News • Myocardial infarction
Genetic therapy heals damage caused by heart attack
Researchers from King's College London have found that therapy that can induce heart cells to regenerate after a heart attack.
Sponsored • Progressing with a strong partner
Xenios and Fresenius Medical Care take the next step to multi-organ support
In October 2016, Xenios became a part of Fresenius Medical Care (FME), the world’s leading provider of products and services for people with chronic kidney failure. The integration of the expertise from FME and Xenios and thus the combination of the companies’ competences strongly enhances treatment options in critical care within the intensive care unit (ICU) of hospitals across the world.…
News • Be prepared
This 3D printed baby dummy could improve resuscitation training
Two millions: this is, worldwide, the number of babies which suffer suffocation during birth every year. A resuscitation procedure is sometimes the key to avert irreparable damages for the baby. And, for successful outcomes, promptness of action and preparation are vital. Researcher Mark Thielen (Industrial Design) from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) developed a 3D printed baby…
News • ctDNA vs. HGSOC
Taking 'molecular snapshots' of ovarian cancer
High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) is the most common and aggressive subtype of ovarian cancer. The HGSOC tumors consist of several heterogeneous cell populations with a large number of mutations. This genetic variability makes it difficult to find drugs that would kill all the cancer cells, and to which the cells would not become resistant during treatment. Over half of the patients…
News • Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy
New treatments for rare disease ATTR-CM approved
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Vyndaqel (tafamidis meglumine) and Vyndamax (tafamidis) capsules for the treatment of the heart disease (cardiomyopathy) caused by transthyretin mediated amyloidosis (ATTR-CM) in adults. These are the first FDA-approved treatments for ATTR-CM. Vyndaqel and Vyndamax have the same active moiety, tafamidis, but they are not substitutable on a…
News • Women's health
Endometriosis: Antibiotic could be key to treatment
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found, in mice, that treatment with an antibiotic reduces the size of lesions caused by endometriosis. The researchers are planning a large, multicenter clinical trial to test the drug metronidazole in women who have the painful condition. The study is published online April 30 in the journal Human Reproduction.…
News • More than a symptom
Chronic pain: a real disease after all?
For the first time ever, chronic pain will be classified as a diagnosis in line with other diseases when the World Health Organization (WHO) approves the next catalogue of recognised diseases in May. According to Professor Peter Svensson from the Department of Dentistry and Oral Health, this is very significant for the approx. 20% of the population who suffer from chronic pain. Working with top…
News • Quality assurance
1,500 radiation therapy centers choose myQA
IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.), the world’s leading provider of proton therapy solutions and radiation therapy integrated quality assurance (QA) for the treatment of cancer, announced at the ESTRO 38 congress, that it has reached the milestone of 1,500 myQA customers worldwide. Since the first release of myQA in 2015, IBA has rapidly expanded its customer base across the global radiation…
News • Brachytherapy
Single dose of targeted radiotherapy: safe and effective for prostate cancer
A single high dose of radiation that can be delivered directly to the tumour within a few minutes is a safe and effective technique for treating men with low risk prostate cancer, according to a study presented at the ESTRO 38 conference. Radiotherapy traditionally involves a series of lower dose treatments that take place over several days or week. The new treatment is called high dose-rate…
News • Acute myeloid leukaemia
AML's Achilles’ heel opens door for new treatments
New findings about a fatal form of blood cancer could aid the development of new drugs with significantly less harmful side effects than existing chemotherapy. The discovery could lead to novel treatments that efficiently eliminate blood cancer cells in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), without harming healthy blood cells. Researchers have discovered how a protein in the body plays a key role in AML…
News • Ten-year trial results
Radiotherapy reduces recurrence of early, hormone-driven breast cancer
Women with early, low risk, hormone-driven breast cancer are less likely to have a recurrence of their disease if they have radiotherapy after surgery, as well as anti-hormone treatment, according to results from a trial that has followed 869 women for ten years. New findings from the 8 A trial of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), presented at the ESTRO 38 conference,…
Video • Personalized treatment
Genome analytics become affordable for daily hospital use
Today, on the occasion of the international DNA day, imec, a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, and its partners revealed their Genome Analytics Platform (GAP) platform, a unique platform that can perform a full genome analysis of 48 samples in only 48 hours and at an acceptable cost. The platform paves the way to genome sequencing as a daily…
News • New approach
Proton therapy: improved accuracy through range prediction
Medical physicists at the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden (Germany) announce the beginning of a new era in treatment planning: In a worldwide first, a new approach increases the accuracy, safety and probably also the tolerability of proton therapy.
