This news release is available in German. Diabetes is one of the scourges of modern society, and the number of cases is rising every year. Already, there are over 380 million diabetics around the world. The International Diabetes Foundation estimates that by 2030, over half a billion people will be suffering from type 2 diabetes. Today, Switzerland has more than 430,000 diabetics, 40,000 of them with type 1 diabetes. What both type 1 and type 2 diabetes have in common is a dying off of insulin-producing beta cells, which are found on the pancreas. This deprives the ...

This news release is available in French. Women who were born preterm have a higher risk of giving birth to preterm children, according to a study, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, from researchers of the CHU Sainte-Justine and the University of Montreal. The researchers demonstrated that 13% of women born before 37 weeks of gestation gave birth prematurely at least once, compared to 9.5% of women born at term. Interestingly, this figure increased to 14% in women born before 32 weeks. "The difference is not alarming considering that according to ...

The DATECAN initiative, Definition for the Assessment of Time-to-event Endpoints in CANcer trials, has published Guidelines for time-to-event end point definitions in breast cancer trials in a recent issue of the Annals of Oncology. Standardized definitions can help researchers to more easily compare the results of clinical trials. The guidelines developed by the DATECAN initiative can help researchers to have a more uniform usage of key endpoints in the design, conduct, and reporting of clinical trials for patients with breast cancer. DATECAN was initiated by statisticians ...

A new study delineates a sequential pattern of changes in the intestinal microbial population of patients recovering from cholera in Bangladesh, findings that may point to ways of speeding recovery from the dangerous diarrheal disease. The report also finds what appear to be consistent differences between the gut microbial population - also called the microbiota - of individuals in developed countries like the U.S. and those the developing world and provides some of the most complete evidence that the gut microbiota usually return to normal after cholera infection. Their ...

A team led by researchers from UC San Francisco, Organic Health Response, and Microclinic International is reporting results of a study that showed significant benefits of microclinics -- an innovative intervention that mobilized rural Kenyan HIV patients' informal social networks to support their staying in care. The results showed that microclinics cut in half the normal rate of disengagement from care, which was defined as missing a clinic appointment by 90 days or more, when compared to the control group, and reduced the perceived stigma of HIV by 25 percent within ...

A new study has found that endocrine disrupting chemicals--which can interfere with the actions of hormones in the body--are present in some plastic teethers for babies, and the chemicals can leach out of the products. Investigators detected significant endocrine activity in 2 of 10 plastic teethers. One teether contained methyl-, ethyl- and propylparaben, while the second contained at least 6 different endocrine disrupting compounds that remain so far unidentified. "The good news is that most of teethers we investigated did not contain endocrine disruptors. However, ...

An Australian researcher has helped identify the kind of human trial that is most effective for testing Ebola vaccines. Associate Professor Manoj Gambhir, from Monash University's Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, is part of the team working on the research. Led by University of Texas Austin researcher Dr Steve Bellan, and in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the study on the design of CDC's vaccine trial in Sierra Leone is published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Safe and effective vaccines could help ...

Swedish clinicians recently reported the first live birth after uterus transplantation, which was followed by two more uneventful births and another pregnancy that is near term. In a new Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica commentary, one of the leaders behind these successes, Professor Mats Brannström, provides insights into how the Swedish uterus transplant project was initiated and its long research journey that spans over more than a decade. The first clinical uterus transplantation trial, which enrolled nine women, was initiated in early 2013 and ...

The anti-epilepsy drug valproate should be avoided whenever possible in women who may become pregnant due to a high risk of malformations and developmental problems in babies who are exposed to the drug before birth. The guidance comes from a joint task force of the Commission of European Affairs of the International League Against Epilepsy and the European Academy of Neurology. In an Epilepsia paper, the task force notes that it is also important that those women who need valproate to control their seizures are not denied the most effective treatment, as uncontrolled ...

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome, a hormonal disorder that affects 5% to 10% of the female population of fertile age, often experience sexual dysfunction and low self-esteem, but a new study shows that physical resistance training can help. Women who participated in physical resistance training--which included upper body, lower body, and abdominal exercises--experienced considerable improvements related to sexual function, desire, arousal, lubrication, and pain, as well as decreases in anxiety and depression. The authors noted that the Journal of Sexual Medicine ...

Toxins known as perfluoroalkyl substances have become virtually ubiquitous throughout the environment, and various national and international voluntary phase-outs and restrictions on these compounds have been implemented over the last 10 to 15 years. Investigators who examined trends in the accumulation of these toxins in the eggs of four species of aquatic birds from the Pacific coast of Canada from the early 1990s to 2011 report that the concentrations of some of these compounds are decreasing in line with manufacturing phase-outs, while others continue to increase ...

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (May 18,2015) -- The massive, federally funded anti-smoking campaign "Tips From Former Smokers" -- "Tips" for short -- fizzled more than it popped. That's the conclusion behind research published this week in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine by San Diego State University public health researcher John W. Ayers, along with a team of investigators at the Santa Fe Institute and University of Illinois Chicago. In the new study the team was able to look at the first two years of the campaign for the first time by monitoring the nation's internet ...

