Gleevec improves special leukemia in children

Gleevec has been shown to improve outcomes for children with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
– Gleevec, the targeted cancer pill that has saved more than 100,000 lives, now is saving more children with a dire leukemia, as well as preventing disease progression with long term use in adults with chronic myeloid leukemia.

Understanding chronic myeloid leukemia

Researchers have discovered abnormal cells in the early stem cell population in Chronic myeloid leukemia CML patients.
– Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers have opened a new window into the roots of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). “We are looking under the surface of CML to understand better where the cancer is coming from. We have discovered abnormal cells in the early stem cell population in some CML patients, which don’t belong to the CML clone. These are abnormal cells that are not part of the CML clone,” said Thomas Bumm, M.D., OHSU Cancer Institute member.

Decline in smoking in Minnesota Adolescent

Adolescents who obtained cigarettes from social sources were less likely to become heavy smokers compared to youth who bought their cigarettes from commercial sources.
– New research in the December issue of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, shows that there was a decline in access to cigarettes from commercial venues from 2000 to 2003. These findings are specific to the Minnesota Adolescent Community Cohort study, a longitudinal telephone survey of youth less than 18 years old.

Late developmental growth may risk depression

Children with low weight during infancy or slight developmental delays may be at greater risk for developing depression.
– Psychiatrists remain divided as to how to define and classify the mood and anxiety disorders, the most common mental disorders. Committees across the globe are currently pondering how best to carve nature at its anxious joints for the fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V), the “gold standard” reference book for psychiatrists.

Cows milk may cause Crohn’s disease

Mycobacterium paratuberculosis found in cows milk may cause Crohn’s disease in humans, revealed by researchers at the University of Liverpool, UK.
– Researchers at the University of Liverpool have found how a bacterium, known to cause illness in cattle, may cause Crohn’s disease in humans. Crohn’s is a condition that affects one in 800 people in the UK and causes chronic intestinal inflammation, leading to pain, bleeding and diarrhoea.

Most ancient case of tuberculosis found

Professor John Kappelman of The University of Texas at Austin reveals the most ancient evidence of the tuberculosis disease has been found in a 500,000-year-old human fossil from Turkey.
– Although most scientists believe tuberculosis emerged only several thousand years ago, new research from The University of Texas at Austin reveals the most ancient evidence of the disease has been found in a 500,000-year-old human fossil from Turkey.

Sickle cell anemia treated with stem cells

Using a new type of stem cells made from ordinary skin cells, US researchers said they treated mice with sickle cell anemia.
– MIT researchers have successfully treated mice with sickle-cell anemia in a process that begins by directly reprogramming the mice’s own cells to an embryonic-stem-cell-like state, without the use of eggs.

Ebola virus outbreak in Uganda worsens, says WHO

The number of suspected cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in western Uganda has almost doubled in the past 10 days, and four health-care workers are now among the fatalities, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported.
– The number of suspected cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in the Bundibugyo District of western Uganda has now risen to 93, including 22 fatalities. Laboratory analysis has confirmed the presence of a new species of the virus in 9 of these cases.

Middle aged more anxious and depressed than elderly

Elderly people (those aged 65 and above) may have a lower prevalence of psychiatric and anxiety disorders and lower levels of psychological distress than middle-aged people.
– Research from the University of New South Wales has found that middle-aged Australians are more anxious and depressed than their elderly counterparts, turning on its head a prevailing myth about old age.

High protein diet better for weight loss in obese

A new CSIRO study has found that overweight and obese men can lose weight effectively and safely on a high protein diet.
– Presenting the results of the study at the Nutrition Society Conference in Auckland, NZ, CSIRO dietitian Dr Manny Noakes said that the study suggests it is easier than previously thought for men to take action to lose weight.

Health Newstrack