Health and Medicine

The inflammatory myopathies comprise three different entities: polymyositis, inclusion body myositis and dermatomyositis. People in all age groups can be affected by major muscle weakness and pain, and show evidence of muscle fiber breakdown in the serum. Autoimmune pathogenetic mechanisms have been identified in each inflammatory myopathy, but the antigen(s) recognized by the autoreactive inflammatory cells and the factors eliciting the aberrant immune responses remain unknown. Currently, patients a

The week after Carlton Harris underwent a novel therapy at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center to destroy three cancerous liver tumors, he was back at the gym huffing, puffing, lifting and sweating. Not even a single stitch to show for his trouble, Harris wore only a small bandage to cover the three tiny holes — the size of a snake-bite — where wire probes entered his skin and literally burned away the cancerous tumors inside his liver.

So simple is the new procedure — called radiofrequ

A skin test can detect a tissue disorder that may increase the risk of intracranial aneurysm, which can lead to stroke, according to a pilot study published in the September Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Researchers found defects in the structural matrix of skin tissue in 33 percent of study patients with intracranial aneurysms. Aneurysms are weakened sections of blood vessels that balloon out from the artery wall. When they rupture, they can cause a type of stroke known

Major breakthrough could lead to successful treatment of viral cancers, without side-effects. Yorkshire Cancer Research funded researchers at the University of York have made a major cancer breakthrough. Using a new technique called RNA interference, they have successfully killed human cervical cancer cells grown in culture without causing damage to healthy cells. The discovery could have major implications, potentially leading to the successful treatment of cancers caused by viral

New research findings by scientists in Germany* – soon to be published in The Royal Society`s Proceedings B journal – will be of major importance for HIV and AIDS treatment in the future. The findings provide estimates on the likely success of drugs which are currently in development and clarifies key factors of HIV dynamics that must be eliminated to pave the way for an efficient treatment of HIV/AIDS.

Using computer simulations to map the `predator-prey` dynamics between viruses and the im

Research yields another benefit to low-dose aspirin

The original miracle drug, aspirin, continues to surprise medical scientists. While studies have proven that aspirin can prevent a second heart attack by thinning the blood, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that aspirin can also prevent heart attacks and stroke through an entirely different mechanism. Using laboratory models, the Penn researchers demonstrated that aspirin also lessens the