Drug Combination A new clinical trial demonstrated positive effects caused by the drug combination lapatinib and trastuzumab against HER2 positive breast cancer in a treatment period of just 11 days. Led by researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, the University of Manchester, and University Hospital of South Manchester, the study comprised 257 women with HER2 positive breast cancer who...
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New Alzheimer’s test can predict age when disease will appear
Diffusion Tensor MRIshowing a normal brain on the left and a brain probably affected by Alzheimer’s disease on the right. Photograph: BSIP/UIG via Getty Images Scientists have developed a new genetic test for Alzheimer’s risk that can be used to predict the age at which a person will develop the disease. A high score on...
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A new test can detect your blood type with color-changing paper
The paper turns teal or brown, depending on whether the right combination of antigens and antibodies are present. H. Zhang et al, Science Translational Medicine 2017 Knowing a person’s blood type is crucial in medicine. If a traumatic injury leaves you in need of a donor’s blood, an infusion from the wrong blood type can...
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Routine blood tests can help measure a patient’s future risk for chronic disease, new study finds
A new study by researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City finds that combining information from routine blood tests and age of primary care patients can create a score that measures future risk of chronic disease. This simple risk score, termed the Intermountain Chronic Disease Risk Score, or ICHRON, can...
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First Blood Test To Accurately Diagnose Depression And Schizophrenia Developed
After The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York announced last week the development of a blood test to identify autism in children, there have been reports of yet another advancement in diagnostic technology, this time from scientists at Yale, the John B. Pierce Laboratory, and the VA Medical Center in West Haven, Connecticut. The team has worked...
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New approach uses ultrasound to measure fluid in the lungs
A team of engineering and medical researchers has found a way to use ultrasound to monitor fluid levels in the lung, offering a noninvasive way to track progress in treating pulmonary edema — fluid in the lungs — which often occurs in patients with congestive heart failure. The approach, which has been demonstrated in rats,...
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Scientific discovery may change treatment of Parkinson’s disease
When monitoring Parkinson’s disease, SPECT imaging of the brain is used for acquiring information on the dopamine activity. A new study conducted in Turku, Finland, shows that the dopamine activity observed in SPECT imaging does not reflect the number of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra, as previously assumed. One of the most significant changes...
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FDA approves drug to treat Parkinson’s disease
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Xadago (safinamide) tablets as an add-on treatment for patients with Parkinson’s disease who are currently taking levodopa/carbidopa and experiencing “off” episodes. An “off” episode is a time when a patient’s medications are not working well, causing an increase in Parkinson’s symptoms, such as tremor and difficulty walking....
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Researchers make major brain repair discovery in fight against Multiple Sclerosis
Queen’s University Belfast scientists have discovered that specific cells from the immune system are key players in brain repair – a fundamental breakthrough that could revolutionise the treatment of debilitating neurological disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The research study, led by Dr Yvonne Dombrowski and Dr Denise Fitzgerald at the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental...
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When our world turns ‘upside-down,’ serotonin helps us deal with it
Serotonin, one of the major chemical messengers serving neuronal communication, is usually associated with the direct regulation of affective states and mood in general. But growing evidence suggests that one of the core functions of this neurotransmitter may be to facilitate our adaptation to changes in the world around us – which, in turn, may...