Doctors should encourage patients with sexually transmitted infections to tell their partners to seek treatment and, in some cases, provide home testing kits or drugs to help reduce infection rates, says a new study.
Infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major problem for patients in hospital, who are at increased risk of infection because they often have a weakened immune system, as well as individuals with cystic fibrosis. One of the things that makes P. aeruginosa so virulent is the expression of a number of proteins that function as a type III secretion system.
Women with breast cancer who are obese or less educated are twice as likely to get reduced doses of chemotherapy than doctors recommended, jeopardizing survival, according to scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
Obesity is one of the main risk factors for developing type II diabetes. Previous studies have shown that mice lacking a protein known as SH2B1 throughout their body are obese and develop diabetes. However, a new study now shows that replacing SH2B1 only in the brain of these mice rescues them from obesity, indicating that SH2B1 in the brain might be a new target for the development of treatments for obesity and type II diabetes.
Autophagy (a process that enables cells to turnover their contents) is initiated in tumor cells by chemotherapy and radiation, but it is not known if this causes tumor cell death or helps tumor cells survive. A new mouse study now indicates that autophagy is a survival mechanism for tumor cells treated with agents that initiate tumor cell death, suggesting that adjunct treatment with autophagy inhibitors might increase the efficacy of some chemotherapeutics in cancer patients.
Women who took more control over choosing their breast cancer surgeon were more likely to be treated by more experienced breast surgeons and at a hospital affiliated with an accredited cancer program, compared to women who were referred by another doctor or their health plan, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Viruses with a genetic mutation, linked in laboratory testing to moderately reduced susceptibility to oseltamivir, have been discovered in two persons previously reported with H5N1 infections in Egypt. Both patients had been on treatment with oseltamivir for two days before the clinical samples that yielded the viruses were taken.
The University of Pittsburgh has been awarded nearly $13 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to increase our understanding of and improve outcomes for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a degenerative breathing disorder that is the fourth leading cause of death and the second leading cause of disability annually in the United States. The five-year grant establishes Pitt as a Specialized Center of Clinically Oriented Research.
Some 50 million Americans have hypertension, that is, blood pressure measuring above the normal range (less than 120/80 mmHg). If untreated, it can lead to heart attacks, strokes, or kidney disease. Lifestyle changes are the first-stage treatment for the disease, but if they fail, medications are prescribed. In a soon-to-be-released study using an animal model, scientists have found that tanshinone IIA, an active ingredient of danshen, reduces blood pressure.
Scientists at UCLA and NYU have deciphered the genome of the parasite causing trichomoniasis, and their research may lead to new approaches to improve the diagnosis and treatment of this common sexually transmitted disease. Trichomoniasis affects an estimated 170 million people a year, with more than five million cases reported in North America.