One of the possible beneficial effects of probiotics in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the ability of probiotics in restoring the intestinal microbiota composition and thus improve IBS symptoms, reported a review paper appearing in a recent issue of Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility. According to the paper, reliable data regarding the use of probiotics [...]
New analyses from SHIFT (Systolic Heart Failure Treatment with the If Inhibitor Ivabradine Trial) show that ivabradine improves the quality of life in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), and that this improvement is directly proportional to heart rate reduction. The main SHIFT results, presented at last year’s European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress, showed [...]
Stent patients who achieve persistently low platelet reactivity have lower risks of cardiovascular events and death, compared to patients with persistently high platelet reactivity. These results were presented at the 2011 European Society of Cardiology Congress recently held in Paris, France. A secondary analysis from the Gauging Responsiveness with A VerifyNow P2Y12 Assay-Impact on Thrombosis [...]
A recent animal study shows that oral administration of the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus casei CRL431 modulates cytokine production and Toll-like receptor (TLR) expression in laboratory mice, thereby improving the animal’s immune response against Salmonella infection. Results of the study were reported in the August issue of the BMC Microbiology journal. The researchers had previously demonstrated [...]
Results of three phase I/II studies evaluating the use of Revlimid® (lenalidomide) – with either standard R-CHOP chemotherapy (R2CHOP) or rituximab – in patients suffering from different types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma have shown promising outcomes. In the study involving untreated diffuse large B-cell (DLBCL) or grade 3 follicular lymphoma patients, a 100 percent overall response [...]
A new therapy helps alleviate pain among cancer patients who suffer from seizures, confusion, difficulty swallowing and other neurological complications of metastatic cancer, according to research published online in the July 1 issue of Journal of Neurosurgery. Developed to treat cancer-related neoplastic meningitis, a life-threatening brain invasion of cancer cells, the technique involves bathing the brain [...]
Scientists from the Centre for Allergy and Environment in Munich (ZAUM), the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technische Universität München may have discovered the causes of atopic eczema and psoriasis – impaired immunological memory. The results of the study have been published in the July issue of New England Journal of Medicine. The study involved [...]
Probiotics have shown good evidence of efficacy in preventing antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD) in clinical trials, but its efficacy in the prevention and treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (CDAD) remains unclear, concludes a review published recently in Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology. Diarrhoea is a common side effect following antibiotic therapy, while CDAD is a severe form [...]
The natural form of vitamin E alpha-tocotrienol (TCT) was recently discovered to block an enzyme that releases fatty acids after a stroke. The researchers also found that TCT stops the action of a gene that leads to brain cell death and might be more potent than drugs targeting single mechanisms for preventing brain tissue damage [...]
Treatment with intranasal corticosteroid fluticasone furoate may be beneficial for children with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), as the intranasal corticosteroid appears to reduce production of certain inflammatory cell proteins that may play a role in development of OSA, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery. [...]