The City of Houston is taking action to protect Houstonians from the substantial health risks associated with secondhand smoke. The City Council has passed an ordinance that will make all workplaces and public spaces smoke free starting September 1, 2007.
The UK urgently needs to reorganise stroke services to improve outcomes for patients, argues a senior doctor in this week?s BMJ.
A campaign led by the United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF) to prevent major outbreaks of acute watery diarrhoea in Sudan during the rainy season this year is paying dividends, with the number of cases of the sometimes fatal condition in the north of the country almost 90 per cent below last year?s figures.
Cancer stem cell researchers at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center have received grants totaling $1.7 million to pursue the study of experimental therapies that target leukemia stem cells.
On August 16, the Food and Drug Administration approved new labeling information for the blood-thinner warfarin, sold under the brand name Coumadin. The new label suggests that one can prescribe higher or lower doses that may be safer for patients with variations in two genes, CYP2C9 or VKORC1. These variations can be learned through genetic testing, which may be a useful tool in determining appropriate dosing levels for individual patients and lower risks of bleeding complications.
In a new study, Danilo Perrotti and colleagues from Ohio State University, Columbus, show that treatment with a drug known as FTY720 prevents disease in a mouse model of many leukemias caused by the cancer protein BCR-ABL (nearly all cases of blast crisis chronic myeloid leukemia [CML-BC] and some cases of acute lymphocytic leukemia [ALL]).
People with chronic, intractable back pain know exactly what they need ? relief directly where it hurts. Peripheral nerve field stimulation (PNFS), the newest weapon against back pain for people who are finding no relief from conventional treatment, does just that, says Dr. Eugene Lipov, who is Director of Research, Alexian Brothers Hospital Network Pain Program.
Scientists have shown in literally thousands of studies that the p53 gene deserves its reputation as ?the guardian of the genome.? It calls to action an army of other genes in the setting of varied cell stresses, permitting repair of damaged DNA or promoting cell death when the cell damage is too great. A key net effect of p53?s action is to prevent development of cancerous cells.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine?s department of emergency medicine, in collaboration with the Allegheny County Fire Academy, have received a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Fire Prevention and Safety grant to conduct a study designed to develop optimal methods of reducing acute cardiovascular risk resulting from exposure to heat stress during fire suppression.
The first comprehensive national survey of sexual attitudes, behaviors and problems among older adults in the United States has found that most people ages 57 to 85 think of sexuality as an important part of life and that the frequency of sexual activity, for those who are active, declines only slightly from the 50s to the early 70s.