Treatments

Feeding channel created by malaria parasite - a new target for malaria treatments

Researchers have found pore-like holes in the membranes of red blood cells infected by the deadliest form of the malaria parasite. The parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, apparently uses these holes to supply itself with the nutrients it needs to grow and reproduce. The discovery may lead to the development of new treatments for malaria, a widespread and devastating disease. Mala...

Toxic effects common with AIDS treatments

High levels of toxic effects associated with antiretroviral treatment for HIV have been recorded and quantified by a group of Swiss researchers in a study published this week in The Lancet. If efficacy levels of drug combinations are similar, treatment choice will depend on the toxic effects of the drugs. Therefore, the data may be useful as a reference for future analyses of adverse effects of d...

Comparing heart disease treatments

Researchers in their recent study compare between bypass surgery and stenting for treatment of heart disease. There are two treatment options for blocked coronary arteries. //Bypass surgery involves grafting a new vessel in place of the blocked section. Stenting involves introducing a metal device into the artery to keep it opened up. Researchers in Germany assigned a group of 200 patients to eit...

New Gene Identification Help Asthma Treatments

Scientists have discovered a gene that might be responsible for asthma. Scientists believe that this might lead to new understanding of the disease, hence leading to bettertreatments. There are about 10 genes that have a significant effect on a person's susceptibilityto asthma. With combined efforts internationally, doctors have identified about half of these genes. This new gene, PHF11, was...

Comparing Psoriasis Treatments

A new study shows two common treatments for psoriasis -- methotrexate and cyclosporine -- are equally effective in relieving symptoms of the disease.// Researchers in Amsterdam studied nearly 90 patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis. Half of the patients were given methotrexate, and the other half were treated with cyclosporine. Researchers evaluated the side effects and effective...

Effectiveness Of Infertility Treatments Questioned

Women who experience recurring miscarriages do not need to receive treatments aimed at controlling the level of natural killer cells// in their wombs, say researchers based on findings of a recent study . Researchers say natural killer cells are normally found in the uterus and increase significantly in number during early pregnancy. However, specialists are not sure why these cells exi...

Cancer Treatments Fall Short Of Targets

A report released by the Scottish Executive says that almost 25 percent of cancer patients in the country are not being treated for their condition within the targeted time of two months. //The current data is centered around the period between April to June 2005. The report said that just about 75 percent of all cancer patients were treated in that period. But the rate fell to 60 percen...

Stop spending on new treatments; allocate funds to improve the existing treatments.

A study conducted by Steven H. Woolf, M.D., professor and director of research in Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Department of Family Medicine reported that it will be fruitful // and more lives would be saved if US stopped spending on improving the medical facilities and provided the existing facilities to the public. The congress allocates funds to the National Institute of He...

LASIK Treatments Still To Reach Common Man

Even after a decade of its institution, Lasik, the eye surgery that corrects vision be means of Laser, remains out of reach of common man. // An average procedure costs somewhere between $3,000 to $5,000 and not many people can afford it. Moreover, there are still question marks over the efficacy of the treatment as well as its rage of safety. It is estimated that over 18 percent of the...

Asian Alternative Treatments For Cancer On The Rise In Europe

Yoga, Acupuncture, Ayurveda, Chinese movement therapies such as Tai Chi, Detox diets and nutritional counseling are just some of the commonly used alternative treatments many cancer patients are opting for all over Europe. //Perhaps, this is because it’s strongly perceived that patients respond better to the conventional medical treatment for cancer with the combination of some of these alternati...

All Specialty Care Treatments Will Be Offered At Belle Vue.

In Kolkata Pradip Tandon the Chief of Belle Vue Clinic told the press that the clinic will be converted to a hospital by 2006. In this project Rs 30 crores is invested to transform this // clinic into a 200 bed hospital with all the health care facilities. A plastic surgery unit is also to be opened under the same roof with an investment of Rs 1 crore. He emphasized...

Mobilizing Stem Cells at the Injured Site Using Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments.

The research was done by Stephen Thom, MD, Ph.D., Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine. // He said that a course of hyperbaric oxygen treatments would increase the number of circulating stem cells in the body of the patient. Stem cells are progenitor cells which are totipotent and pluripotent meaning that they have the ability t...

Personalized Treatments For Obesity Planned

The Dietetics and Diet Therapy Unit of the University of Navarra's Ana Anton Solanas has been awarded a fellowship for conducting basic research by the Danone Institute. This will enable Ana Antón Solanas to collaborate in a program// aimed at defining individualized treatments for various types of obesity. This will also enable her to take part in a project targeted at obese women. Th...

