Non-Drug Treatments for Dementia Show Promise, Experts Say
Memory training and other non-drug treatments may one day help older adults ward off declines in mental function, according to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in an editorial in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“The latest research suggests that mental training and physical activity both have promise for preventing declines in cognition,” said Sally A. Shumaker, Ph.D., lead author on the editorial. “It’s possible to envision a future treatment approach that combines lifestyle and drug treatments to meet the specific needs of each individual.”
Researchers Discover Method in Mice to Restore Tamoxifen Sensitivity in Resistant Breast Cancer
The widely used breast cancer drug tamoxifen (Nolvadex®), which can become less effective over time, might retain its full strength indefinitely if used along with a second drug, according to new research in mice conducted by investigators from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and their partners. The results appear in the December 11, 2006, issue of Cancer Cell*.
Tamoxifen has been used successfully since the 1970s to treat certain types of breast cancer and to prevent them from recurring after surgery. Clinicians observed that tamoxifen treatment initially reduced the rate of recurrence by nearly 50 percent. Over time, however, patients develop resistance to the drug and tamoxifen loses its effectiveness as a cancer treatment.
Cancer risk rises after kidney transplant, study says
People who have had kidney transplants face a big increase in risk for a variety of cancers, particularly those caused by a virus, according to a study published on Tuesday.
The researchers, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, tracked cancer incidence from 1982 to 2003 in nearly 29,000 Australians who got kidney transplants after serious kidney disease.
They excluded nonmelanoma skin cancer and cancers already known to lead to end-stage kidney disease, and found that the patients experienced an overall cancer risk nearly 3.3 times higher after getting a kidney transplant than before.
U.S. soldiers’ suicide rate in Iraq doubles in 2005
Suicides among U.S. soldiers in Iraq doubled last year over the previous year to return to a level seen in 2003, U.S. Army medical experts said on Tuesday.
Twenty-two U.S. soldiers in Iraq took their own lives in 2005, a rate of 19.9 per 100,000 soldiers. In 2004, the rate was 10.5 per 100,000 and in 2003, the year of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the figure was 18.8 per 100,000.
The figures cover U.S. Army soldiers only. They do not include members of other U.S. military services in Iraq such as the Marine Corps.
