The northeastern corner of Ontario — a vast area extending from just northeast of Wawa to Hudson Bay — has 51 hospitals and one permanent radiologist. That’s why Northern Radiology (NORrad) was created seven years ago to allow nine of those hospitals to share digital diagnostic images such as X-rays and ultrasounds. Before NORrad, emergency-room [...]
Health
Colorectal cancer most common
Taiwan recorded 73,293 new cancer cases in 2006, with the largest number being colorectal cases, according to the latest cancer incidence report released yesterday by the Department of Health=. The figures mean that on average, a new cancer patient was being diagnosed in the country every 7 minutes, 10 seconds in 2006, up slightly from [...]
Pfizer Cancer Drug Shows Benefits, Shares Rise
A late-stage clinical study of Pfizer Inc’s (PFE) Sutent was halted early after the drug showed significant benefit in patients with a rare form of cancer, the drugmaker said on Thursday, sending its shares up 3.5%. An independent committee monitoring the study recommended halting it after concluding that patients on Sutent stayed free of disease [...]
Oxygen therapy benefit in autism
A decompression chamber may help children with autism, say researchers. After 40 hours of hyperbaric treatment autistic children showed significant improvements in social interaction and eye contact compared with controls. The BMC Pediatrics study could not show if the results were long-lasting but should prompt further investigation of the treatment, the US team said. One [...]
Bird flu war could soon be won
Researchers have discovered human antibodies that neutralise not only H5N1 bird flu, but other strains of influenza as well. They now hope to develop them into life-saving treatments. The antibodies — immune system proteins that attach to invaders such as viruses —also might be used to protect frontline workers and others at high risk in [...]
Million Woman Study Links Alcohol Use to Cancer in Women
In seeming contradiction to previous studies where findings supported the benign or beneficial effects of alcohol consumption, a current study by researchers at the University of Oxford in Great Britain has linked even minimal alcohol use and cancer in women. The type of alcohol consumed was irrelevant. The so-called Million Women Study of middle-aged women [...]
Rapid HIV evolution avoids attack
HIV is evolving rapidly to escape the human immune system, an international study has shown. The Nature study highlights just how tough it could be to develop a vaccine that keeps pace with the changing nature of the virus. The researchers showed HIV was able to adapt rapidly to counter human genes controlling immune system [...]
Sensors Help Keep the Elderly Safe, and at Home
Increasingly, many older people who live alone are not truly alone. They are being watched by a flurry of new technologies designed to enable them to live independently and avoid expensive trips to the emergency room or nursing homes. Bertha Branch, 78, discovered the power of a system called eNeighbor when she fell to the [...]