Western Medicine

Despite the long-held belief by many doctors that discussing end-of-life issues with patients increases the patients' emotional distress, such conversations can actually lead to improved quality of life — both for patients and their loved ones, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers and colleagues have found.

In a study published in the Oct. 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, investigators show that patients who reported having end-of-life discussions with their physicians did not feel more depressed, worried, or sad than those who did not.

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New research on gene expression patterns in people with blocked coronary arteries, genetic influences in determining blood levels of ‘bad’ and ‘good’ cholesterol, and the role of genes in abdominal aortic aneurysm are among the research highlighted in Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics. The journal is the sixth new specialty journal that Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association has launched recently.

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Scientists have deciphered the complete genetic sequence of the parasite Plasmodium vivax, the leading cause of relapsing malaria, and compared it with the genomes of other species of malaria parasites. The findings shed light on distinctive genetic features of P. vivax, and may lead to new tools to prevent and treat P. vivax malaria. Results of the study, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), appear in the Oct. 9 issue of Nature.

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National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists have identified a protein that plays matchmaker between two key types of white blood cells, T and B cells, enabling them to interact in a way that is crucial to establishing long-lasting immunity after an infection. Their finding may also explain why some individuals who have a genetic defect that prevents them from making this protein—called SAP—suffer from lethal infections with a common virus that otherwise is rarely fatal (Epstein-Barr virus), while others with this genetic defect have problems with B-cell lymphomas.

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Labs that conduct the highest number of routine blood tests are more likely than others to report estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), an important measure of kidney function that can identify early kidney disease, according to a survey funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The work is reported in the October issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a new use for the blood product Kogenate FS to reduce the frequency of bleeding episodes and prevent joint damage in children with the most severe form of hemophilia.

Hemophilia A is a rare, hereditary, bleeding disorder in which a protein needed to form blood clots, factor VIII, is missing or its level is reduced. The disorder affects about 15,000 individuals in the United States, nearly all of whom are male.

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Today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched its food defense awareness training kit for first line food industry employees. The training targets these individuals because they can play an important role in helping to keep our nation's food supply safe, from the farm to the table.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Rapaflo (silodosin) capsules for the treatment of symptoms due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a condition also known as an enlarged prostate.

BPH is a male disease wherein the prostate gland – located between the bladder, which stores urine, and the urethra, the tube through which urine exits the body – enlarges in men as they age. By age 50, roughly 50 percent of all men suffer from BPH. By age 80, that number jumps to 75 percent.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today licensed for marketing the first product in the United States intended to protect people with hereditary angioedema (HAE), a rare and potentially life-threatening genetic disease. HAE affects about 6,000 to 10,000 individuals in the United States.

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In specific U.S. markets (below), Russell Stover Candies, Inc., is recalling one lot code of its 2 7/8 oz size of Private Reserve Assorted Chocolates because one piece of candy in the assortment may contain undeclared hazelnuts due to a labeling error. Consumers allergic to hazelnuts run the risk of a serious allergic reaction if they consume this piece of candy. No incidents of illness or allergic reaction have been reported.

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Health insurance study shows that Texas has the highest rates of uninsured. Hispanics in Texas are less likely to be covered than blacks and whites. In other words health insurance is less affordable for Hispanics.

The first ever study from U.S. Census Bureau looked at health insurance rates in very details for 2005. Data was analysed and broken down by state, race to show the exact situation in all states.

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AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved once-daily SEROQUEL XR® (quetiapine fumarate) Extended-Release Tablets for the acute treatment of the depressive episodes associated with bipolar disorder, the manic and mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder, and the maintenance treatment of bipolar I disorder as adjunctive therapy to lithium or divalproex. SEROQUEL XR is the first medication approved by the FDA for the once-daily acute treatment of both depressive and manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder.1

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An estimated one quarter of teenage US girls are vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV).

HPV is a sexually transmitted virus occurring showing up as genital warts and herpes. The disease later causes cervical cancer and it should be prevented ahead to avoid later health complications.

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