Category: News Archive

There is no single pattern of suffering in multiple sclerosis (MS): every patient has different symptoms, because the disease affects nerves in the brain, the spinal cord and even the eyes. Doctors still aren't sure what causes it or why it affects one person and not another. "I have a patient aged 6 and another […]

Children given vitamin D supplements had a 30% lower risk of developing type 1 diabetes than children not given them, according to a report in Archives of Disease in Childhood. Blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D have been found to be lower in people with type 1 diabetes than in healthy people, and studies suggest that […]

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, have found an improved way of working with human embryonic stem cells that makes it easier to study and treat many diseases, from Huntington's disease to muscular dystrophy and diabetes. The method is 100 times better than current methods at producing human embryonic stem cells with the genetic […]

Corticosteroids, azathioprine, 6-mercaptopurine, methotrexate and anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs are all effective treatments for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Earlier studies found that people with inflammatory bowel disease, especially Crohn's disease, have higher death rates than healthy people. A new study aimed to find out whether treating Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) […]

"While it is known that asthma causes changes in the airways, few studies have looked at this in allergic rhinitis," says Dr George. Dr George and colleagues assessed nasal function in 100 patients with persistent allergic rhinitis. Half had had rhinitis for a short time (no more than two years) and half for a long […]

Pemetrexed is an anti-folate drug used for several cancers. It blocks the enzymes thymidylate synthase, dihydrofolate reductase and glycinamide ribonucleotide formyltransferase, which use folate to make the purine and thymidine building blocks of DNA. Radiation recall is an inflammatory reaction in an area that was previously treated with radiation, triggered by a later drug. It […]

In 2008 a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine reported that women who ate peanut products, such as peanut butter, every day during pregnancy were more likely to have children who wheezed, were short of breath, used steroids or were diagnosed with asthma between the ages of 1 and […]

Five million people in the United States live with traumatic brain injuries. These injuries have no cure and have deeply affected their lives and futures. Researchers at Louisiana State University (LSU) are studying a treatment that they hope could make a real difference: hyperbaric oxygen, the same treatment used for divers with decompression sickness. General […]

Many heart conditions can look like more common childhood illnesses such as bronchitis and infections, say Dr Kevin Maher and colleagues. They studied B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) as a possible marker for heart disease in children, measuring BNP in 33 children newly diagnosed with acquired or congenital heart disease and in 70 children with infections […]

The French drug company Sanofi-Aventis has asked the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reconsider its heart rhythm drug Multaq (dronedarone), which the agency rejected in 2006. The company said it would resubmit its application in the third quarter of this year, based on a new study showing that the drug reduced deaths and […]

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a report about an elderly patient with diabetes who received an intravenous immunoglobulin product containing 10% maltose. The patient fell into a hypoglycaemic coma with irreversible nerve damage after being given too much insulin, because of a falsely high blood sugar reading. Some blood glucose meters […]

About 1 in 3 American adults has high blood pressure, more than 73 million people. Women with high blood pressure are often overweight and have high cholesterol, and they are less likely than men to have their blood pressure under control or to take aspirin and drugs to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. Most people […]