Body

Regorafenib (trade name: Stivarga) has been approved since 2013 for adults with metastatic colorectal cancer in whom previous treatments are no longer effective or for whom these alternatives are not an option. In two previous benefit assessments conducted in early 2014 and in early 2016, the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) found a hint of a minor added benefit of the drug over the appropriate comparator therapy: A survival advantage was accompanied by more frequent severe side events.

Research conducted by scientists at the University of York has revealed how recreational ketamine abuse damages the bladder.

In two studies, one of which is published today, the team shows how ketamine present in urine causes damage to the epithelial lining of the bladder, allowing urine to penetrate into underlying tissues which causes inflammation and extreme pain. In some cases this pain can be so extreme that patients need to have their bladder removed (cystectomy).

Researchers at LSTM, working with colleagues at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) USA, the Kenya Medical Research Institute, and from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, have completed a study to assess the acceptability among pregnant women and health providers in Kenya of a new drug as an alternative to the standard drug used to prevent malaria in pregnancy.

Surgery has been the standard treatment for appendicitis for more than a century. Millions of appendectomies are performed annually in the world, more than 300,000 in the US alone. Studies have been carried out over the years to determine whether non-perforated appendicitis could be treated with antibiotics instead, but despite research results suggesting this, the choice of treatment remains largely unchanged.

Different people sometimes spell the same word differently - organisation versus organization, or analogue versus analog. In such words, despite the variation in the strings of letters, the meaning conveyed by the alternatives remains the same. Similarly, DNA codes carrying instructions for creating a protein can sometimes be 'spelt' differently, although they specify the exact same sequence information to create that protein. Until recently, most biologists believed that mutations that created such 'synonymous' DNA codes, had very weak effects on the evolution of organisms.

A common theme in medicine is that detecting a disease early on can lead to more effective treatments. This relies partly on luck that the patient gets screened at the right time, but more important is that the testing techniques are sensitive enough to register the minuscule hints that diseases leave in the blood stream.

A new technique developed by a team of chemists at Stanford has shown promise to be thousands of times more sensitive than current techniques in lab experiments, and it is now being put to test in real-world clinical trials.

Tempe, Ariz., March 18, 2016 - When someone goes through a rough period in their life, say a divorce or losing their job, the common thought has been that this is a test of the person's natural resilience or ability to bounce back. "Give the person time to heal" has been the common mantra. This oftentimes meant that when these people struggled they would be left to deal with their situation largely on their own.

Los Angeles, Calif., USA - Today at the 45th Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association for Dental Research, researcher Carmen Buxó-Martínez, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, will present a study titled "Identification of Rare ADCY9 Mutations and Non-syndromic Oral Clefts in Puerto Ricans." The AADR Annual Meeting is being held in conjunction with the 40th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research.

Los Angeles, Calif., USA - Today at the 45th Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association for Dental Research, researcher Brad Amendt, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA, will present a study titled "New Biotechnology to Inhibit MicroRNA Activity and Novel Applications for Craniofacial and Dental Research." The AADR Annual Meeting is being held in conjunction with the 40th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research.

Los Angeles, Calif., USA - Today at the 45th Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association for Dental Research, researcher Robert Schroth, University of Manitoba, Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, will present a study titled "Microbiome Associated With Severe Caries in Canadian First Nations Children." The AADR Annual Meeting is being held in conjunction with the 40th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research.

Gay, lesbian and bisexual Canadians experience more mood and anxiety disorders than other Canadians, and they are more likely to turn to heavy drinking.

In a new study that provides the first information of its kind for Canada, researchers also found that Canadians who identified as bisexual reported the highest rates of mood and anxiety disorders and heavy drinking compared to any other group.

New research shows that bariatric surgery (also known as obesity surgery) is much more effective than an intensive lifestyle/medication intervention at reversing type 2 diabetes in patients with only mild-to-moderate obesity. The study is published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]) and is by Dr David E. Cummings, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA, and colleagues including at the Group Health Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA.

In a report on the so-called REMEMBER (Reducing Early Mortality and Early Morbidity by Empiric Tuberculosis Treatment) study -- a 10-nation, randomized clinical trial of adult outpatients -- investigators concluded that there was no added benefit of using four drugs for TB over just using one drug, isoniazid, to save lives in people with advanced HIV/AIDS.

PHILADELPHIA -- State laws that require drivers who've been convicted of drunk driving to pass a breathalyzer-type test before starting their cars saved an estimated 915 lives between 2007 and 2013, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The findings represent a 15 percent reduction in drunk driving-related deaths compared to states without legislation requiring DUI offenders to use "mandatory ignition interlock."

TORONTO, ON - Natural selection has shaped the ways in which babies grow in different species, including the rate or speed with which they develop.

A new study by Canadian researchers suggests that some baby monkeys develop faster than others in the same population, and that this is best explained by the threat of infanticide they face.