Clinical update: Alzheimer’s – A number of recent studies targeting the amyloid pathway in Alzheimer’s disease have proved negative, and there is now some doubt as to whether amyloid plays as central a role in the disease as had previously been thought. Experts have recently proposed that amyloid may be a necessary but not sufficient [...]
A group at UCD is researching the effects on electrical activity in their brain, which is related to learning, of a chemical found in high concentrations in Alzheimer’s disease patients. The group — led by Dr Caroline Herron, Senior Lecturer at UCD’s School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science — is investigating the effects of agents [...]
The APOE epsilon4 allele is a well described genetic marker that increases susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease in later life. Researchers from Trinity College and St James’s Hospital, Dublin — in association with international colleagues — have now described two further candidate genes that may help increase understanding of the disease. A study in Nature Genetics, [...]
Chronic pelvic pain is a poorly understood and underdiagnosed condition. Maeve Whelan offers advice to doctors who encounter patients with it Millions of men and women suffer from chronic pelvic pain (CPP). The symptoms are of rectal, genital or abdominal pain or discomfort, pain or discomfort associated with sexual activity and often symptoms of urinary [...]
Rory Hafford looks at conditions associated with damaged basal ganglia, including Restless Leg Syndrome and Parkinsonism It is easy to see, back in the day when medicine was grappling for some sort of evidence base, how the diagnosis of ‘possession’ was all the rage. Just consider for a moment the array of disorders issuing forth [...]
Experts want a more sophisticated approach to managing chronic pain. But this is a challenge for a condition that is still not well understood, writes Gary Finnegan The move during the past decade to recognise chronic pain as a disease in its own right has added momentum to anaesthetists’ efforts to have pain taken seriously. [...]
A targeted programme of preventive antiviral medication, combined with the use of hand sanitisers and surface contamination, was associated with containing the spread of the H1N1 virus in a summer camp setting, according to a new report. With rare exceptions, the H1N1 virus has retained sensitivity to the antiviral medication oseltamivir phosphate. The drug has [...]
Among infants and children hospitalised in Kenya with severe pneumonia, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) appears to be the predominant virus detected, according to a new study. In the study, doctors examined the viral causes of severe pneumonia among infants and children at a rural Kenyan district hospital using comprehensive and sensitive molecular diagnostic techniques. Participants [...]
Individuals who screen positive for possible depression appear to consume more chocolate than those not screening positive for depression, according to a new report. The report followed a study in which doctors examined the relationship between chocolate and mood among 931 women and men who were not using antidepressants. Participants reported how much chocolate they [...]
The odds of surviving lung cancer are significantly higher in Norway and Sweden than they are in England, a new study has found. The researchers based their findings on five-year survival rates for lung cancer patients in Norway, Sweden, and England, all of whom were diagnosed between 1996 and 2004. During this period, 250,828 patients [...]
Loading ...
