulin pump.

Insulin is a hormone that allows the body to use blood sugar. Insulin replacement psychoanalysis isn't as remarkable as naturally-produced insulin, however. People with order 1 diabetes often have blood sugar levels that are too squiffy or too low, because it's difficult to predict in all respects how much insulin you'll need.

When blood sugar levels are too tall due to too little insulin, it causes damage that can lead to long period complications, such as an increased risk of kidney failure and pluck disease. On the other hand, if you have too much insulin, blood sugar levels can descent dangerously low, potentially leading to coma or death.

These factors are why paradigm 1 diabetes has long been associated with a significantly increased hazard of death, and a shortened life expectancy. However, numerous improvements have been made in category 1 diabetes directorate during the past 30 years, including the advent of blood glucose monitors, insulin pumps, newer insulins, better medications to retard complications and most recently ceaseless glucose monitors.

Sunday 3 November 2013

Flu Vaccines Approved For Next Winter, Will Protect Against Three Strains Of Influenza, Including H1N1

Flu Vaccines Approved For Next Winter, Will Protect Against Three Strains Of Influenza, Including H1N1.
The flu vaccines approved for the 2010-11 age screen against three strains of influenza, including the 2009 H1N1 pandemic swine flu strain, the United States Food and Drug Administration has announced tablet. Because the 2009 H1N1 virus emerged after opus had started on carry on year's seasonal flu vaccine, two type vaccines were needed rearmost ripen to care for against seasonal flu and the 2009 H1N1 virus.

This year, rank and file will be missing only one vaccine, the FDA said. Each year, experts from the World Health Organization, the FDA, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other institutions analyze flu virus samples and patterns controlled worldwide in sect to condition which strains are most expected to cause disease during the upcoming season.

The vaccines for the 2010-11 flu occasion contain the following strains:

* A/California/7/09 (H1N1)-like virus (pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus),

Saturday 2 November 2013

Nickel Allergy From A Cell Phone

Nickel Allergy From A Cell Phone.
If you're an incessant cubicle phone owner and a perplexing rash appears along your jaw, cheek or ear, chances are you're allergic to nickel, a metal commonly Euphemistic pre-owned in stall phones. While allergists have long been familiar with nickel allergy, "cell phone rash" is just starting to show up on their radar screen, said Dr Luz Fonacier, first place of allergy and immunology at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, NY vivioptal capsules. "Increased use of chamber phones with immense use plans has led to prolonged endangerment to the nickel in phones," said Fonacier, who is scheduled to talk over the condition in a larger presentation on skin allergies Nov 14, 2010 at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology annual intersection in Phoenix.

Symptoms of apartment phone allergy incorporate a red, bumpy, itchy rash in areas where the nickel-containing parts of a room phone touch the face. It can even fake fingertips of those who text continuously on buttons containing nickel. In unembellished cases, blisters and itchy sores can develop.

Fonacier said she sees many patients who are allergic to nickel and don't be versed it. "They come in with no recommendation of what is causing their allergic reaction," said Fonacier, also a professor of clinical cure-all at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Sometimes, she traces her patients' symptoms to their cell phones.

In 2000, a researcher in Italy documented the elementary suitcase of cell phone rash, prompting other inspect on the condition. In a 2008 look at published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, US researchers tested for nickel in 22 handsets from eight manufacturers; 10 contained the metal. The parts with the most nickel were the menu buttons, decorative logos on the headsets and the metal frames around the melted crystal spectacle (LCD) screens.

Cell phone impetuous is still not well known, said allergist Dr Stanley M Fineman, a clinical comrade professor at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. While he's treated more cases of nickel allergy caused by piercings than by cell phones, "it's decorous for allergists and dermatologists to have cell phone write to dermatitis on their radar screens," he said.

Monday 28 October 2013

Unique Biomarkers That May Clarify Treatment Of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Unique Biomarkers That May Clarify Treatment Of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.
In an attempt to ameliorate the prophecy of patients battling triple-negative breast cancer, scientists have identified a sui generis biomarker that may eventually allow some to acquire a more targeted treatment vigrxbox.com. Although relatively uncommon, triple adverse breast cancer is notoriously difficult to treat because receptor targeted therapies don't work.

The disease's reputation refers to core cancers that test negative for estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and merciful epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER2), all of which combustible most breast cancer growth. "Triple-negative bosom cancers currently lack therapeutic targets and are managed with received chemotherapy," study author Dr Agnieszka K Witkiewicz, an fellow professor of pathology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, explained in a dirt release.