Washington, DC (May 19, 2015) -- Use of computer-assisted propofol sedation for routine upper endoscopy and colonoscopy reduced recovery room time by almost 20 percent, according to a study (abstract 1054) released today at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2015. The study, conducted by researchers at Virginia Mason Medical (VMMC) Center, Seattle, WA, showed the process yielded a better recovery experience than the commonly used combination of midazolam and fentanyl. "Some patients do not respond well to sedation with midazolam and fentanyl, and others find that these ...

WASHINGTON, DC -- May 19, 2015 -- It's no wonder that giant pandas are always chewing and eating, say Chinese researchers: their gut bacteria are not the type for efficiently digesting bamboo. The bamboo-eating giant panda actually harbors a carnivore-like gut microbiota predominated by bacteria such as Escherichia/Shigella and Streptococcus, according to new research published this week in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. "Unlike other plant-eating animals that have successfully evolved, anatomically specialized digestive ...

WASHINGTON - Inducing a sense of awe in people can promote altruistic, helpful and positive social behavior according to research published by the American Psychological Association. "Our investigation indicates that awe, although often fleeting and hard to describe, serves a vital social function. By diminishing the emphasis on the individual self, awe may encourage people to forgo strict self-interest to improve the welfare of others," said Paul Piff, PhD, assistant professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine. He was lead author ...

(PARIS, FRANCE) -- Two year outcomes in a study comparing implantation of transcatheter and surgical bioprosthestic aortic valves shows that the less invasive procedure is safe and effective, and comparable to the gold standard, surgical valve replacement, in patients whose operational risk was lower than that of patients studied in the pivotal randomized trials for these new devices. Dr. Lars Søndergaard from the Heart Center, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark presented the results of the Nordic Aortic Valve Intervention (NOTION) trial here ...

WHAT: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has proven lifesaving for people infected with HIV; however, the medications are a lifelong necessity for most HIV-infected individuals and present practical, logistical, economic and health-related challenges. A primary research goal is to find an HIV cure that either clears the virus from an infected person's body or enables HIV-infected individuals to suppress virus levels and replication to extremely low levels without the need for daily ART. In a new perspective article, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) ...

Apremilast (trade name: Otezla) has been available since January 2015 for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis or active psoriatic arthritis in adult patients in whom certain pretreatments are not sufficiently effective or unsuitable. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined in two dossier assessments whether this drug offers an added benefit over the respective appropriate comparator therapy. Such an added benefit cannot be derived from any of the dossiers however, because they contain no relevant data. Manufacturer ...

An international team of more than 100 scientists, policy makers and community representatives, led by international conservation charity the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), today published a new report outlining the vital steps needed to save the Hainan gibbon (Nomascus hainanus) from extinction. With only 25 individuals remaining in less than 20 square kilometres of forest in China's Hainan Island, the Critically Endangered Hainan gibbon is one of the rarest animals in the world. The last surviving Hainan gibbon population contains only three social groups, in ...

Suffering from anxiety or depression could carry an increased risk of death from liver disease, a study suggests. The study is the first to identify a possible link between high levels of psychological distress and deaths resulting from a variety of liver diseases. Reasons for this are unclear as the biological links between psychological distress and liver disease are not well understood, researchers say. Previous research suggests mental distress can put people at increased risk of cardiovascular disease. At the same time, risk factors for cardiovascular disease ...

(PARIS, FRANCE) -- Experts speaking at EuroPCR 2015 say the explosion of positive results for new-generation endovascular devices for the treatment of acute stroke warrant a call to action to ensure swifter implementation of this technology. Known as "stent-retrievers," mechanical thrombectomy devices use catheters introduced into a blocked cerebral artery to suck out or lyse a clot that is cutting off circulation to part of the brain. On Tuesday, EuroPCR 2015 featured a special breaking news session devoted to this rapidly evolving field to review the recent evidence ...

(PARIS, FRANCE) - Experts participating in a European Clinical Consensus Conference (CCC) have concluded that research into the use of renal denervation for high blood pressure in patients unable to control the disease using a multi-drug regimen should not be abandoned until high-quality research is completed according to agreed-upon standards. [1] "Focused, collaborative high-quality research will be necessary to ensure that future patients are neither denied an effective therapy, nor needlessly put at risk from procedures that bring no benefits," the authors, led by ...

Sending teen girls periodic text messages reminding them to follow through on their clinic appointments for periodic birth control injections can go a long way toward improving timing and adherence to contraception in an age group that is notoriously noncompliant, according to a small study from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. "Our findings suggest that text messaging can help overcome some issues that teens struggle with and pose challenges for the clinicians caring for them, such as keeping clinical appointments, adhering to a tight treatment schedule and regularly ...

There is a striking and statistically significant difference in how women and men are treated following a heart attack. These gender differences are reflected in the rate of risk factor control, which was lower in women, and in the rate of hospital readmission for a further heart attack, which was higher in women than in men. The conclusions are reported today in an analysis of the SWEDEHEART registry in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.(1) This Swedish registry is one of the world's biggest ongoing statistical records in cardiac treatments and one of the ...

Thirty-five million people worldwide are currently living with HIV-1/AIDS. Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) have been isolated from some patients with HIV-1, and these antibodies recognize and inhibit a range of HIV-1 variants. Strategies to enhance the potency and breadth of these bnAbs have the potential to inform the development of an effective HIV-1 vaccine. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation reveals that increasing the stability of an HIV-1-targeting bnAb improves efficacy. James Crowe and colleagues at Vanderbilt University used computational ...