Latest News

• share
• favorite_border

An important radiological study shows for the first time that the new protease inhibitor drugs for AIDS not only can halt the progression of brain disease caused by the HIV virus as seen on brain scans, but in some cases may reverse it.

• share
• favorite_border

The cause of wrist pain some golfers experience that is not diagnosed with x-rays may well be due to stress fractures, according to researchers who are finding the tiny breaks with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Their study on the cause of "golfer's wrist" is being presented here today during the 83rd Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

• share
• favorite_border

The use of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to diagnose the cause of unexplained headaches can be cost-effective for society -- even when the MR findings are negative, according to information presented here today during the 83rd Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

• share
• favorite_border

For the 23 million Americans who suffer from the debilitating effects of migraine, a new drug may offer relief. ZOMIG (zolmitriptan) 2.5mg. and 5.0mg. tablets, an oral medication for the treatment of acute migraine with or without aura in adults, was cleared for marketing today in the United States.

• share
• favorite_border

A widely available digital technology that can be adapted to create 3-D pictures of the breast is showing promise in ruling out breast cancer in women who have had suspicious findings on mammograms, and may help avoid surgical biopsies. Information on the technology was presented here today during the 83rd Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

• share
• favorite_border

On the heels of a National Cancer Institute recommendation that women 40 and older have regular mammograms, two studies suggest annual mammography screening for breast cancer is not only safe but cost-effective. The studies were presented here today at the 83rd Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

• share
• favorite_border

Criteria commonly used to determine whether people at risk for stroke should have surgery or drug therapy may underestimate the risk in women, while overestimating it in men, according to information presented here today during the 83rd Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

• share
• favorite_border

Pregnant women not only expect prenatal ultrasound, they are so anxious to have it done they are willing to pay for it themselves, according to a survey presented here today at the 83rd Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

• share
• favorite_border

The blood brain barrier has long been regarded as the body's most formidable gatekeeper. It is a virtual fortress of blood vessels that forms a protective barrier between the blood and brain, screening any chemical that attempts to access the brain's inner sanctum. But the blood brain barrier's protective role can be a drawback, as it also blocks access to substances that would be good for the brain. One such substance is vitamin C, an antioxidant that is essential to keep the central nervous system functioning properly.

• share
• favorite_border

Two AHCPR-funded research projects appear in the November 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The first study is about the use of insulin in the management of type-2 diabetes. The other is about treating chest pain effectively without a costly hospital admission.

• share
• favorite_border

The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) is consolidating two existing components to create the Center for Practice and Technology Assessment (CPTA), which will oversee the Agency's Evidence-based Practice Program. CPTA will house the existing Office of the Forum for Quality and Effectiveness in Health Care, and will include the functions of the previous Center for Health Care Technology. The consolidation, designed to improve efficiency, is being announced in today's Federal Register.

• share
• favorite_border

Five new papers supported by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) present findings and suggestions that could be used to improve the quality of medical care.

• share
• favorite_border

A new report released by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) finds that smoking cessation interventions are cost-effective. While all types of cessation treatment were found to be cost-effective, those involving more intensive counseling and the nicotine patch proved to be especially worthwhile. Smoking cessation interventions are less costly than other preventive medical interventions such as the treatment of high cholesterol.

• share
• favorite_border

New Scientist Tip Sheet for 11-26-97

• share
• favorite_border

A physician reporting at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting this week will describe how the Digital Holographyô System from VoxelÆ (NASDAQ:VOXL) improves display of cerebral vasculature and reduces or eliminates image artifacts in patients with surgical hardware. Additionally, Voxel will introduce software for previewing three-dimensional holograms on a computer.

• share
• favorite_border

When it comes to lung cancer diagnosis sometimes less is more, even in the high-tech world of medicine. That is the message of a University of Iowa study showing that the analysis of sputum -- a low-cost, low-risk method for detecting lung cancer -- makes more sense as an initial diagnostic test for many patients than the more expensive invasive methods. In addition, the potential national savings in testing costs with the adoption of sputum analysis would be at least $30 million per year.

