DURHAM, NC – It's time to re-think how patients are selected for cardiac catheterization, say doctors at Duke University Medical Center, after reporting in a new study that the invasive procedure found no significant coronary artery disease in nearly 60 percent of chest pain patients with no prior heart disease.
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.
People whose "bad" cholesterol and risk of future heart disease stay too high despite cholesterol-lowering statin therapy can safely lower it by adding a drug that mimics the action of thyroid hormone. In a report published in the Mar. 11, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Johns Hopkins and Swedish researchers say an experimental drug called eprotirome lowered cholesterol up to 32 percent in those already on statins, an effect equal to that expected from doubling the statin drug doses, without harmful side effects.
(SALT LAKE CITY)—Researchers at the University of Utah and other institutions have sequenced for the first time the entire genome of a family, enabling them to accurately estimate the average rate at which parents pass genetic mutations to their offspring and also identify precise locations where parental chromosomes exchange information that creates new combinations of genetic traits in their children.
DALLAS – March 11, 2010 – Patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery experience changes in their urine composition that increase their risk of developing kidney stones, research from UT Southwestern Medical Center investigators suggests.
A new study, published in the March issue of The Journal of Urology, found that some of these urinary changes place weight-loss surgery patients at higher risk for developing kidney stones than obese patients who do not undergo the procedure.
Bethesda, Maryland — The Board of Directors of the American Association of Anatomists (AAA) has approved a set of guidelines to govern programs accepting the donation of bodies for education and biomedical research. The guidelines cover the minimum requirements that should be met by any Willed Body Program.
A thyroid-hormone-like substance that works specifically on the liver reduces blood cholesterol with no serious side effects. This according to a clinical trial conducted by researchers from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet, amongst other centres, published today in the top-ranking scientific periodical The New England Journal of Medicine.
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Researchers have new insight into the relationship between Parkinson's disease and smoking. Several studies have shown that smokers have a lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease. A new study published in the March 10, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, shows that smoking for a greater number of years may reduce the risk of the disease, but smoking a larger number of cigarettes per day may not reduce the risk.
After making a diagnosis of cancer, clinicians have a number of treatment options. Most of these involve coordinating multiple attacks on the tumor using an arsenal of cancer-killing therapies. Chemotherapy, where toxic drugs are used to specifically kill cancer cells, is a very powerful weapon in this arsenal. It is extremely effective in treating some cancers, such as testicular cancer and Hodgkin's Disease, but works poorly in other cancer types.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Discovery of an antibiotic's capacity to improve cell function in laboratory tests is providing movement disorder researchers with leads to more desirable molecules with potentially similar traits, according to University of Alabama scientists co-authoring a paper publishing March 10 in the journal Disease Models & Mechanisms.
A study on the past extinction of large mammals in India by the Wildlife Conservation Society, Duke University, and other groups has found that country's protected area system and human cultural tolerance for some species are key to conserving the subcontinent's tigers, elephants, and other large mammals.
According to the study, the long-term survival of many large species in the midst of rapid economic growth will require improving existing protected areas and establishing new protected areas and corridors.
Current drugs used to treat heart failure and arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat) have limited effectiveness and have side effects. New basic science findings from a University of Iowa study suggest a way that treatments could potentially be refined so that they work better and target only key heart-related mechanisms.
The domestication of animals and plants is the most important technological innovation during human history. This genetic transformation of wild species has occurred as humans have used individuals carrying favorable gene variants for breeding purposes. In the current issue of Nature an international team led by researchers at Uppsala University has revealed some of the secrets underlying the remarkable development of the domestic chicken.
A puzzle that has baffled scientists for centuries – why some birds appear to be male on one side of the body and female on the other – has been solved by researchers.
The research, which involved studying rare naturally occurring chickens with white (male) plumage on one side and brown (female) plumage on the other, sheds new light on the sexual development of birds.
It was previously thought that sex chromosomes in birds control whether a testis or ovary forms, with sexual traits then being determined by hormones.
We have known for several years that Hepatitis C, a common cause of liver cirrhosis and cancer, also makes people three to four times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes.
In studying the insulin resistance of 29 people with Hepatitis C, Australian researchers have confirmed that they have high insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. However, almost all insulin resistance was in muscle, with little or none in the liver, a very surprising finding given that Hepatitis C is a liver disease.