Surgical treatment of migraine reduced missed work days by 73 percent and significantly lowered the annual cost of migraine care for patients, according to a study in the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
A new study suggests that age-related changes in how the brain responds to the female sex hormone estrogen may be involved in a woman?s transition through menopause. The study provides new clues about hormonal influences on hot flashes and night sweats experienced by some women in the menopause transition.
Acupuncture provides pain relief and improves function for people with osteoarthritis of the knee and serves as an effective complement to standard care. This landmark study was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), both components of the National Institutes of Health. The findings of the study – the longest and largest randomized, controlled phase III clinical trial of acupuncture ever conducted – were published in the December 21, 2004, issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Scientists funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the National Institutes of Health, reported today taking a major step forward in using saliva to detect oral cancer. As published in the current issue of Clinical Cancer Research, the scientists found they could measure for elevated levels of four distinct cancer-associated molecules in saliva and distinguish with 91 percent accuracy between healthy people and those diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new intravenous biologic product, palifermin (trade-name Kepivance) to help reduce the chance that certain cancer patients, those with blood cancers undergoing chemotherapy and radiation in preparation for bone marrow transplants, will develop mucositis. Palifermin also shortens the duration of the condition.
According to a new US study, married adults are healthier than divorced, widowed or those never married. The report, issued by the National Center for Health Statistics was based on interviews with 127,545 adults in the US.
There is an importance of inflammation as a contributor to heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. In the United States, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health report that blood levels of C-reactive protein, a molecular marker of inflammation, rank with cholesterol levels as indicators of future coronary heart disease.
The Mayo Clinic has developed the first test for neuromyelitis optica or NMO, a blinding, paralyzing disease often misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis.
A mutant gene that starves the brain of serotonin, a mood-regulating chemical messenger, has been discovered and found to be 10 times more prevalent in depressed patients than in control subjects, report researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Patients with the mutation failed to respond well to the most commonly prescribed class of antidepressant medications, which work via serotonin, suggesting that the mutation may underlie a treatment-resistant subtype of the illness.
Keeping blood pressure and cholesterol low may help some dementia patients more than Alzheimer’s drugs, Michigan researchers found.