FDA today licensed a new biologic approach to treat patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) to reduce the frequency of symptom flare-ups or exacerbations of the disease. MS is a chronic, often disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord.
There appears to be an association between obesity and the risk of developing the heart rhythm disorder atrial fibrillation, according to a study of participants in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI) Framingham Heart Study. The study is published in the November 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Using ultrasound in combination with the drug t-PA can improve response to an ischemic stroke, according to a study involving 126 patients. This first-of-its-kind human trial compared the safety and efficacy of ultrasound and t-PA versus use of t-PA alone. The trial was funded in part by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The finding appears in the November 18, 2004, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, have created a model that predicts the survival of follicular lymphoma patients based on the molecular characteristics of their tumors at diagnosis. The model is based on two sets of genes – called survival-associated signatures – whose activity was found to be associated with good or poor prognosis for patients with the cancer. The scientists’ results, to be published in the November 19, 2004, New England Journal of Medicine, suggest that immune cells infiltrating follicular lymphoma tumors have an important impact on survival – both signatures came from such immune cells.
In 1999, almost 108 million adult Americans were overweight or obese. If you are overweight or obese, carrying this extra weight puts you at risk for developing many diseases, especially heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. Losing this weight helps to prevent and control these diseases. Following guidelines provide you with a new approach for the measurement of overweight and obesity and a set of steps for safe and effective weight loss.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an artificial spinal disc for use in treating pain associated with degenerative disc disease (DDD). The device is intended to replace a diseased or damaged intervertebral disc.
A team of researchers working with cells from mice has overcome a technical barrier and succeeded in growing sperm progenitor cells in laboratory culture. The researchers transplanted the cells into infertile mice, which were then able to produce sperm and father offspring that were genetically related to the donor mice.
Anhidrosis means not sweating. This word is from the Greek an – meaning a lack of + hidros meaning sweat = lack of sweat. The inability to sweat may seem a blessing but it is not, since to sweat is to be able to stay cool. Anhidrosis creates a dangerous inability to tolerate heat.
To understand endometriosis let us quickly and briefly revise our knowledge about the anatomy of uterus. Uterus consists of three layers – the outermost peritoneal covering or perimetrium, the middle muscle layer or myometrium, the innermost mucus membrane or endometrium.
Prostate cancer is the number one cancer diagnosed in men over age 45. While this disease is very common in the United States, it’s not as common in Japan or China. So, what’s the difference? What we eat could be the key to preventing prostate cancer.