Blood Test Could Identify Smokers At Higher Risk For Heart Disease, UT Southwestern Researchers Find
10/27/2011

A simple blood test could someday quantify a smoker's lung toxicity and danger of heart disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. Nearly one in five adults in the U.S. smoke, and smoking-related medical expenses and loss of productivity exceeds $167 billion annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

You Are What You Eat: Low Fat Diet With Fish Oil Slowed Growth Of Human Prostate Cancer Cells
10/27/2011

A low-fat diet with fish oil supplements eaten for four to six weeks prior to prostate removal slowed down the growth of prostate cancer cells -- the number of rapidly dividing cells -- in human prostate cancer tissue compared to a traditional, high-fat Western diet...

Dormant Malaria Parasites In Red Blood Cells May Contribute To Treatment Failure
10/27/2011

Researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) College of Public College Health have shown for the first time in a rodent model that the earliest form of malaria parasites can lay dormant in red blood cells and "wake up," or recover, following treatment with the antimalarial drug artesunate...

Blood Proteins Predict Survival In Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, Pitt-Led Team Says
10/27/2011

A panel of blood proteins can predict which patients with the progressive lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are likely to live at least five years or to die within two years, say researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Centocor R&D...

HPV Linked To Heart Problems In Women
10/26/2011

Women infected with cancer-causing strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) appear also to be at increased for cardiovascular diseases and stroke, even in the absence of other more conventional risk factors, according to new research published in the 1 November issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology...

HPV Linked To Heart Problems In Women
10/26/2011

Women infected with cancer-causing strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) appear also to be at increased for cardiovascular diseases and stroke, even in the absence of other more conventional risk factors, according to new research published in the 1 November issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology...

Smaller Melanoma Incisions For Melanomas Larger Than 2mm Have Same Recurrence Rates And Death As Larger Incisions
10/26/2011

After controversies regarding which are the best surgical excision margins for skin melanomas thicker than 2 mm, a study published Online First by The Lancet indicates that a 2 cm excision margin is safe and sufficient, as results in similar levels of recurrence and death compare with that of 4 cm margin. Skin melanoma is rising by about 4% in both men and women in Sweden...

Multidisciplinary Research Urged For Optimal Melanoma Surgery
10/26/2011

In an editorial published in The Lancet, UNC Lineberger member David Ollila, MD, and co-author John Thompson, MD, of the Melanoma Institute Australia, praise a new study on optimal margins for melanoma surgery but urge researchers to bring new molecular and genetic techniques to bear on the question of how to minimize the need for more complex surgical techniques while maximi...

Lung Cancer Screening CT Scans Useful In Identifying COPD
10/26/2011

According to a study in the October 26 issue of JAMA researchers found that CT (computer tomographic) scans utilized for lung cancer screening showed that a significant proportion of current or former male smokers had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The finding suggests that CT scans could be utilized as an additional tool in detecting COPD...

Coronary Stent Blood Clot Risks - Which Factors Are Linked?
10/26/2011

A study published in the October 26 issue of JAMA reveals that patients with certain genes or specific factors related to using the anti-clotting drug clopidogrel have a higher potential risk of experiencing a blood clot within a coronary stent shortly after placement...