A new study has found that the lung lesions in an individual infected with tuberculosis (TB) are surprisingly variable and independent of each other, despite whether the patient has clinically active or latent disease.
The research could point the way to new vaccines to prevent the hard-to-treat infection.
A four-member team of Mercy Missions, USA, is visiting India from January 5 to 12, 2014 and the members will be plastic surgeries at KIMS Hospital, Secunderabad.
Lion Vidya Bhushab, District Chaairperson, Surgical Camps, informed in a press note that under the guidance of Dr Sudharshan Reddy, Dr Bhavani Prasad, Dr Alfred Schneider and Laura Kerby, the Mercy Missions was formed at Michigan, to serve the poor in a number of developing countries all over the world, by conducting free surgeries and giving free medicines.
A researchers has revealed that medical acupuncture is effective in reducing pain after tonsillectomy surgery and can be used as an alternative to codeine.
Dr. James Ochi, a San Diego pediatric ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon conducted a study using acupuncture instead of codeine for pain relief for his tonsillectomy patients.
A new study has revealed that in patients with high cholesterol, the presence of a certain molecule that mimics the structure of estrogen may lead to increased tumor growth, and inhibit the effects of common estrogen-blocking cancer therapies.
“What we have now found is a molecule- not cholesterol itself, but an abundant metabolite of cholesterol – called 27HC, that mimics the hormone estrogen and can independently drive the growth of breast cancer,” senior author Donald McDonnell, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke, said.
A new study has found that electronic cigarettes, when used indoors, may involuntarily expose non-users to nicotine and the secondhand exposure is on average 10 times less than from tobacco smoke.
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are consumer products designed to generate nicotine aerosol, or vapor, without the combustion of tobacco. When an e-cigarette user takes a puff, the nicotine solution is heated, and the vapor is taken into the lungs.
Researchers studying zebrafish embryo skin have decoded cell messages underlying abnormal colonic cell growth of the kind that could lead to tumors and colon cancer in people suffering from calcium deficiency.
The researchers also tested this new mechanism in human colon cancer cells.
Australian researchers have found a drug that is effective in preventing breast cancer.
Professor Christobel Saunders from the University of Western Australia is one of the chief researchers in an international study which found that anastrozole drug could cut the risk of breast cancer in many women, with an extra benefit that it has few side effects, reported Xinhua.
Hundreds of post-menopausal women with a family history of breast cancer participated in the study.
Researchers have shown that declines in kidney function are detectable long before the emergence of other obesity-related diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
First author Vanessa Grubbs, MD, UCSF assistant adjunct professor of medicine, and senior author Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, professor of medicine, led a team that analyzed 10 years’ worth of health data from CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults), a national multi-center research project that has tracked the health of thousands of black and white young adults since its beginnings in 1985.
Passive smoking has no clear link to lung cancer, a study has revealed.
According to researchers at Stanford University, there is no significant relationship between the cancer and exposure to second-hand smoke, the Independent reported.
However, there is still a strong association between smoking and lung cancer.
The study was published in the latest Journal of the National Cancer Institute . (ANI)
The number of people being diagnosed with cancer in the world each year has crossed 14 million, it has been revealed.
According to the World Health Organization, the data for 2012 showed a marked rise on the 12.7 million cases in 2008 and the number of deaths has also increased, from 7.6 million to 8.2 million, the BBC reported.
The reason for the rapid rise in cancer cases is believed to be due to the shift in lifestyles in the developing world to more closely reflect industrialized countries, as well as rising rates of smoking and obesity.
A new jab, that could end the agony of back pain, has got an approval from European regulators.
During experiments, the Cimzia jabs showed rapid improvements in pain, stiffness and mobility, the Daily Express reported.
The breakthrough fortnightly injection can allow back pain sufferers to enjoy activities and run errands they couldn’t do before.
Sufferers can experience increased pain when resting which improves with exercise, painful inflammation of tendons and ligaments, arthritis, sore red eyes known as uveitis, and inflammatory bowel disease.
A new study has suggested that drugs used for treating type 2 diabetes have different effects on the hearts of men and women.
In particular, the commonly prescribed diabetes drug metformin had positive effects on heart function in women but not in men, who experienced a shift in metabolism thought to increase the risk of heart failure.
According to senior author Robert J. Gropler, MD, professor of radiology, this is the first study to investigate sex differences in the heart’s response to diabetes treatments.
Researchers have claimed that to have found links between high levels of perfluorinated compounds in the blood and diabetes.