Unhealthy Lifestyles And Obesity Lead To Higher Levels Of Productivity Losses In The Workplace

Unhealthy Lifestyles And Obesity Lead To Higher Levels Of Productivity Losses In The Workplace.
People who busy in malign habits such as smoking, eating a penniless congress and not getting enough exercise turn out to be less productive on the job, late Dutch research shows. Unhealthy lifestyle choices also appear to despatch into a greater need for sick leave and longer periods of convenience off from work when sick leave is taken, the bone up reveals. The finding is reported in the Sept 28, 2010 online version of the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine scriptovore.com. "More than 10 percent of weighed down leave and the higher levels of productivity ruin at work may be attributed to lifestyle behaviors and obesity," Alex Burdorf, of the branch of public health at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues illustrious in a front-page news release from the journal's publisher.

Between 2005 and 2009, Burdorf and his associates surveyed more than 10,600 race who worked for 49 weird companies in the Netherlands. Participants were asked to discuss both lifestyle and undertaking habits, rating their work productivity on a scale of 0 to 10, while contribution information about their weight, height, health history and the crowd of days they had to call in sick during the prior year.

The investigators found that 56 percent of those polled had entranced off at least one day in the preceding year because of deficient health. Being obese, smoking, and having fruitless diet and exercise habits were contributing factors in just over 10 percent of sick to one's stomach leave occurrences. In particular, corpulent workers were 66 percent more likely to call in bent for 10 to 24 days than normal weight employees, and 55 percent more tenable to take time off for 25 days or more, the consider noted.

Tuesday 15 October 2013

New Methods Of Diagnosis Of Stroke

New Methods Of Diagnosis Of Stroke.
The translation to correctly diagnosing when a event of dizziness is just instability or a life-threatening stroke may be surprisingly simple: a pair of goggles that measures look movement at the bedside in as little as one minute, a unknown study contends. "This is the first study demonstrating that we can accurately against strokes and non-strokes using this device," said Dr David Newman-Toker, lead actor author of a paper on the technique that is published in the April problem of the journal Stroke totkay. Some 100000 strokes are misdiagnosed as something else each year in the United States, resulting in 20000 to 30000 deaths or harsh material and speech impairments, the researchers said.

As with centre attacks, the key to treating jot and potentially saving a person's life is speed. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the au courant gold standard for assessing stroke, can persuade up to six hours to complete and costs $1200, said Newman-Toker, who is an confidant professor of neurology and otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Sometimes populate don't even get as far as an MRI, and may be sent dwelling-place with a first "mini stroke" that is followed by a enthralling second stroke, he added.

The new study findings come with some significant caveats, however. For one thing, the deliberate over was a small one, involving only 12 patients. "It is illogical for a small consider to prove 100 percent accuracy," said Dr Daniel Labovitz, official of the Stern Stroke Center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, who was not affected with the study. About 4 percent of dizziness cases in the exigency range are caused by stroke.

The other caveat is that the device is not yet approved in the United States for diagnosing stroke. The US Food and Drug Administration only recently gave it imprimatur for use in assessing balance. It has been to hand in Europe for that resolve for about a year. The device - known as a video-oculography mechanism - is a modification of a "head impulse test," which is employed regularly for people with chronic dizziness and other inner ear-balance disorders.

Wednesday 9 October 2013

More Than 250000 People Die Each Year From Heart Failure In The United States

More Than 250000 People Die Each Year From Heart Failure In The United States.
To increase the trait of lifesaving devices called automated surface defibrillators, the US Food and Drug Administration proposed Friday that the seven manufacturers of these devices be required to get power agreement for their products. Automated perceptible defibrillators (AEDs) are shirt-pocket devices that deliver an electrical shock to the heartlessness to try to restore normal heart rhythms during cardiac arrest fav-store.net. Although the FDA is not recalling AEDs, the working said that it is upset with the number of recalls and quality problems associated with them.

And "The FDA is not questioning the clinical utility of AEDs," Dr William Maisel, premier scientist in FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said during a huddle forum on Friday announcing the proposal. "These devices are critically leading and gratify a very important public health need. The worth of early defibrillation for patients who are suffering from cardiac arrest is well-established," he said.

Maisel added the FDA is not area into question the safety or dignity of AEDs currently in place around the country. There are about 2,4 million such devices in well-known places throughout the United States, according to The New York Times. "Today's undertaking does not require the killing or replacement of AEDs that are in distribution. Patients and the public should have faith in these devices, and we encourage people to use them under the appropriate circumstances," Maisel said.

Although there have been problems with AEDs, their lifesaving benefits compensate the risk of making them unavailable, Maisel explained. Dr Moshe Gunsburg, official of cardiac arrhythmia putting into play and co-chief of the division of cardiology at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, supports the FDA proposal. "Cardiac restrain is the influential cause of downfall in the United States.

It claims over 250000 lives a year," he said. Early defibrillation is the frequency to helping patients survive, Gunsburg said. Timing, however, is critical. If a unfailing is not defibrillated within four to six minutes, thought mutilate starts and the odds of survival diminish with each passing minute, which is why 90 percent of these patients don't survive, he explained.

The best luck a tireless has is an automated external defibrillator used quickly, which is why Gunsburg and others want AEDs to be as vulgar as fire extinguishers so laypeople can use them when they help someone go into cardiac arrest. The FDA's clash will help ensure that these devices are in top shape when they are needed, he said.

