Monthly Archives: January 2010

New method published in Genome Medicine improves complex disease risk prediction

A Method recently published in Genome Medicine suggests that inclusion of phenotypic and genotypic information from close relatives in a genetic risk prediction model can lead to improved estimates of an individual’s disease risk. Douglas Ruderfer, Joshua Korn and Shaun Purcell, from Massachusetts General Hospital, The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and Harvard Medical… Read more »

Medicine

Towards malaria elimination – a new thematic series

Approximately half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria, particularly those living in lower-income countries. This disease is curable and more importantly preventable, so why does a child continue die of malaria every 30 seconds? A thematic series entitled ‘Towards malaria elimination’ published in Malaria Journal provides encouraging news about what is achievable… Read more »

Developing World Medicine

Inflammation hypothesis linked to Alzheimer's therapy

Alzheimer’s disease is thought to affect 37 million people worldwide, and there is evidence to suggest that inflammation can contribute to Alzheimer’s and exacerbate the course of the disease.  A review published in Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy discusses inflammatory reactions in Alzheimer’s, which are still considered to be downstream effects of the accumulated proteins believed… Read more »

Medicine

HIV/AIDS and Disability – a new thematic series published by Journal of the International AIDS Society

Disabilities associated with HIV infection are a real concern as they can make it difficult for HIV sufferers to participate fully in society. Disabilities can be physical, mental or involve sensory impairment and there is also evidence to show that people with existing disabilities are at a higher risk of contracting an HIV infection. Although… Read more »

Medicine
3

Optimal design for questionnaires in clinical trials: science or art?

Questionnaires are a valuable tool for gathering outcome data from patients enrolled in clinical trials. In a review published this week in Trials Dr Phil Edwards considers recent developments in the field of questionnaire design that may help investigators minimize bias, improve data completeness and maximize precision in estimating the effect of treatments. Review Questionnaires in… Read more »

Medicine

Using Insulin-like growth factor genes to predict outcome in breast and lung cancer patients

As the era of personalised medicine and genomics evolves and the potential for better targeted treatments becomes a reality, the need to identify which individual treatments will benefit each individual patient is becoming imperative. One way to do this is to try and identify predictive gene signatures.  This is what Rajski and colleagues have done… Read more »

Medicine

Proteomic effects of hormone therapies – new research in Genome Medicine

New research by Samir Hanash, Ross Prentice and colleagues, recently published in Genome Medicine, suggests that the different proteomic effects of estrogen-alone and estrogen plus progestin treatments may explain the distinctive clinical effects of each therapy. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) acts as an artificial boost to women’s hormone levels, providing short-term relief from symptoms of… Read more »

Medicine