Medical News

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Science Tip Sheet: Three story ideas based on ongoing research at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center.

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A new treatment that activates a person's immune system appears to lead to remission in some patients with a common form of aggressive brain cancer, according to a Cleveland Clinic study published in the July issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery.

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STANFORD -- Scientists at Stanford University and the University of Michigan have identified a gene involved in some cases of inherited glaucoma. The same gene, called LMX1B, is responsible for a rare inherited disease called nail-patella syndrome, the researchers found.

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Scientists participating in the 12th International AIDS Conference in Geneva today presented data from two Phase III studies demonstrating that Ligand's Panretin(r) gel (alitretinoin) 0.1% is clinically effective in treating dermal lesions of AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma in up to 50% of patients studied.

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Ligand's Panretin(r) capsules act as an anti-tumor agent in the treatment of AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma. Researchers observed a patient response rate of nearly 40% that occurred independent of baseline CD4+ counts, concurrent antiretroviral therapy and prior treatment for AIDS-related KS.

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Data presented at the American Association for the Study of Headache AASH) meeting show that there was a statistically significant difference between treatment groups, in terms of pain relief over 24 hours, favoring ZOMIG (TM)(zolmitriptan) 2.5-mg Tablets versus both sumatriptan 25.0 mg and 50.0 mg.

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Is it possible that young women with breast cancer live longer if the operation to remove the cancer is performed during the middle of the menstrual cycle rather that at beginning? The answer depends on how long ago the surgery was done.

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Emory University research into the role of the thymus in HIV - particularly in children - has uncovered new knowledge that may lead to improved diagnosis, prognosis and possible treatment in some pediatric patients.

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Researchers at Johns Hopkins have come one step closer to understanding the chain of events that protects the heart against injury during a heart attack, paving the way for the development of a new class of drugs to treat people at risk.

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While current treatments for HIV disease focus on attacking the virus, new research suggests another approach aimed at long-term survival: enhancing certain white blood cells (macrophages) to fight infections and restore immune system function.

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In results to be presented at the 12th International Conference on AIDS, University of Texas Medical Branch researchers found that a drug purified from licorice root, and two others, restored once-deficient immune systems in mice with an AIDS-like disease.

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New York University School of Medicine researchers have created a protein fragment that blocks the formation of a substance implicated in causing Alzheimer's disease, a finding that may lay the foundation for a novel therapy.

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DALLAS, June 30 -- Implanting a stainless steel coil -- called a stent -- to keep blocked arteries open is more effective for people who have had heart attacks than simply expanding the vessels with conventional balloon angioplasty, a Dutch study shows.

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Researchers will present the results and implications of data collected from an ongoing, clinical strategy trial with the first 450 patients comparing a drug combination involving Sustiva(tm)(efavirenz) to a standard of care regimen containing a protease inhibitor at the 12th World AIDS Conference in Geneva Switzerland.

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The fourth of July is approaching, and with it come backyard cookouts with hot dogs, hamburgers, and apple pie - a multi-pronged assault on the calorie-conscious. Coming to the picnic table armed with paper and pencil may help dieters fend off fat, according to a study to be published in the July issue of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Health Psychology.

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The FDA's recent approval of the first urine test system for HIV-1, invented by researchers at NYU School of Medicine, promises to broaden the acceptance and availability of HIV testing worldwide.

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Studies have noted that as many as 89% of asthmatic patients may have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), the most common symptom of which is chronic heartburn. Unfortionately, most sufferers do not know that GERD can lead to more serious conditions such as asthma.

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Mayo Clinic today announced that it will publish a series of soft-cover books about specific medical conditions.

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Medical professionals who specialize in multiple sclerosis gain a new tool in their fight against the disabling disease today as Teva Marion Partners launces MSWatch, a premier patient support program now available at www.mswatch.com.

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Some anesthesiologists may be accidentally inhaling too much of the potent anesthetic gas halothane when they tend to their patients, possibly putting themselves at high risk for liver injury, according to a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins and the National Institutes of Health.

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New studies in the July issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine present national and state trends in firearm-related injuries and deaths. Although firearm injuries ranked second to motor vehicle injuries in 1993 as the leading cause of injury death in the United States, taking 39,595 lives, results from the studies released today indicate that these statistics have declined, while suicide, assault, and handgun purchases are increasing in some states, especially among young males.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves new indication for Taxotere for use as a first-line treatment of metastatic breast cancer in patients whose disease has recurred despite adjuvant therapy. Taxotere is the first anticancer agent to show a superior response rate over doxorubicin.

