http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who initiated use of anti-tumor necrosis factor therapies were not at a higher risk of developing herpes zoster (shingles), compared with patients who initiated nonbiologic treatment regimens, according to research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the Oregon Health and Science University. The findings appeared in the March 6, 2013, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-biologic-therapies-inflammatory-diseases-shingles.html Inflammatory disorders Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:40:06 EST news285581362 A Johns Hopkins Children's Center survey of 102 clinicians who treat teenage girls with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) has found that official guidelines designed to inform decisions about hospitalization versus outpatient care leave some clinicians scratching their heads. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-federal-guidelines-teen-pid-clarification.html Inflammatory disorders Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:49:28 EST news284744962 In vivo ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) imaging can detect early changes to the lung caused by cigarette smoke exposure and provides a noninvasive method for studying lung dysfunction in preclinical models, according to research published in the April issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. These measures have the potential to be applied clinically to study and diagnose the early stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-early-copd-diagnosis-nuclear-medicine.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:34:00 EST news284031218 A national survey of health professionals showed that drug shortages are taking a heavy toll on cancer patients, forcing treatment changes and delays that for some patients meant worse outcomes, more therapy-related complications and higher costs. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators played an important role in the study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-cancer-drug-shortages-higher-greater.html Cancer Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:40:03 EST news283084795 (Medical Xpress)—Aggressive drug regimens used to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis reduce the risk of death by about 40 percent when they include at least five drugs likely to be effective against a patient's tuberculosis strain, a retrospective study conducted amid an epidemic of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Peru has found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-aggressive-regimen-mortality-drug-resistant-tb.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 15 Mar 2013 06:56:21 EST news282549365 Although patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have a disproportionately higher incidence of herpes zoster (shingles), an analysis that included nearly 60,000 patients with RA and other inflammatory diseases found that those who initiated anti-tumor necrosis factor therapies were not at higher risk of herpes zoster compared with patients who initiated nonbiologic treatment regimens, according to a study appearing in the March 6 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-therapies-inflammatory-diseases-shingles.html Inflammatory disorders Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:00:02 EST news281710245 Patients with HER2-positive breast cancer being treated with anti-HER2 therapy may be able to prevent or delay resistance to the therapy with the addition of a phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase inhibitor to their treatment regimens. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-treatment-pi3k-resistance-anti-her2-therapy.html Cancer Wed, 23 Jan 2013 13:59:45 EST news278171977 A new survey of stroke survivors has shown that those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are less likely to adhere to treatment regimens that reduce the risk of an additional stroke. Researchers found that 65 percent of stroke survivors with PTSD failed to adhere to treatment, compared with 33 percent of those without PTSD. The survey also suggests that nonadherence in PTSD patients is partly explained by increased ambivalence toward medication. Among stroke survivors with PTSD, approximately one in three (38 percent) had concerns about their medications. Results of the study, led by Columbia University Medical Center researchers, are published today in the British Journal of Health Psychology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-survivors-ptsd-treatment.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:00:01 EST news277661759 As cancer treatment in pill form transforms how care is delivered, a new Michigan State University study underscores the challenges patients face in administering their own chemotherapy outside the supervised environment of a cancer clinic. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-patients-cancer-drugs.html Cancer Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:39:48 EST news277043979 (Medical Xpress)—Patients who fail to follow their prescribed treatments cost the U.S. health care system an estimated $100 billion annually. But community pharmacists and insurance benefit managers, working together, can help patients comply with vital pharmaceutical therapies, according to a study at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-drug-benefit-pharmacists-patient-compliance.html Health Fri, 14 Dec 2012 07:24:55 EST news274692283 Results from a phase III clinical trial comparing a newer chemotherapy agent called eribulin mesylate with capecitabine, a standard drug used for chemotherapy today in women with previously treated metastatic breast cancer, showed that eribulin demonstrated a trend toward improved overall survival. This study was presented today by Peter A. Kaufman, M.D., during the 2012 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-standard-treatment-women-breast-cancer.html Cancer Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:40:18 EST news274098654 According to new research published Online First in the Lancet, body mass index may influence which blood pressure medications work best at reducing the major complications of high blood pressure (strokes, heart attacks, and death). The findings suggest that diuretic drugs seem to be a reasonable choice for obese patients, but significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular events in non-obese individuals. Calcium channel blockers, meanwhile, work equally well in people in all weight groups, including lean individuals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-body-mass-index-blood-pressure.html Health Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:30:01 EST news273948262 (Medical Xpress)—UC Davis cancer researchers have discovered significant differences in radiation-therapy response among patients with oropharyngeal cancer depending on whether they carry the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted virus. The findings, published online today in The Laryngoscope Journal, could lead to more individualized radiation treatment regimens, which for many patients with HPV could be shorter and potentially less toxic. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-oropharyngeal-cancer-patients-human-papillomavirus.html Cancer Tue, 25 Sep 2012 13:30:17 EST news267798580 (HealthDay) -- Adding dexamethasone to prochlorperazine on days two and three, following palonosetron and dexamethasone on day one, reduces delayed nausea (DN) in patients receiving chemotherapy containing a platinum-based drug or an anthracycline, according to research published online Aug. 20 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-prolonged-dexamethasone-nausea-chemo.html Cancer Wed, 22 Aug 2012 16:50:01 EST news264870982 The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPfAR) began in 2003 with good intentions, but it was not until the U.S. government's massive overseas public health campaign adopted generic drugs that it became a success, according to a new article by Brown University researchers in the July issue of the journal Health Affairs. Nearly a decade later, expanding the availability of generics remains urgent, especially as doctors in the field encounter resistance to first-line treatment regimens. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-drugs-key-overseas-hiv-relief.html Medications Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:00:12 EST news261066195 A new once-daily pill combining three antiretrovirals and a booster molecule is a safe and effective alternative to two widely used drug regimens for newly diagnosed HIV-positive adults who have had no previous treatment. The findings of two large international randomized trials published in this week's Lancet also indicate that the new "Quad" pill is faster acting, doesn't have the neuropsychiatric side effects associated with other combinations, and could improve compliance with treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-once-daily-quad-pill-hiv-safe.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 28 Jun 2012 18:30:01 EST news260123746 (HealthDay) -- Teenagers and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, are more likely to relapse and less likely to survive than younger children with the disease, according to a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-leukemia-deadlier-teens-young-adults.html Cancer Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:10:01 EST news257862687 Women receiving care for breast cancer have significantly impaired cardio-pulmonary function that can persist for years after they have completed treatment, according to a study led by scientists at Duke University Medical Center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-cardio-breast-cancer-patients-affect.html Cancer Wed, 23 May 2012 11:49:48 EST news256992578 Higher mortality rates among older adult asthma patients compared to their younger counterparts may be due, at least in part, to an increase in airway inflammation, according to a study conducted by researchers in Canada, who note that their results imply that elderly patients are either less likely to follow asthma medication dosing instructions, or that the underlying airway inflammation in elderly patients is relatively resistant to current anti-inflammatory therapies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-inflammation-higher-mortality-older-asthma.html Immunology Mon, 21 May 2012 14:00:04 EST news256823562 A combined therapy of common acne medications was shown to be a potent regimen for treating patients with severe facial acne, according to two published studies involving Henry Ford Hospital. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-combined-therapy-acne-medications-treatment.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:22:34 EST news250942943 Leading AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins and other institutions around the world have issued new guidelines to promote entry into and retention in HIV care, as well as adherence to HIV treatment, drawn from the results of 325 studies conducted with tens of thousands of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-guidelines-issued-people-newly-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:26:39 EST news250194329 A new study conducted in an eye clinic in India found that correction of amblyopia, also called "lazy eye," can be achieved in many older children, if they stick to a regimen that includes playing video games along with standard amblyopia treatment. Today at the 115th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Dr. Somen Ghosh will report on the approaches that allowed about a third of his study participants, who were between 10 and 18 years old, to make significant vision gains. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-video-games-treatment-lazy-eye.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sun, 23 Oct 2011 11:10:26 EST news238586996 There are many products that are publicised as cures for acne, often at considerable expense to both consumers and the health-care system, but there is very little evidence of which ones work best and for whom. Few studies have compared treatments against each other in terms of effectiveness and safety. Furthermore, concerns that the long-term use of antibiotics to treat acne might contribute to bacterial resistance increases the urgency to test treatment regimens and to develop more effective non-antibiotic therapies, according to a Seminar, published Online First in The Lancet. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-lack-widely-acne-treatments-limiting.html Medications Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:30:01 EST news233847500 Pyrazinamide has been used in combination with other drugs as a first-line treatment for people with tuberculosis (TB) since the 1950s, but exactly how the drug works has not been well understood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-scientists-unique-tb-drug-pyrazinamide.html Medical research Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:53:40 EST news232293200 For the thousands of patients who receive kidney transplants in the United States each year, preventing organ rejection without compromising other aspects of health requires a delicate balance of medications. Immunosuppresive drugs that protect transplanted organs can also cause serious side effects, including compromising patients' immunity to infection, cancer, and other threats. Finding the best combination and dosage of drugs has often proved difficult for physicians. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-post-transplant-drug-regimen-patients-kidneys.html Other Fri, 29 Jul 2011 03:17:05 EST news231128211 Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium known to cause peptic ulcers, is also the primary cause of gastric cancer, which is a leading cancer killer globally. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-standard-drug-pylori-therapy-regimens.html Medications Wed, 20 Jul 2011 03:57:07 EST news230353013 Results of a Chinese study showed that the HPV vaccine did not have significant effects on the number of disease flares or antibody measures in patients with inactive SLE receiving stable doses of medications after administration, and therefore was determined safe to use to prevent HPV in this group of patients. SLE, an autoimmune disorder, affects nine times as many women as men1 and studies have shown that the rate of HPV in this group is significantly higher than in the healthy population.2 Vaccination is therefore an important consideration in protecting SLE patients from HPV infection, which has been shown to be responsible for cervical cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-hpv-vaccine-gardasil-doesnt-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 26 May 2011 08:00:39 EST news225615619 A small Johns Hopkins Children's Center study of children and teens with cystic fibrosis (CF) shows that simple exercise, individually tailored to each patient's preference and lifestyle, can help improve lung function and overall fitness. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-simple-lung-function-children-cystic.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 03 May 2011 13:30:01 EST news223646813