Science/Health news

Obese patients with colon cancer are at greater risk for death or recurrent disease compared to those who are within a normal weight range, according to a report in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Westmont, NJ, HVP, or hydrolyzed vegetable protein, has made the front page of news outlets across the country over the last few days.A Nevada food manufacturer that supplies HVP as a basic ingredient for other processed food manufacturers has come under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) scrutiny after a shipment tested positive for Salmonella.

The study, based on a database of more than 200,000 Quebec residents aged 65 and older, showed statistical relationships between a diagnosis of cataracts or cataract surgery and the class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), as well as between cataracts and specific drugs within that class.

The findings are from UAB’s Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, one of the largest ongoing health studies that includes more than 30,200 U.S. participants.

When compared to the nicotine vapor delivery system used in the Nicotrol/Nicorette inhaler, the new technology proved more effective at delivering nicotine to the blood stream.

Cancer researchers have high hopes for a new therapy for patients with certain types of lymphoma and leukemia.

A study of the development of autism in infants, comparing the behavior of the siblings of children diagnosed with autism to that of babies developing normally, has found that the nascent symptoms of the condition — a lack of shared eye contact, smiling and communicative babbling — are not present at 6 months, but emerge gradually and only become apparent during the latter part of the first year of life.

Bayer HealthCare AG (BHC), a subsidiary of Bayer AG, today announced it has selected Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC) and WPP (NASDAQ:WPPGY) as its primary global marketing services partners for its four business units: Bayer Schering Pharma/Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Bayer HealthCare Animal Health, Bayer HealthCare Consumer Care and Bayer HealthCare Medical Care.

Giving chocolates to your Valentine on February 14th may help lower their risk of stroke based on a preliminary study from researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital. The study, which is being presented at the American Academy of Neurology in April, also found that eating chocolate may lower the risk of death after suffering a stroke.

Results from first five Phase III studies confirm Roche’s weekly taspoglutide has positive effect on reducing blood glucose compared with other diabetes treatment options

Racial gaps exist in women’s heart-health awareness, women’s knowledge of heart attack warning signs requires attention and nearly half of women report they would not call 9-1-1 if they were having heart attack symptoms, according to new research published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, a journal of the American Heart Association.

Anthony N. van den Pol, professor of neurosurgery and member of the Yale Cancer Center and molecular biologist John N. Davis describe the new technique in the February issue of the Journal of Virology.

Scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh and University of Southern California discovered that exercise can slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease

As medical teams in Haiti continue to evaluate and treat the victims of the devastating earthquake, the American Red Cross is coordinating shipments of blood and blood products to Haiti at the request of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Tykerb (lapatinib) in combination with Femara (letrozole) to treat hormone positive and HER2-positive advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women for whom hormonal therapy is indicated.

Already saving patients’ lives, the project has examined more than 15 million images from thousands of patients since the project began in early July. It uses technology that combines advanced imaging with analytics to highlight likely aneurysms for faster detection.

Blood flow in the brains of HIV patients is reduced to levels normally seen in uninfected patients 15 to 20 years older, scientists report online in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

HAART can reduce HIV levels to below detectable numbers. But, some small amounts of virus evade drug therapy and stay inactive in a so-called latent form, in immune system cells.

The new study, in the journal Cerebral Cortex, found that nearly a quarter of the variability in achievement seen among men and women trained on a new video game could be predicted by measuring the volume of parts of the striatum, a collection of brain structures tucked deep inside the cerebral cortex.

Scientists from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease (NCFAD) in Winnipeg, Canada, together with collaborators in the USA, injected the 2009 and 1918 H1N1 virus strains individually into chickens.