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More than four percent of the U.S. population suffers from "frequent headaches," defined as headaches that occur at least 180 days a year.

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The Dynamics of Difference: Health Concerns of American Indians highlighted in selected American Nurses Association Convention presentations; June 26-July 1, San Diego, CA. All sessions embargoed until the date and local time of the presentation. 1) Treatment success in alcoholic adolescent Native Americans 2) Transcultural nursing: an imperative worldwide 3) Managed care; uninsured children; assessment; diagnosis; treatment; and more.

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The Dynamics of Difference: Health Concerns of Latino/a Americans highlighted in selected American Nurses Association Convention presentations; June 26-July 1, San Diego, CA. All sessions embargoed until the date and local time of the presentation. 1) Measuring culturally competent care of Mexican-Americans 2) The meaning of being healthy--differences between older Anglo and Hispanic women 3) Transcultural nursing: an imperative worldwide 4) Asian, Appalachian, African American and Hispanic perceptions of health, illness and prescriptive modalities 5) Managed care; uninsured children; transcultural nursing; assessment, diagnosis, treatment; and more.

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The Dynamics of Difference: Health Concerns of African Americans highlighted in selected American Nurses Association Convention presentations; June 26-July 1, San Diego, CA. All sessions embargoed until the date and local time of the presentation. 1) Issues in minority mental health services research (treatment of substance abuse, African American male inpatients with schizophrenia, retention of African American women in cocaine addiction treatment) 2) Dyspnea self-care in African Americans with chronic respiratory disease 3) Racial differences in breast cancer screening 4) Asian, Appalachian, African American and Hispanic perceptions of health, illness and prescriptive modalities 5) Managed care; uninsured children; transcultural nursing; assessment, diagnosis, treatment; and more

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The Need for Pain Management highlighted in selected American Nurses Association Convention presentations; June 26-July 1, San Diego, CA. All sessions embargoed until the date and local time of the presentation. 1) Pain management research for adults and children 2) Effect of relaxation and music on post-operative pain 3) Outcomes of therapeutic massage for hospitalized cancer patients 4) Pain assessment in the cognitively impaired adult

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Disease Risks of Occupational Injuries to Nurses and Other Health Care Professionals; Media Briefing On Occupational Injuries -- June 26, 11 a.m. - 12 noon, San Diego, CA, Convention Center, American Nurses Association media briefing room. All sessions embargoed until the date and local time of the presentation. Registered Nurse and Country Music Superstar Naomi Judd and RN Lynda Arnold to speak at media briefing about their occupational injuries and the life-changing and life-threatening consequences. Judd contracted Hepatitis C; Arnold was infected with HIV. Approximately 80 percent of blood contacts occur through needlesticks, making them the most common cause of health care worker-related exposure to bloodborne pathogens.

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Special Concerns of Nurses and Other Health Care Professionals highlighted in selected American Nurses Association Convention presentations; June 26-July 1, San Diego, CA. All sessions embargoed until the date and local time of the presentation. 1) Hyperlipdemia among adults and implications for treatment 2) Implementing pressure ulcer guidelines in long-term care 3) Telehealth: Nursing challenges and solutions. (Successful care of patients in remote sites) 4) HIV and Adolescents: school nursing initiatives 5) Transcultural nursing, strategies for building successful rehabilitation programs; nurse-managed centers for vulnerable populations in a managed care environment; gender discrimination

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Advances in Family and Maternal/Child Research highlighted in selected American Nurses Association Convention presentations; June 26-July 1, San Diego, CA. All sessions embargoed until the date and local time of the presentation. 1) A randomized clinical trial of advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) prenatal home care to women with high-risk pregnancies 2) Febrile system management: an integrative review 3) Effects of separation on families during hospitalization 4) Integrative review and meta-analysis of "kangaroo care" effects 5) Pain management for children, HIV and adolescents, and health care options for uninsured children

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Health and Illness Concerns of Women highlighted in selected American Nurses Association Convention presentations; June 26-July 1, San Diego, CA. All sessions embargoed until the date and local time of the presentation. 1) Osteoporosis: new models of nursing practice and patient care 2) Effect of postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy on heart rate variability 3) Minority substance abuse intervention, prevention, comorbidity in African American women 4) Reducing depression in women: a 12-week cognitive group therapy program. 5) The meaning of being healthy and differences among cultures