Terahertz Imaging Promises To Revolutionize Breast Cancer Treatments

Researchers have found a novel way to verify that the complete cancer has been removed at breast cancer surgery. The detailed report is published in the May issue of Radiology.// Researchers used light waves in a newly explored region of the electromagnetic spectrum--the terahertz region--to examine excised breast tissue and determine if the removed tissue margins were clear of cancer, w...

Call for Volunteers in Research on Asthma Treatments

The Asthma and Allergy Research Group at Dundee University have called for at least 1000 volunteers in the research for treatments for asthma and allergic conditions. // This was announced on World Asthma Day. World wide the number of people suffering from asthma has been estimated to be close to 300 million people. Childhood asthma cases have the highest prevalence rate in Scotland, wh...

Aggressive Treatments for Prostate Cancer Not Required in Elderly

A recent study has revealed that although prostate cancer was extremely dangerous, men over 75, may not require aggressive treatments//. Treatments like radical prostatectomy or radiation does help to eradicate the cancer but the quality of life for elders is often affected because of resulting urinary incontinence and impotence. The lead researcher Dr. Richard M. Hoffman, a...

Tumor Resistant Mice Point To Novel Cancer Treatments

Researchers have established that white blood cells, derived from immune mice, have an innate immunity against cancer, which can be exploited// in the development of novel forms of cancer treatment. When such cells were introduced into other mice with cancer, it was found to confer a lifelong immunity against the much-dreaded disease. This study for the first time highligh...

Varicose Vein Treatments Turn Out To Be A Viable Health Investment

Varicose vein treatments that are pretty much of a household therapy in the United Kingdom has been subject to analysis, //which has revealed that these therapies have added value to the life of the patients by drastically improving the quality of life. In that respect, United Kingdom is certainly better off with this health investment. “The conclusion is that if you look at varicose ve...

Increasing Delays In Treatments For Cancer Patients

New reports indicate that patients who are suffering from cancer are not being given the life-saving medical treatment for almost a year. //The new figures indicate that there is delay between the GP referral and treatment. The study conducted at 32 hospitals show that people suffering from aggressive bowel, breast and kidney cancers are forced to wait for months. It was also reported...

Imaging study affords renewed thrust on smoking cessation treatments

A novel imaging study has indicated the potency of just a few puffs of cigarette that is capable of inducing strong cravings to continue smoking. // Researchers found that the amount of nicotine present in a single puff is capable of filling nearly 30% of the brain’s nicotine receptors and 3 puffs can occupy nearly 70% of these receptors. The smoker experiences the high of smoking when all the...

Conference on developing new treatments for Tourette Syndrome

A conference is being organized at Washington D.C. on September 10, 11&12, by Yale School of Medicine. Several prominent scientists from Yale and other institutes will// meet to discover new ways to treat Tourette Syndrome (TS), a familial neurological disorder that begins in childhood and is characterized by chronic motor and vocal tics. The characteristics of TS are blinking, facial m...

Scientists In UK Issue A Caution Over Untested Stem Cell Treatments

Experts from Britain have warned the patients to be wary of the so-called stem cell wonder cures that are being offered abroad as most have not been properly tested.// The health experts had yesterday in a letter to the Times, praised UK for establishing herself as a world leader in stem cell research, but cautioned that many foreign therapies, in particular those for multiple scleros...

NHS duped by Foreigners? IVF treatments Drain NHS Finances

New figures have established the magnitude of financial drain on the NHS; Foreigners, have milked the NHS by availing treatments// in UK hospitals worth millions of pounds, for which they have not paid for. The ones who have played truant are mostly couples availing IVF treatment and have vanished without paying a dime for it. The report revealed that nearly 106 hospitals have enabled...

Sea Snails May Aid Chronic Pain Treatments – Says Researcher

Researchers from University of Queensland believe that the conotoxins present in the deadly sea snail venom, could revolutionize treatment for sufferers from chronic pain//. This treatment could replace the conventional pain relief drugs such as morphine. Researchers say that the toxin, snail uses to hunt its prey, can accurately target pain without the severe side effects usually cau...

Psychological Treatments Improve Outcomes for Back Pain Sufferers

Psychological interventions for chronic low back pain are effective, a new review of studies has found. Not only do these approaches improve psychological outcomes such as// depression and health-related quality of life, they also reduce patients’ experience of pain. “Because this analysis was both more inclusive and more conservative than previous reviews, we have the best evidence...

HIV Treatments Improve Health, but Nutritional Issues Remain

Despite the success of highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART), people with HIV may still be at higher risk for nutritional deficiencies and abnormalities. // In two different studies, researchers at the Nutrition/Infection Unit in the Department of Public Health and Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, and colleagues examined the incidence of metabolic syndr...

Non Drug Treatments may Help Cure Dementia

Non drug treatments such as mental training and physical activity may help cure dementia, a disorder characterised by a general loss of intellectual abilities// , says a new study. Researchers led by Sally A. Shumaker at Wake Forest University School of Medicine studied about 3,000 participants. Half of them received 10 sessions of cognitive training and half received no special train...