Sunday 6 October 2013

Awareness Against The Global Problem Of Antibiotic Resistance

Awareness Against The Global Problem Of Antibiotic Resistance.
Knowing when to experience antibiotics - and when not to - can servant one-on-one the rise of deadly "superbugs," conjecture experts at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About half of antibiotics prescribed are disposable or inappropriate, the agency says, and overuse has helped sire bacteria that don't respond, or return less effectively, to the drugs used to fight them try vimax. "Antibiotics are a shared resource that has become a at a premium resource," said Dr Lauri Hicks, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC.

She's also medical the man a of original program, Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work, that had its organize this week. "Everyone has a role to play in preventing the wash of antibiotic resistance," Hicks said. The stakes are high, said Dr Arjun Srinivasan, CDC's collaborator chief for health care-associated infection prevention programs. Almost every category of bacteria has become stronger and less responsive to antibiotic treatment, he said.

The CDC is urging Americans to use the drugs correctly to assist prevent the global problem of antibiotic resistance. To that end, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), numerous nationwide medical and controlled associations, as well as state and townsperson health departments have collaborated on the CDC's Get Smart initiative.

Most strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are still found in form care settings, such as hospitals and nursing homes. Yet superbugs, including MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) - which kills about 19000 Americans a year - are increasingly found in community settings, such as healthiness clubs, schools, and workplaces, said Hicks.

Community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA), a vein that affects shape kin greatest of hospitals, made headlines in 2008, when it killed a Florida exorbitant instruct football player. Referring to recent reports of sinusitis caused by MRSA, Hicks said that "people who would normally be treated with an vocalized antibiotic are requiring more toxic medications or, in some instances, ticket to a hospital. We've seen this with pneumonia, too, and I harass we'll establish to see it with other types of infections as well".

Friday 4 October 2013

Mass Screening For Prostate Cancer Can Have Unpleasant Consequences

Mass Screening For Prostate Cancer Can Have Unpleasant Consequences.
Health campaigns that highlight the hornet's nest of lachrymose screening rates for prostate cancer to nurture such screenings seem to have an unintended effect: They dissuade men from undergoing a prostate exam, a unexplored German study suggests search. The finding, reported in the stylish issue of Psychological Science, stems from knead by a research team from the University of Heidelberg that gauged the design to get screened for prostate cancer among men over the adulthood of 45 who reside in two German cities.

In earlier research, the learn authors had found that men who had never had such screenings tended to accept that most men hadn't either. In the current effort, the set exposed men who had never been screened to one of two health report statements: either that only 18 percent of German men had been screened in the old days year, or that 65 percent of men had been screened.

Wednesday 2 October 2013

The United States Ranks Last Compared With The Six Other Industrialized Countries

The United States Ranks Last Compared With The Six Other Industrialized Countries.
Compared with six other industrialized nations, the United States ranks concluding when it comes to many measures of calibre vigorousness care, a uncharted description concludes. Despite having the costliest health caution system in the world, the United States is last or next-to-last in quality, efficiency, access to care, even-handedness and the ability of its citizens to escort long, healthy, productive lives, according to a new backfire from the Commonwealth Fund, a Washington, DC-based private instituting focused on improving health care kad barhanay walay pills. "On many measures of salubriousness system performance, the US has a long way to go to perform as well as other countries that disburse far less than we do on healthcare, yet cover everyone," the Commonwealth Fund's president, Karen Davis, said during a Tuesday matinal teleconference.

And "It is disappointing, but not surprising, that ignoring our significant investment in health care, the US continues to trail behind other countries," she added. However, Davis believes unheard of health care reform legislation - when fully enacted in 2014 - will go a yearn mode to improving the current system. "Our hope and supposition is that when the law is fully enacted, we will match and even exceed the performance of other countries," she said.

The account compares the performance of the American health tribulation system with those of Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. According to 2007 observations included in the report, the US spends the most on form care, at $7,290 per capita per year. That's almost twice the quantity done for in Canada and nearly three times the rate of New Zealand, which spends the least.

The Netherlands, which has the highest-ranked vigour care process on the Commonwealth Fund list, spends only $3,837 per capita. Despite higher spending, the US ranks decisive or next to terminating in all categories, Davis said, and scored "particularly incompetently on measures of access, efficiency, equity and long, flourishing and productive lives".

The US ranks in the middle of the pack in measures of productive and patient-centered care, she added. Overall, the Netherlands came in commencement on the list, followed by the United Kingdom and Australia. Canada and the United States ranked sixth and seventh, Davis noted.

Speaking at the teleconference, Cathy Schoen, superior profligacy president at the Commonwealth Fund, barbed out that in 2008, 14 percent of US patients with long-standing conditions had been given the wrong medication or the wrong dose. That's twice the blunder rate observed in Germany and the Netherlands, she noted.