News • Tailored treatment needed
Half of patients on statins fail to reach ‘healthy’ cholesterol level after 2 years
Half of patients prescribed statins in primary care fail to reach ‘healthy’ cholesterol levels after two years of treatment with these drugs, reveals research published online in the journal Heart. The findings back up those of previous studies, and highlight the need for personalised medicine to tackle high cholesterol and lower the significantly increased risks of future heart disease and…
News • Nosocomial infections
Global-PPS: Hospital antibiotic resistance study tops 200k
BioMérieux and the Laboratory of Medical Microbiology at the University of Antwerp announced at ECCMID (European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases) the 2018 results of the Global Point Prevalence Survey (GLOBAL-PPS), a study of antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in hospitals around the world. Since its launch in 2015, this survey has been conducted in…
News • Personalized medicine
FDA approves first targeted therapy for metastatic bladder cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to Balversa (erdafitinib), a treatment for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic bladder cancer that has a type of susceptible genetic alteration known as FGFR3 or FGFR2, and that has progressed during or following prior platinum-containing chemotherapy. Patients should be selected for therapy with Balversa…
Article • Differentiate and select
Myths and truths about antibiotics, antiseptics and vaccination
Sixty-two percent of Germans fear antibiotic resistance, according to a survey recently conducted by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. ‘Patients colonised by multi-resistant pathogens are particularly scared. But many of these fears are rooted in misunderstandings,’ explained Professor Mathias Pletz at the Congress for Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine (KIT).
News • Rare bone cancer
Targeted approach to therapy for chordomas
Chordomas are rare bone tumors for which only few options of treatment exist. Scientists and doctors from the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), and Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) have discovered a particular genetic trait of chordomas in advanced stages after conducting gene analysis. Their findings, published in the journal Nature…
News • Against rebound
Pancreatic cancer: Genome-wide analysis reveals new strategies
For some cancers, initial treatment with chemotherapy brings positive, but only temporary, results: tumors shrink, but then rebound as the cancer becomes drug-resistant. This pattern of remission-resistance-relapse is particularly true for pancreatic cancer, an aggressive disease in which early success is often countered by eventual disease progression. To wit: The one-year relative survival rate…
News • Obsessive compulsive disorder
Targeted deep brain stimulation reduces OCD symptoms
The debilitating behaviours and all-consuming thoughts which affect people with severe obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), could be significantly improved with targeted deep brain stimulation, according to the findings of a new study. OCD is characterised by unwanted intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive stereotyped behaviours (compulsions- sometimes called rituals) and often means…
News • Radiation oncology
Successful testing at the Medstar Southern Maryland Hospital
IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.), the world’s leading provider of proton therapy solutions and radiation therapy integrated quality assurance (QA) for the treatment of cancer, announces the successful commissioning of the Varian Halcyon at the Radiation Oncology Center at MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center, based on IBA Dosimetry independent beam scanning solution. IBA has designed myQA…
News • Breast healthcare
FDA advances landmark policy changes to modernize mammography services
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced important new steps to modernize breast cancer screening and help empower patients with more information when they are considering important decisions regarding their breast health care. For the first time in more than 20 years of regulating mammography facilities, the agency is proposing amendments to key regulations that would help improve…
Article • Spatial cognition and neurodegeneration
When the compass fails
Where are we coming from? Where are we going? Where are we right now? Our sense of spatial orientation gives us answers to these questions. We spoke with Professor Thomas Wolbers about the problems of diagnosing orientation disturbances and how the measurement of our sense of space could help in the fight against neuro-degenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s.
News • Internet of Things
New hearing aid for better IoT connectivity
A newly developed ultra-small circuit (IC) could pave the way for a new generation of hearing aids with advanced connectivity features. These are jointly developed by Semtech Corporation, a supplier of analog and mixed signal semiconductors and algorithms, and Sonova, a company specializing in innovative hearing care solutions. Their advanced radio system features an IC as a main component,…
News • PARG inhibitors
New class of drugs could treat ovarian cancer
A team of researchers across The University of Manchester have shown that a new class of drugs are able to stop ovarian cancer cells growing. The Cancer Research UK and Wellcome Trust funded study, published in the journal Cancer Cell, showed that the drugs, called PARG inhibitors, can kill ovarian cancer cells by targeting weaknesses within their ability to copy their DNA. The first-in-class…