• share
• favorite_border

You are invited to cover the AHA's 23rd International Joint Conference on Stroke and Cerebral Circulation, which will be held February 5-7, 1998 at the Omni Rosen in Orlando. This is the largest conference in the world that draws together medical scientists and physicians engaged in research and treatment of stroke, the third leading cause of death in the United States and the leading cause of serious disability. More than 1,500 scientists are expected to attend from the United States and other nations

• share
• favorite_border

Tips related to chem/bio warfare 1. Chemical microsensors detect signs of munitions or toxins. 2. PCR technology tell if pathogens are natural outbreak -- or not. 3. Acoustic signature reveals container contents. 4. Modeling bioagent dispersals in urban settings. 5. A lab tool for bioanalysis is now used in the field by the Army. 6. Remote detection technology aids defense against terrorism.

• share
• favorite_border

Research on women in management positions suggests that women are cracking, but still rarely breaking through, the corporate "glass ceiling." The study, co-authored by Jodi S. Goodman, assistant professor of organizational behavior at Purdue University's Krannert Graduate School of Management, notes that only 3 percent to 5 percent of top managers are women.

• share
• favorite_border

A Purdue biochemist has identified plant genes that could soon help the wood industry produce paper with less waste and livestock get more nutrition out of their feed.

• share
• favorite_border

While identifying a new cancer-fighting tumor suppressor gene called ARF, scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have made another, potentially more far-reaching discovery, that a single genetic locus called INK4a encodes protein products that regulate the most frequently targeted biochemical pathways in human cancers.

• share
• favorite_border

Cornell University Professor of Human Development Ritch Savin-Williams analyzes developmental milestones and turning points of 180 gay young men with generous excerpts from their poignant and diverse personal stories.

• share
• favorite_border

December Online Tipsheet from the American Psychiatric Association: 1) Antidepressants and Sexual Dysfunction: Women Fare Better than Men, 2) Child Abuse Linked to Multiple Personality Disorder, 3) Poor Quality of Life for PTSD Vietnam Vets, 4) ECT Effective Among Elderly, 5) Public and Private Health System Treatment Both Work for Children

• share
• favorite_border

The University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) has established a program to conduct research and demonstrate technologies related to fine particle matter, an air pollutant that affects human health and the environment.

• share
• favorite_border

A recent discovery by a team of scientists, working in part through the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Center for Biological Timing, challenges the strongly-held belief that 24-hour rhythms (biological clocks) are centrally controlled by the brain.

• share
• favorite_border

People with type 2 diabetes are routinely encouraged to strictly control their blood sugar at near-normal levels, but a new study indicates this is extremely difficult to do through conventional use of insulin. The study evaluates how effective, safe and costly insulin treatment is in a typical setting.

• share
• favorite_border

1) Scientists demonstrate new need to preserve biodiversity, 2) U.S. Research and Development (R&D) expenditures exceed expectations, 3) Carbon, not sulfate, prevails in polluted D.C. air

• share
• favorite_border

Newly Released Study Recommends Genetic Testing of Gynecologic Cancer Victims in this High Risk Group, Regardless of Family History

• share
• favorite_border

On Dec. 1, more than 100 countries will send delegations to the United Nations Kyoto Conference of the Parties to discuss limiting greenhouse gas emissions. North Carolina State University experts have researched this important environmental issue, taken part in worldwide conferences debating the actions needed to help ensure the world's environmental health, and have studied the policies motivating the politics. Call on them if you'd like to localize your coverage of the Kyoto Conference.

• share
• favorite_border

The University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center has developed a home health monitoring system that allows older patients to test their own blood at home and transmit the results electronically to the hospital.

• share
• favorite_border

An ancient type of marine community typical of 450 million years ago has resurfaced in Antarctic fossils of near-modern age. A National Science Foundation-sponsored expedition to Seymour Island off the Antarctic Peninsula unearthed an ecological anomaly: fossil communities only 40-million-years-old dominated by brittle stars and sea lilies (marine invertebrates like starfish).

• share
• favorite_border

A new University of Michigan spin-off company---IntraLase Corporation---will develop and market a new generation of lasers for high-precision medical applications. The lasers will cut delicate structures, such as the cornea of the eye, while avoiding damage to overlying or adjacent tissue---something not possible with current clinical laser technology.