Different Treatments Needed For Breathing Problems

Researchers have identified a particular gene that influences how severe a M. pneumoniae infection may be, which in turn suggests that a different strategy// might be needed for treating asthma resulting from this and similar lung infections rather than allergies. "What this shows is that infectious asthma might have a different mechanism than allergic asthma. Most people think asthm...

Multiple Low-energy Plasma Skin Treatments Beneficial in Reducing Facial Wrinkles

A recent study has demonstrated the benefits of multiple low-energy treatments, combined with a plasma skin regeneration tool//, that can help reduce wrinkles and enhance the appearance, in record healing time. These multiple treatments have the same impact of a single high-energy session, with reduced healing times. "Plasma is a unique state of matter in which electrons are stripped...

Fruit Flies May Pave Way to New Treatments for Age-related Heart Disease

The tiny Drosophila fruit fly may pave the way to new methods for studying and finding treatments for heart disease//, the leading cause of death in industrialized countries, according to a collaborative study. The study reports that mutations in a molecular channel found in heart muscle cell membranes caused arrhythmias similar to those that are found in humans, suggesting that under...

Steroid Use Fails to Boost Pregnancy Rates in Infertility Treatments

There is no clear benefit from a hormone commonly prescribed to enhance the effectiveness of infertility treatments//, according to a new review of studies. The steroid hormones called glucocorticoids have potent effects on the body’s inflammatory and immune responses, so many fertility specialists prescribe them in hopes of making the lining of the uterus more receptive to embryo imp...

India to Hike Free Treatments in Fight Against AIDS

As India gears up to implement the third phase of its National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) this month, all districts will be made implementing// authorities and the number of free treatments will be raised. The goal is to "to halt and reverse the epidemic in five years" at a cost of Rs.115 billion ($2 billion), according to a draft executive summary of the National AIDS Control Orga...

Clinical Studies Evaluate Potential Treatments for Mouth Ulcers

The drug pentoxifylline appears to have limited benefit in the first-line treatment of mouth ulcers due to recurrent apthous stomatitis,// according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. However, a second report in the same issue finds that a cream commonly used to treat eczema may be effective in patients with another ulcer-causing mouth di...

New Drug, Other Trends To Double Smoking Cessation and Addiction Treatments

With the advent of a possible new blockbuster drug and greater reimbursement levels for the treatment of nicotine, alcohol, and drug addictions, global sales of smoking cessation and addiction treatments are expected to rise from revenues of little over $1.1 billion in 2005 to more than $2.3 billion in 2010, according to Smoking Cessation and Addiction Treatments: A World Market Analysis, a new...

Stop TB Partnership Has Provided Treatments for Ten Million People in Six Years

Securing its place as an indispensable defence against the development and spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), the Stop TB Partnership announced today that its drug supply arm, the Global Drug Facility, has provided anti-TB drug treatments for 10 million people to 78 countries in the past six years. "This is an important milestone, because getting anti-TB drugs to people wh...

Alternative Treatments for Arthritis

Patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) face different treatment options and determining which ones to try can be confusing . Two new studies examined patients decisions regarding therapy for RA and glucosamine for OA and found that most RA patients are reluctant to change their treatment as long as their condition didnt worsen, and that there are discrepancies in clinical...

New Adjuvant Breast Cancer Treatments Found Cost-effective

Two new studies have found that new adjuvant treatments for breast cancer are cost-effective at improving survival. Published in the August 1, 2007 issue of Cancer, a journal of the American Cancer Society, the two studies looked at the cost-effectiveness of different drugs for the management of adjuvant therapies for early breast cancer. In a Canadian economic study...

Cost-effective Treatments for Breast Cancer

New adjuvant treatments for breast cancer are cost-effective at improving survival, according to two new studies. A peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, looked at the cost-effectiveness of different drugs for the management of adjuvant therapies for early breast cancer. In a Canadian economic study of estrogen receptor positive breast cancers, switching from tamoxifen...

Obesity Drug may Hold Potent Cancer Treatments

Boffins are designing potent cancer treatments using their knowledge about an obesity drug, orlistat (Xenical or Alli) that was found to kill cancer cells in the laboratory . The drug binds and interacts with a protein found in tumour cells and blocks the protein's function and causes cell death. The study was conducted by a team of researchers including Steven Kridel...

Cancer Patients in New South Wales to Receive Advanced Image Guided Radiation Therapy Treatments

North Coast Cancer Institute (NCCI) Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie began providing radiotherapy treatment services for the first time in the North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia . Cancer patients in New South Wales now have access to state-of-the-art treatments as the latest in image-guided radiation therapy ( IGRT) equipment from Elekta went clinical at both sites. The...