Patients who undergo liver transplantation at age 60 or above have one-year and five-year survival rates similar to those of younger patients and they experience fewer episodes of rejection.
A glitch in the production and folding of molecules deep within the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas may be responsible for the death of those cells and the onset of diabetes, new animal research suggests.
One in four people who are chronically infected with hepatitis B will die from its impact if untreated, but a team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine has identified the most cost-effective way of fighting this treacherous infection.
Researchers here have linked an increase in two immune system proteins essential for inflammation to a latent viral infection and proposed a chain of events that might accelerate cardiovascular disease. The same process may be involved in a host of other ailments plaguing the elderly.
A new study examined the possible associations between occupation and the risk of dying from systemic autoimmune diseases and found that occupational exposures in farming and industry may be linked to higher death rates from these diseases.
Giardia lamblia, one of the most common human parasites in the United States, causes more than 20,000 intestinal infections a year, often through contact with contaminated drinking or swimming water. In the Sept. 28 issue of Science, an international team led by researchers at the MBL describe the complete genome (genetic sequence) of Giardia, which could lead to the development of new drugs to combat this persistent infection, called giardiasis.
Women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer who have also endured previous traumatic or stressful events see their cancer recur nearly twice as fast as other women, according to a report by a University of Rochester Medical Center scientist.
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have a developed a totally new approach to treating liver failure – manipulating the immune response. If the results of the animal study can be applied in human patients, the approach may be able to keep patients alive until donor organs become available or to support liver function until the organ can regenerate itself, eliminating the need for a transplant.
Italian scientists will announce today (Monday September 24) that they have found a new and promising target for anti-tumour therapy in cancer. Professor Saverio Alberti, from the CESI, University of Chieti Foundation, Chieti, will tell the European Cancer Conference (ECCO 14) that he and his team have found a widespread mechanism for the stimulation of tumour growth in man, and that this is leading to the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.
Beijing registered 563 new cases of HIV/AIDS in the first half of this year, up 50 per cent from the same period last year, mostly through needle sharing and sex, a health official said here.