http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (HealthDay)—A novel structural and payment-reform system is proposed to foster accountable cancer care, according to a viewpoint piece published online April 29 in JAMA Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-accountable-cancer.html Health Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:20:01 EST news286548029 Low testosterone levels may herald the subsequent development of rheumatoid arthritis in men, suggests research published online in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-testosterone-herald-rheumatoid-arthritis-men.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:30:01 EST news284227173 Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) come under attack by their immune system, producing 'autoantibodies' that inflict damage throughout the body. Antibodies normally target foreign proteins, but SLE autoantibodies attack targets contained within the nuclei of host cells, and immunologists have struggled to untangle how this happens. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-protein-implicated-lupus-disease-distinct.html Immunology Wed, 13 Mar 2013 08:20:01 EST news282379253 In a genome-wide analysis of 13 metastatic prostate cancers, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center found consistent epigenetic "signatures" across all metastatic tumors in each patient. The discovery of the stable, epigenetic "marks" that sit on the nuclear DNA of cancer cells and alter gene expression, defies a prevailing belief that the marks vary so much within each individual's widespread cancers that they have little or no value as targets for therapy or as biomarkers for treatment response and predicting disease severity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-personal-epigenetic-signatures-prostate-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:00:08 EST news278165142 Infants with severe lower respiratory tract infection caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) may have a dysfunctional innate immune response that relates to the severity of their disease. These are the findings from a Nationwide Children's Hospital study appearing in a recent issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-infants-severe-rsv-disease-immunosuppressed.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:12:22 EST news274367529 Researchers at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have discovered how a common diarrhea-causing bacterium sends the body's natural defenses into overdrive, actually intensifying illness while fighting infection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-diff-reveal-potential-infections.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 30 Nov 2012 11:20:01 EST news273495381 (HealthDay)—There is increasing evidence that the small airways contribute significantly to the clinical expression and severity of asthma, according to research published online Nov. 9 in Allergy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-evidence-small-airway-role-asthma.html Immunology Tue, 20 Nov 2012 17:10:02 EST news272652446 (HealthDay)—The use of actigraphy to record movement as an objective surrogate for eczema activity is of limited use, according to a study published in the November issue of the British Journal of Dermatology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-actigraphy-poor-eczema.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:30:03 EST news271358275 Have you ever been "elbowed" by your bed partner because you were snoring? If yes, new research says you could have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-elbow-apnea.html Sleep apnea Mon, 22 Oct 2012 04:08:18 EST news270097637 (HealthDay)—Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has negative effects on sexual function in women, with depressive symptoms and disease severity linked to the degree of sexual dysfunction, according to a study published in the October issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-women-ra-sexual-function.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Wed, 17 Oct 2012 20:50:02 EST news269714460 An analysis of 27 studies linking psoriasis in 314,000 individuals with diabetes has found strong correlation between the scaly skin rash and the blood sugar disorder that predisposes patients to heart disease, say UC Davis researchers who led the review. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-people-severe-psoriasis-diabetes.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:00:06 EST news269513102 Mathematicians have developed a powerful tool to quantify the spread and infectiousness of viruses like the pandemic H1N1 flu strain, which can be used together with modern laboratory techniques to help the healthcare system plan its response to disease outbreaks. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-flu-epidemics-outbreaks.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 08 Oct 2012 20:00:01 EST news268913707 (HealthDay)—Protease-activated receptor 2 (PAR-2), which is activated by cowhage, may play a role in central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA), the most common cause of scarring hair loss in African-American women, according to research published online Sept. 17 in the British Journal of Dermatology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-central-centrifugal-cicatricial-alopecia-pathogenesis.html Cancer Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:12:53 EST news267451959 (HealthDay)—For patients with knee osteoarthritis (K-OA), the lack of correlation between clinical pain and radiographic evidence of disease severity may be due to central sensitization, according to a study published online Sept. 7 in Arthritis & Rheumatism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-pain-abnormalities-knee-oa.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:10:01 EST news267105564 Adult cystic fibrosis (CF) patients of low socioeconomic status (SES) have a greater chance of not being accepted for lung transplant after undergoing initial evaluation, according to a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-cystic-fibrosis-patients-ses-lung.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 14 Sep 2012 00:20:01 EST news266778914 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death in the United States and is thought to affect almost three million people in the UK. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Medicine has identified genes whose activity is altered with increasing lung damage and, using a database of drug effects on gene activity (the Connectivity Map), finds that the compound Gly-His-Lys (GHK) affects the activity of these genes. When tested on human cells from lungs damaged by emphysema, GHK was able to restore normal gene activity and repair cell function. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-gene-profiling-emphysema.html Genetics Fri, 31 Aug 2012 02:40:54 EST news265599581 Insurance status is a better predictor of survival after a serious cardiac event than race, and may help explain racial disparities in health outcomes for cardiovascular disease. A new study by Derek Ng, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, and his team shows that race is not linked to an increased risk of death but being underinsured is a strong predictor of death among those admitted into hospital with a serious cardiac event. Their work appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-recover.html Health Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:08:17 EST news263477219 As you prepare to watch the world's best athletes competing at the London 2012 Olympics, have you thought about what distinguishes elite sprinters from long-distance athletes? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-lessons-gene.html Other Thu, 26 Jul 2012 07:39:17 EST news262507145 NHS hospitals have substantial scope to improve their efficiency by adopting best practice, according to research published today by Professor Andrew Street and colleagues at the Centre for Health Economics (CHE) at the University of York. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-english-hospitals.html Health Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:29:04 EST news261379739 In a genome-wide association (GWA) study, researchers from Boston University Schools of Medicine (BUSM) and Public Health (BUSPH) have identified several genes which influence degeneration of the hippocampus, the part of the brain most associated with Alzheimer disease (AD). The study, which currently appears online as a Rapid Communication in the Annals of Neurology, demonstrates the efficacy of endophenotypes for broadening the understanding of the genetic basis of and pathways leading to AD. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-genes-hippocampal-atrophy.html Neuroscience Thu, 28 Jun 2012 10:58:25 EST news260099892 Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, have found that critically ill patients were more likely to die if they were taking the most commonly prescribed antidepressants when they were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-antidepressant-mortality-critically-ill-patients.html Medications Tue, 22 May 2012 10:00:12 EST news256899585 (Medical Xpress) -- An international study led by the University of Sydney and published in the Annals of Neurology has the potential to improve the design of clinical trials for the treatment of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a disorder which affects the peripheral nervous system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-tool-clinical-trials-children-charcot-marie-tooth.html Neuroscience Mon, 07 May 2012 07:50:01 EST news255594149 (HealthDay) -- A previously derived clinical dehydration scale (CDS) is characterized by moderate interobserver reliability and weak links with objective measures of disease severity for children administered intravenous rehydration, according to a study published online April 23 in Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-reliability-validity-clinical-dehydration-scale.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:20:01 EST news254421187 Many children with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis who received treatment through ImproveCareNow, a national quality improvement and research network, ceased to have symptoms and no longer needed to take steroids for disease management. These are the findings from a study appearing in Pediatrics that examined the ImproveCareNow network's quality improvement efforts and their impact on outcomes. In this study, the proportion of children with Crohn's disease who were in remission increased from 55 percent to 68 percent, with a similar improvement in ulcerative colitis patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-network-approach-outcomes-ibd-lack.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:11:34 EST news250780283 Researchers from the Mayo Clinic confirm that ultrasound-based transient elastography (TE) provides excellent diagnostic accuracy for detecting cirrhosis due to recurrent infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection following liver transplantation. Findings from the study published in the March issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, suggest that detection of significant fibrosis is more accurate when comparing patients with chronic HCV of the native liver. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-ultrasound-technology-accurate-cirrhosis-recurrent.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:15:57 EST news249732951 Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide, especially in developed countries, and there is currently no known treatment or cure or for the vast majority of AMD patients. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Medicine has identified genes whose expression levels can identify people with AMD, as well as tell apart AMD subtypes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-genetic-basis-age-related-macular-degeneration.html Genetics Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:00:02 EST news249241684 It's been said that timing is everything, and that may be particularly true when it comes to the ability to fight off disease. New research published by Cell Press in the February issue of the journal Immunity shows that the success of host immune defense depends in part on an organism's "body clock." The study may lead to therapeutic strategies designed to optimize the immune response and to protect patients at the time when they are most vulnerable. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-body-clock-immune.html Immunology Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:00:05 EST news248612911 A gene that influences the inflammatory response to infection may also predict the effectiveness of drug treatment for a deadly form of tuberculosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-treatment-tuberculosis-patients-genetics.html Genetics Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:15:31 EST news247850117 Research from the University of Michigan Health System shows the risk for kidney failure among liver transplant recipients is higher following the implementation of Model of End Stage Liver Disease (MELD), a policy change in 2002 that altered how liver transplant allocation is decided. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-kidney-failure-higher-liver-transplant.html Other Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:49:31 EST news246019745 Antibiotics may not be the only risk factor associated with community-acquired Clostridium difficile infection, indicating that other undefined causes of the potentially life-threatening infection may exist and could also predict whether or not a patient will require hospitalization, according to the results of the study, "Predictors of Hospitalization in Community-Acquired Clostridium difficile Infection," unveiled today at the American College of Gastroenterology's (ACG) 76th Annual Scientific meeting in Washington, DC. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-antibiotics-community-acquired-clostridium-difficile-infection.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:40:18 EST news239276411