Perfluorinated compounds are used in a wide variety of industrial and consumer products, including fire fighting foam, non-stick cookware, and grease and water-repellent materials such as food contact material, ski wax and GoreTex, for example.
A new study from the University of Adelaide’s Robinson Institute has suggested that women, who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, should avoid consuming red meat and opt for fish and poultry.
The recommendation comes at a time when there is increasing evidence to suggest that red meat is linked with a higher rate of gestational diabetes in pregnant women, which poses risks to the health of both the mother and the baby.
A new study has suggested a connection between an adult’s height and the prevalence of coronary artery calcium (CAC), a direct marker of plaque in the arteries that feed the heart.
Coronary artery calcium is a strong predictor of future heart attacks with a nearly 10 fold increase in the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in patients with elevated CAC.
The study, which is based on research in 2,703 patients from the Family Heart Study, suggested that taller adults tend to have lower levels of plaque, and thus, a lower risk of CHD.
A new study has found that engaging in physical activity every now and then and consuming fewer calories can decrease the risk of developing kidney stones.
Mathew Sorensen, from the University of Washington School of Medicine, and the Puget Sound Department of Veterans Affairs, and his colleagues conducted a study to evaluate whether energy intake and energy expenditure relate to kidney stone formation.
A new study has revealed that through personal care products (PCPs) such as lotions and shampoos, infants and toddlers are likely becoming exposed to potentially harmful substances, called parabens, at an even higher level than adult women.
Kurunthachalam Kannan and Ying Guo point out that the substances called phthalates and parabens are used in a wide range of products, from medical devices to children’s toys, as well as PCPs. Phthalates hold in moisture; parabens are used as preservatives.
Scientists at King’s College London have, for the first time, identified the unique properties of two different types of cells, known as fibroblasts, in the skin – one required for hair growth and the other responsible for repairing skin wounds.
The research could pave the way for treatments aimed at repairing injured skin and reducing the impact of ageing on skin function.
Fibroblasts are a type of cell found in the connective tissue of the body’s organs, where they produce proteins such as collagen. It is widely believed that all fibroblasts are the same cell type.
One drug attacks tumor cells directly, the other treats the immune system by taking the brakes off T cell response, and together, they put half of the patients with relapsed follicular lymphoma into complete remission.
Senior author Sattva Neelapu, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Lymphoma/Myeloma at MD Anderson, said that most drugs target only the tumor, this combination is complementary, treating both the lymphoma cells directly and the T cells in a manner that activates them against cancer cells.
While the start of a new year looks like a promising way to start off on a clean slate by quitting bad habits, it may not be as much of a powerful motivator as the motivation of a celebrity, a new study has suggested.
Lack of awareness about breastfeeding is not limited to the poor and vulnerable sections of society, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahuwalia said today.
Addressing conference on breastfeeding here, Ahluwalia suggested that the top 22 per cent population of the country, particularly those families having cars, should be targeted to create awareness about the issue.
He said it was not necessary that people who are prosperous and well-off have knowledge about the issue.
The fight against malaria has saved 3.3 million lives worldwide since 2000 but the mosquito-borne disease still killed 627,000 people last year, mainly children in Africa, the World Health Organization said today.
A shortage of funding and basic remedies such as bed nets mean that malaria is still a major threat, particularly in Africa and Southeast Asia, according to the WHO’s Malaria Report 2013.
“The fact that so many people are infected and dying from mosquito bites is one of the greatest tragedies of the 21st century,” said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan.
In response to concerns about the rise in drug-resistant superbugs worldwide, US regulators issued voluntary guidelines to help cut back on antibiotics routinely fed to farm animals.
The plan described by the Food and Drug Administration is not mandatory, and applies only to certain pharmaceuticals that are given to healthy livestock in a bid to grow bigger animals and boost food production.
“We need to be selective about the drugs we use in animals and when we use them,” said William, deputy director Flynn yesterday for science policy at the FDA’s Centre for Veterinary Medicine.
Researchers have found that among patients with obstructive sleep apnea and hypertension that requires 3 or more medications to control, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment for 12 weeks resulted in a decrease in 24-hour average and diastolic blood pressure and an improvement in the nocturnal blood pressure pattern, compared to patients who did not receive CPAP.
Recent studies have shown that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may contribute to poor control of blood pressure and that a very high percentage (more than 70 percent) of resistant hypertension patients have OSA.
Researchers have successfully discovered genetic differences between ‘identical’ monozygotic twins.
So far there have been only theoretical considerations against the experimental finding and dogma that monozygotic twins are genetically fully identical.