If you sit on cold boulders or forget to wear your woollen underwear, you can develop a urinary tract infection. However, these diseases are more complicated than this, and in some cases they have a genetic background.
The results of a clinical trial, published in late August in the Journal of Pediatrics, indicates that, when used as part of routine therapy, high-dose ibuprofen is safe and effective in slowing down lung disease in children with cystic fibrosis (CF).
Whilst we all know that tall parents are more likely to have tall children, scientists have been unable to identify any common genes that make people taller than others. Now, however, scientists have identified the first gene, known as HMGA2, a common variant of which directly influences height.
Certain preparations taken to enhance athletic performance or stave off disease contain an anti-oxidant that could cause harm. According to new research at the University of Virginia Health System, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), an anti-oxidant commonly used in nutritional and body-building supplements, can form a red blood cell-derived molecule that makes blood vessels think they are not getting enough oxygen.
A study from the Monell Chemical Senses Center reports that nicotine in the breast milk of lactating mothers who smoke cigarettes disrupts their infants’ sleep patterns.
Researchers at the University of Sheffield have developed a long-acting growth hormone for use in human therapy. The new discovery could mean that children and adults with growth hormone disorders will not have to have injections as often, reducing the need for daily treatments.
OVATION Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the initiation of a pivotal Phase III clinical trial evaluating clobazam, a unique 1,5 benzodiazapine with significant anticonvulsant properties, as adjunctive treatment for patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), one of the most severe forms of childhood epilepsy that frequently persists into adulthood.
Despite recommendations for annual preventive exams for adolescents, only 10 percent of teens have enough visits within 12 months to receive the recommended three shots needed for HPV vaccine. Ideally the three shots are delivered within six months, and only 1 percent of teens see their physicians that often.
Despite global efforts to control it, diarrhea is still one of the most common reasons for the high child mortality rates in many low and middle-income countries. This according to a doctoral thesis, soon to be presented at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet. One fifth of all the deaths amongst children under the age of 5 that are reported every year are caused by serious diarrhea.
Should doctors be involved in the state-ordered administration of capital punishment? In the September issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, three anesthesiologists and a medical ethicist take an in-depth look at this question in a commentary and two editorials.