The official MedZine Blog

Patients undergoing radiation therapy for left-sided breast cancer have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease. However, Mirjam Mast, researcher at the Bronovo hospital in The Hague, Netherlands, has found a simple solution: holding your breath during irradiation. This reduces heart damage, she writes in her dissertation. Continue reading

In a group of diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) patients who underwent bariatric surgery, up to forty percent experienced disease remission, whereas the patients with only lifestyle interventions remained dependent on medication. Those are the results of a cohort study with 52 DM2 patients from the US, published in JAMA Surgery. Continue reading

The crew resource management (CRM) training not only improves safety in aviation but is also useful for intensive care unit (ICU) personnel, researchers of the Dutch Radboud University Medical Centre discovered. Their prospective cohort study of three years was published in Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica and describes the effects CRM on the ICU complication rate. Continue reading

Since the discovery of the mutated CFTR gene in cystic fibrosis patients, scientists have been working on the development of gene therapy for this patient group. Recently, a gene therapy phase II clinical trial with 116 participants in the UK resulted in the halt of disease progression, although there was little effect. The article was published in The Lancet. Continue reading

In cooperation with researchers from the US, Israel and Europe, the Netherlands Cancer Institute (Antoni van Leeuwenhoek) has developed a new immune therapy for metastasised melanoma. During the next four years, the therapy will be available in research context and covered by health insurance. Continue reading

Treatment with antibiotics is often sufficient for curing acute appendicitis, scientists of the Amsterdam Medical Centre write in Surgery. In a small prospective cohort study, the researchers monitored the clinical course of simple appendicitis in children treated with antibiotics instead of appendectomy. Continue reading

In practice, methylprednisolon (MP) is administered intravenously in MS patients suffering from relapses. In a recent phase-IV clinical trial, however, Spanish scientists show that the drug has the same mode of action when taken orally. This route of administration would be more convenient for patients and has lower costs, the researchers write in Multiple Sclerose Journal. Continue reading

After years of discussion, scientists finally seem to have found the answer to what determines our behaviour: genetics or environmental factors. Apparently, no clear distinction can be made between the two, because both contribute equally. This simultaneously implies that every trait is hereditary, in contrast to previous assumptions. The VU Amsterdam and the University of Queensland, Brisbane, presented the results of the largest twin study yet in Nature Genetics. Continue reading

The accumulation of amyloid in brain tissue is an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease. An elaborate study from the VUmc Alzheimer Centre and the University Medical Centre of Maastricht has now identified these plaques in ten percent of healthy fifty year-olds. Furthermore, the protein accumulations seem to occur more frequent in people with a higher education. These results were published in JAMA. Continue reading

Scientists from the Cambridge University have recorded the action of cytotoxic T cells with high-resolution 4D imaging. With the help of these microscopic images the researchers were able to analyse the different steps leading to the killing of suspicious cells. Continue reading