Health and Medicine

New methods are being developed to cure illnesses with the aid of gene therapy. Polymer technology provides new and versatile possibilities for administering gene doses.
”Polymers are used to pack the gene to be transferred into particles of the size of a ten thousandth of a millimetre. These polymers effectively transport the transferable gene into affected cells and are then dissolved by the organs,” explains Project Coordinator, Professor Arto Urtti of the Bio-pharmacy Department of the Unive

Emergency medicine doctors come top of the stress league, with around double the reported stress levels of other doctors, reveals a national survey in Emergency Medicine Journal. Nearly one in 10 reported suicidal thoughts.

All 479 emergency medicine consultants across the UK were sent a validated survey to determine levels of psychological distress and depressive symptoms. Respondents were also asked to detail the frequency and ‘stressfulness’ of work stressors.

In all, 350 respond

Patients with evidence of recent psychiatric illness have a high risk of sustaining head injury over the next 12 months, finds a study in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

The researchers looked at the health records of patients who had sustained a head injury in the 12 months after joining a large health organisation (HMO) in the USA covering six counties.

The presence of mental health problems was determined from prescriptions for psychiatric drugs, a confirme

Two British scientists, Dr Ashley Croft and Dr Andrew Herxheimer, have published a paper which for the first time tries to explain the adverse effects of the controversial antimalaria drug, mefloquine (Lariam®).

Mefloquine, made by the Swiss drug company Hoffmann-La Roche, is used both to treat and prevent malaria. Since the 1980s doctors have used it to treat around 2 million people with malaria, and about 15 million travellers have used mefloquine as malaria prophylaxis.

Althoug

Ex-Soviet Union viruses could fill antibiotic gap.

Russian remedies could take out hardy US bacteria. Long-abandoned by Western medicine, viruses that naturally kill microbes are being imported as a potential substitute for antibiotics.

The emergence of multi-drug-resistant bacteria is intensifying the search for antibiotic replacements. Bemoaning the problem, clinician Glenn Morris of the University of Maryland in College Park got an idea from a colleague from the former Sov

Fortification and false memory could foil food and drug trials

When nutritionist Andrea Pontello went shopping for apple juice she got a “wake-up call”. Apple juice is normally low in vitamin C, but she found that 9 out of 11 brands had been boosted with additional vitamins.

Supplementation could scupper clinical trials for antioxidants, she realized, if participants’ intake of vitamins C and E from fortified foods is not taken into account.

Antioxidants mop up