• share
• favorite_border

Washington -- Scientists today report making modifications to the promising anticancer drug paclitaxel, originally isolated from the Pacific yew tree, that they say may enable it to be more soluble in a patient's body and therefore more effective. The drug's limited solubility has complicated its efficacy in cancer treatment.

• share
• favorite_border

Nearly 13 million of the roughly 110 million families in the United States -- 11.6 percent of all families -- experienced difficulty or delays in obtaining medical care or did not get the care they needed during 1996, according to new estimates from the federal Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR). In addition, more than 46 million Americans had no usual source of health care in 1996. This means nearly 18 percent of the population had no particular doctor's office, clinic, health center or other place where they would usually go if they were sick or needed advice about their health.

• share
• favorite_border

Several University of Michigan scientists currently conducting research on questions related to the effects of global warming, climate change and increasing levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are available for interviews. Here is a summary of their areas of expertise and how to reach them.

• share
• favorite_border

A $20 million crystal growth experiment on board the current flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia is making Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute a testbed for the remote telescience that will be the paradigm for research on the planned International Space Station.

• share
• favorite_border

Washington, DC-- In a final report issued today, a presidential commission recommended a number of measures to increase the public's knowledge about the role of dietary supplements in promoting good health and urged more scientific research to enhance the knowledge base about supplements.

• share
• favorite_border

Pharmaceutical companies have 124 new medicines and vaccines for AIDS in clinical trials or under review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to a survey release by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) to mark World AIDS Day (December 1).

• share
• favorite_border

November tips include 1.) High-tech snow plows set to battle winter, 2.) Making PC's work like supercomputers, 3.) New alliance for nondestructive evaluation education.

• share
• favorite_border

At the December 1ñ10 Kyoto conference on global warming, the economic consequences of imposing carbon dioxide limits versus environmental safety will be hotly debated. To help the media provide perspective on the business, scientific, political, and economic aspects of this story, we have compiled a list of experts who can address various aspects of these issues.

• share
• favorite_border

The end of a college semester brings two things--lots of finals and plenty of students with colds. It's not the exams that make students sick, but the stress of preparing for them does make students more susceptible to colds and other viral infections.

• share
• favorite_border

Solving a long-standing problem in vaccine development, scientists have crafted a new way to deliver foreign proteins into the body such that the immune system is primed to attack virus-infected cells and cancer cells. Because this kind of an immune response is key to vaccine development, the findings have profound implications for developing safe vaccines to immunize against AIDS and other infectious diseases, and for creating new cancer therapies.

• share
• favorite_border

A high-fat meal can spark a dramatic rise in a blood coagulation factor, which may increase the risk of death from heart disease and stroke, researchers report in this month's Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, a journal of the American Heart Association

• share
• favorite_border

Two means of assessing a woman's risk of developing breast cancer Ø one for the general population and one for women with a family history of the disease Ø are being offered through a new program in the UT Southwestern Center for Breast Care.

• share
• favorite_border

University of Wisconsin-Madison horticulturists have identified a compound that causes fruit to ripen more quickly and last longer on grocers' shelves and in our refrigerators.

• share
• favorite_border

In a compendium of more than 25 peer-reviewed papers published this month, scientists warn that the world's fisheries are now considered fully or heavily exploited, and need new management schemes to prevent collapse.

• share
• favorite_border

A massage can be like medicine. That's according to Dr. Tiffany Field, Dean of the Mailman Family and School Center at Nova Southeastern University. She also oversees the university's newly established Touch Research Institute and Wellness Center.

• share
• favorite_border

Travelers need to be aware of the limitiations of cruise-ship health care just as they would be aware of health-care problems in foreign countries.

• share
• favorite_border

Did the large plant-eating Parasaurolophus dinosaur bellow, screech, roar or honk? Find out at 10 a.m. Dec. 5 when Sandia National Laboratories and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science ìunveilî the sound the dinosaur made 70 million years ago.

• share
• favorite_border

A microtransmission about the size of a grain of sand, developed at Sandia National Laboratories, can increase the power of its micro- engine (also the size of a grain of sand) 3 million times, and theoretically move an object weighing one pound.