In view of the potential severe side effects of new immune therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS), research is now focused on the optimized use of established drugs with known side effect profiles. Neurologists in Bochum, working under the auspices of Associate Prof. Andrew Chan (RUB Clinic for Neurology, St. Josef Hospital, Director: Prof. Ralf Gold) are pursuing a pharmacogenetic approach. They w...

The American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) will issue the first–and only–national clinical practice guideline to help healthcare practitioners identify and manage patients with hoarseness, also known as dysphonia. The guideline emphasizes evidence-based management of hoarseness by clinicians, and educates patients on the prevalence of thi...

A 65-year-old women goes into the hospital for routine hip surgery. Six months later, she develops memory loss and is later diagnosed with Alzheimer`s Disease. Just a coincidence? Researchers at the University of South Florida and Vanderbilt University don`t think so. They suspect that the culprit precipitating Alzheimer`s disease in the elderly women may be a routine administration of high concen...

The new anti-wrinkle facial filler Dysport, which could be used as an alternative to Botox, noticeably reduced frown lines between the eyes, according to users and independent reviewers in a study involving plastic surgeons at UT Southwestern Medical Center. "Our study confirmed that Dysport (abobotulinumtoxinA) is a safe and effective tool in fighting wrinkles," said Dr. Rod Rohrich, ch...

Results of a long-awaited study of 3,070 American adults at Johns Hopkins and 118 other U.S. medical centers show that treatment with either of the two standard antiviral drug therapies is safe and offers the best way for people infected with hepatitis C to prevent liver scarring, organ failure and death. A report on the so-called comparative effectiveness study, believed to be the largest of its ...

A new class of antibody drugs may provide a powerful new tool for the treatment of eye diseases in children, but specialists need to be alert for the possibility of serious side effects, according to an editorial in the August Journal of AAPOS (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus). Dr. Robert L. Avery of Santa Barbara, Calif., discusses issues related to the use of anti...

Prolonged use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to treat people infected with both HIV and hepatitis B (HBV) helps to better control the hepatitis B infection and could delay or prevent liver complications, according to a new study by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Researchers also found that patients who had higher levels of a common liver enzyme upon begi...

Implantable lenses made of a collagen-like substance appear to provide stable correction of moderate to high nearsightedness (myopia) over four years of follow-up, according to a new report. "Laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK) has gained widespread popularity as a safe and effective surgical method for the correction of myopia, but patients with high [severe] myopia or thin corneas...

When faced with patients suffering a heart attack, doctors have two choices: inject them with medication to dissolve the blood clot (fibrinolytic therapy) or insert a small balloon to open the blocked artery (primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)). Guidelines for treating heart attacks are generally based on clinical trials that do not take "real-life" conditions into account....

Dr. John Dick, Senior Scientist at the Ontario Cancer Institute, the research arm of Princess Margaret Hospital, co-led a multinational team that has developed the first leukemia therapy that targets a protein, CD123, on the surface of cancer stem cells that drive acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which is an aggressive disease with a poor outcome. Dr. Richard Lock is leading the clinical trial in Aus...