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Description: End-of-Life Issues highlighted in selected American Nurses Association convention presentations; June 26-July 1, San Diego, CA. All sessions embargoed until the date and local time of the presentation. 1) Hospice Care--exploring the continuum of palliative care 2) Death and dying in long-term care facilities and the development of "hospice households" 3) A healing environment for the dying time (alternative and holistic methods for care of dying patient)

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"Uniting Nurses: One Strong Voice" Is Theme of ANA's 1998 Biennial Convention; June 26-July1, San Diego, CA. All sessions embargoed until the date and local time of the presentation. 1) Pain management for adults and children 2) Effects of postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy on heart rate variability 3) Febrile system management: an integrative review 4) The trauma of transformation in the '90s and the future of for-profit health care 5) Telehealth, depression, minority substance abuse, alternative therapies, transultural nursing, death and dying in long-term care facilities, "Kangaroo Care" for newborns, and more.

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Even overweight women are considered more attractive if they exercise, report researchers at Wake Forest University, who have found evidence of an "exercising woman" stereotype that may blunt some of the negative effects of America's obsession with body shape and size.

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Remeron(mirtazapine) Tablets are more effective than fluoxetine, better known as Prozac, in the early weeks of depression treatment, and are as effective as fluoxetine in the later stages of treatment, reported international researchers in the June 1998 Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, a leading peer-reviewed US psychiatric journal.

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The American Public Health Association is seeking entries for the 1998 Ray Bruner Science Writing Award. Journalists early in their health/science/medical reporting career should submit entries for the $1,500 award by August 7, 1998.

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The University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine and PE AgGen, a division of Perkin-Elmer Corp., have signed an agreement to develop molecular diagnostic tests to ensure the safety of meat and other animal-based foods.

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An at-home treatment developed at the University of Minnesota has been shown in a nationwide clinical trial to reduce the number and severity of acute, repetitive seizures affecting some people with epilepsy.

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A study of HIV-positive African American women incarcerated for abusing crack cocaine has shown that most shared childhood and adult histories of sexual and physical abuse, which in turn engendered feelings of powerlessness that led to unsafe sex and a greatly increased risk of HIV infection.

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A Harvard Medical School study suggests that in certain cases, medical practice guidelines and the treatment recommended by practicing physicians may be two different things. The researchers say that evaluations of medical practice, part of the basis of practice guidelines, should be founded on the beliefs not only of expert panels but also of practicing physicians.

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In a growing class of blood-thinning drugs to treat heart attack, researchers have found one that seems to have a greater long-term benefit rather than only an immediate effect, according to a study released in today's Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

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Following all risk modification guidelines in three of the most costly and visible areas of healthcare liability led to substantially lower average dollar losses per medical malpractice claim than following no guidelines at all .

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Increasing pressures to use lesser-trained workers in clinical microbiology laboratories and to employ short-cut methods can lead to compromises in the quality of microbiological analysis and detract from optimal patient care unless preventive steps are taken, warns a report issued by the American Academy of Microbiology.

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The largest, most comprehensive genome-wide study of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) -- including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis -- has focused and narrowed the search for the genes that cause this common and debilitating illness, a team of researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, and the Marshfield Medical Research Foundation in Marshfield, Wisconsin, report in the June 23 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists.

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Diabetes Treatment Centers of America (DTCA), the nation's leading provider of specialized diabetes services, is mobilizing its network of physicians, hospitals and health plans to support the National Diabetes Education Program, launched today by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control.

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The American Nurses Association (ANA) is holding a press conference to raise public awareness of the need for safer needle stick devices, and the fact that inappropriate safety precautions implemented by health care institutions can result in disability or death for health care workers, the largest group of whom are nurses.

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Millions of chronically ill Americans who depend on managed care plans for their care will benefit from new studies announced today. AHCPR, AAHP and HRSA will fund research designed to determine how particular managed care policies and practices affect the quality of care for patients living with chronic illnesses.

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Johns Hopkins researchers have found evidence that Tourette's syndrome, which causes involuntary muscle contractions and bursts of words and noise, may be triggered in part by an infection.

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Surgeons have pioneered a new type of triple coronary artery bypass surgery that may offer advantages over current operations, according to a report in today's Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

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Brain scans of elderly patients with memory problems helped researchers identify those at risk for developing Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published in the June issue of Neurology.