Non invasive but effective
A Canadian study published in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that chest pain in patients with heart disease could be treated as effective with medication over time as with an expensive angioplasty.
Research
Prostate scanning too often performed?
Experts on a US panel expressed their doubts on the beneficial quality of prostate cancer screenings for elderly men. Prostate cancer often grows very slowly and may not kill an older man before he suffers from another death reason, they pointed out.
British medical research centres go into partnership
From September onwards, Europe's largest academic health science partnership will start its programm in London, UK. Their focus will lay on preventing and treating major diseases in 10 key areas.
Focus: hygiene and nosocomial infections
They are one of the major threats in today's hospital: tiny pathogens that hide out in catheters, in ventilation tubes, on instruments or on the keyboards of medical technological equipment only waiting to attack patients whose immune system is already weakened. This week, EH Online will take a closer look at nosocomial infections, their causes, their effects and the available ways and means to…
New strategies against MRSA
A new paper by Shahriar Mobashery, Navari Family Professor in Life Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and researchers in his lab provides important insights into promising new antibiotics aimed at combating MRSA.
LIFE Nutrition founded
B. Braun Melsungen AG laid the foundation stone for a new manufacturing plant for production and development in nutrition solutions. The new production site includes a research lab and costs around 190 million Euro. In the future 270 employees will work on innovative denouements for the world market.
Eradiction of H. pylori protects against stomach cancer
Almost all stomach cancers not related to the heart develop from the stomach ulcer causing bug H. pylori. A Japanese study shows that treatment to eradicate the mikrobe reduces the risk of developing new gastric carcinoma in patients.
New treatment guidelines for HIV infection
An international panel of physicians has updated the guidelines and recommendations for antiretroviral treatment of adult human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection after evaluating recent data, according to an article in JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/AIDS.
What hips tell about breast cancer
As rocks keep the secrets of the earth, bones might keep those of the body. A new study that will be publish in the September 1, 2008 issue of CANCER suggests, that factors responsible for higher bone mineral density might also lead to higher risk of breast cancer.
Wound dressing fights the super bug
In any hospital, one of the most dreaded enemies is MRSA. This super-resistant pathogen laughs in the face of most antibiotics. But now, medical and hygiene product manufacturer Lohmann & Rauscher may have developed an efficient weapon to fight this ugly beast: a wound dressing that contains polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB).
Many more strokes
Even in 2004, the medical costs for the care of stroke patients in Germany came to 7.1 billion euro. The neurologist Tobias Neumann-Haefelin of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and his colleagues have calculated the projected number of strokes in the German federal state of Hesse for the year 2050.
Happiness causes cancer?
Reseacher from the Univerisity of Zürich discovered a new function of the “happiness hormone”, serotonin. It boosts the growing of colon cancer by enhancing the vascular development of tumors.
Agendia: New labs in Amsterdam
Last month Agendia announced the official opening of the company's new headquarters at Amsterdam's Science Park. The new facilities offer 13,000 square feet of laboratory and office space to support the company's molecular diagnostic cancer testing services and research activities.
New marker for diabetes
This week not only one but rather two studies report about a new and independent marker that is associated with type 2 diabetes. The protein that is called fetuin-A is produced in the liver and secreted to the blood stream also indicates a higher risk of developing diabetes disease.
Emergency admission: Who is affected?
Answer: Older men, living in high social deprivation who are treated for pain or infectious diseases are very endangered. That is the simplified result Scottish researchers investigated while trying to point out criterias that might predict the likelihood of emergency admission in adults older than 40 years
HDL cholesterol important for memory in a high age
High-Density-Lipoprotein-Cholesterol is a so-called "good" cholestoral because it seems to protect the vessels from fat deposits. Hereby they can prevent atherosclerosis. The Whitehall II Study in the UK searched for the specific connection between low level of HDL and dementia risk and published now their results.
Genes that controll ES-cell fate identified
Scientists have identified about two dozen genes that control embryonic stem cell fate. The genes may either prod or restrain stem cells from drifting into a kind of limbo, they suspect. The limbo lies between the embryonic stage and fully differentiated, or specialized, cells, such as bone, muscle or fat.
Healthy or diseased?
The ratio between the concentrations of metabolites may give the answer to the question. Researchers at the Helmholtz Zentrum in Munich demonstrated the proof of principle. They identified diabetic or healthy mice by biomarkers they analyzed only by bioinformatics. Metabolomics might permit a promising tool for pre-clinical investigation of effects and side effects of new drugs, they say.
CRC-report shows urgent need for action
Limited public and political awareness of colorectal cancer (CRC), few formal screenings programms, delayed access to treatment - the first cross-country report on the management and funding of colorectal cancer (CRC) reveals an urgent need for action to improve the survival of patients in Europe and Australia.
Secret disclosed about self-healing embryos
The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world's top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Now a molecular genetics research team around Prof Naama Barkai found out that an inhibitor molecule channels the morphogenic substances within the injured embryo so that new growing tissues and organs are developing in the right proportions.
Companion diagnostics and more
Possibilities to co-develop new clinical diagnostic tests for companion diagnostics, metabolic syndrome, oncology and diabetes, are being explored by Siemens Healthcare and Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp).
Acinetobacter baumannii genome sequence determined
Italy - The genome sequence of Acinetobacter baumannii has been determined by scientists at the Istituto di Tecnologie Biomediche, the Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive at the Istituto Superiore della Sanità and the Dipartimento di Biologia at Roma Tre University. In Italy alone this antibiotic resistant pathogen causes 4,500 to 7,000 deaths annually.
MRSA in US hospitals
Arlington Medical Resources (AMR), a pharmaceutical market research firm, found that the number of patients treated with an antibiotic associated with MRSA-infections within U.S. acute care hospitals has increased 8 percent by the last year. But the average time MRSA-patients had to stay in hospital decreased by 10 percent.
ResearchGATE: the first social network for researchers
Despite the importance of networking and interaction between researchers and scientists no social networking platform dedicated to researchers existed before ResearchGATE (www.researchgate.net) went online. Designed to facilitate efficient peer-to-peer contact, this network allows researchers to post their profiles, a CV, publication list and research skills. On behalf of European Hospital, Dr…
Know your enemy
Along with MRSA and ESBL bacteria, Clostridium difficile is causing a growing problem. Epidemics of a new C. difficile strain have already occurred in hospitals in North America, England and the Benelux countries.
