World Heart Day 2017: At the heart of health!
The fight against cardiovascular disease goes global this World Heart Day, 29th September 2017!
Monthly Archives: September 2017
Neoplastic Petals: unfurling the factors that help cancer to spread
Dr Sarah Boyle, winner of the Breast Cancer Research Image Competition 2017 People’s Choice award, tells us more about the research behind her image ‘Neoplastic Petals’.
HPV-related oropharynx cancer: The new staging system
Patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer now have a better prognosis and may not need as aggressive therapy as patients with HPV-negative head and neck cancers. In this blog, Dr Shrujal Baxi discusses a staging system for oropharyngeal cancers that are HPV-related and those that are not which reflects this improved prognosis.
1Can Lyme disease trigger celiac disease?
Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition driven by immune responses to the ingestion of gluten proteins in genetically predisposed individuals. Additional environmental factors, including infectious agents are also speculated to play a role in the onset of celiac disease. A new study, published today in BMC Medicine, examines the potential contribution of Lyme disease, the most common vector-borne infection in the United States and Europe, to the risk of celiac disease.
How well do you know sepsis?
2017 marks 15 years since the creation of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign, 10 years of the Sepsis Alliance and 5 years of World Sepsis Day, held annually on 13th September.
As outlined in this recent On Medicine blog post by Marijke Vroomen Durning of the Sepsis Alliance, treatment for sepsis is not complicated when it’s recognized early. Therefore, raising awareness of sepsis is vital in improving outcomes globally.
Quadrivalent flu vaccines are cost-effective, particularly for school children
Quadrivalent vaccines are currently given to children in England and Wales as part of the national seasonal influenza vaccination program. However the cost-effectiveness of this vaccine program compared to trivalent vaccines is an open question. Research published today in BMC Medicine uses a mathematical model of seasonal flu to estimate quadrivalent vaccine program cost, finding it to be cost effective for all age groups. Here to tell us more is lead author of the article Dr. Dom Thorrington.
“Weekend effects” in intensive care units
The notion that hospitalized patients can expect the same outcomes regardless of the day they are admitted has been increasingly questioned, with some studies suggesting that patients are at an increased risk of death if admitted on the weekend. Research published today in Critical Care comprehensively investigates the existence of “weekend effects” in intensive care units using elaborate statistical methods on a large cohort of Austrian patients.
Neoepitopes – new targets for childhood cancer therapy
New research published in Genome Medicine examines neoepitopes, new versions of proteins or peptides that can be produced following cancer-specific mutations. They find that a large fraction of childhood cancers harbor mutations that generate specific neoepitopes making them promising targets for cancer immunotherapy.
Sepsis Awareness Month – Suspect sepsis. Save lives.
September is Sepsis Awareness month. To mark the occasion we invited Marijke Vroomen Durning, Director of Content at Sepsis Alliance, to tell us more about Sepsis, the organization’s work, and the importance of raising awareness.
Rainbow Kaleidoscope: The Breast Cancer Research Image Competition winner
Ansel Lim’s image – ‘Rainbow Kaleidoscope’ was crowned the winner of this year’s Breast Cancer Research Image Competition. We found out more about Ansel and the biology behind his stunning image.