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New Advances in Gastric Diagnostics: Smaller is Better

In recent years, miniaturization has opened up exciting possibilities in the area of gastric diagnostics. New technology may make routine GI diagnostic procedures as simple as swallowing a vitamin pill-sized encapsulated unit in the not-too-far future, and the present reality is that these units are becoming valuable adjuncts to traditional diagnostics. Capsule endoscopy (enteroscopy...

West Nile Virus Screening and Diagnostics Technology Emerges In Step with North American Outbreak

WNVis a positive single-stranded RNA flavivirus of about 11 kb. It primarily infe...

Appendicitis: Evolving Tools to Diagnose a Classic Disease

Contributing Editor Appendicitis is a common, potentially lethal condition that affects 7% of individuals sometime in their lives. The condition occurs when the appendix, a blind pouch of intestine at the proximal colon, becomes obstructed by mucus, stool, or lymphatic tissue. Infection ensues, which can rapidly evol...

Breast Cancer and HER-2/neu: Diagnostic Tools for Targeted Therapy

Contributing Editor With over 200,000 new cases and 40,000 deaths per year, breast cancer undoubtedly qualifies as one of Americas most serious health problems. Recently, efforts to develop early detection methods and more effective therapy have made important progress. This is particularly...

Diagnosing Diabetes: Immediate HbA1c Results Improve Glycemic Control

According to the American Diabetes Association, the total annual economic cost of diabetes in 2002 was estimated to be $132 billion, or one out of every 10 health care dollars spent in the United States. A chronic disease with no cure, diabetes is a group of diseases (including Type 1, Type 2, and gestational) marked by...

Non-Invasive Diagnostic Tests for Celiac Disease

Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the small intestine that is triggered in genetically susceptible persons by the ingestion of the gluten-containing grains wheat, rye, barley, and possibly oats. The condition is thought to result from the activation of both a T-cell and B-cell immune respons...

Velcade (bortezomib) for Injection Based Therapies Achieved Survival Rates as High as 100 Percent in Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma Patients

-- 100 percent response rate achieved with VELCADE, lenalidomideand dexamethasone KOS, Greece, June 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MillenniumPharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MLNM) today reported on thepresentation of results from four clinical trials of VELCADE basedtherapies that showed consistently high survival and completeremission / complete response(1) (CR) rates in newly diag...

Neurocrine Biosciences Announces New Research Studies Presented at APSS Reveal Significant Under-Diagnosis of Insomnia

Data Highlights the Impact of Insomnia on Healthcare System andWorker Productivity SAN DIEGO, June 12, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NeurocrineBiosciences, Inc. announced today that results from severalresearch studies on the impact of chronic primary and transientinsomnia were presented this week at the Associated ProfessionalSleep Societies (APSS) Annual Meeting. APSS highlights show t...

Adding Thalidomide to Standard Therapy Improves Survival in Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma Patients Over Age 75

Phase III Clinical Data on Thalidomide in Multiple MyelomaPresented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 43rd AnnualMeeting CHICAGO, June 04, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PharmionCorporation today reported the final results of a Phase III studydemonstrating that the addition of Thalidomide to standard therapyimproves overall survival (OS) by 17.6 months in patients aged 75or ol...

Bipolar Disorder in Children Difficult to Diagnose, Reports the Harvard Mental Health Letter

BOSTON, April 25, 2007 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- At leastone-third of the time, the symptoms of bipolar disorder firstappear in childhood or adolescence. However, in children, it can bedifficult to distinguish bipolar symptoms from those of otherdisorders, notes the May 2007 issue of the Harvard Mental HealthLetter. Children, especially young children, usually do not show theadul...

ECOG Phase III Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma Trial (E4A03) Reports Lenalidomide Plus Low-Dose Dexamethasone Suggests Survival Advantage for Patients with Multiple Myeloma

SUMMIT, N.J., April 04, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CelgeneCorporation announced that the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group(ECOG) has reported that its Data Monitoring Committee's (DMC)review of preliminary results from a large, randomized clinicaltrial for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma has foundthat the use of a low dose of dexamethasone (Decadron) incombination wit...

MRI Detects Cancers in the Opposite Breast of Women Newly Diagnosed with Breast Cancer

PHILADELPHIA, March 28, 2007 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- MagneticResonance Imaging (MRI) scans of women who were diagnosed withcancer in one breast detected over 90 percent of cancers in theother breast that were missed by mammography and clinical breastexam at initial diagnosis, according to a new study. Given theestablished rates of mammography and clinical breast exams fordetecting can...