Tag Archives: therapy

New therapy for itch in the future

Chronic itch is a major and distressing symptom in dermatological diseases including atopic eczema and significantly impairs the patient’s quality of life. In current, millions of people worldwide suffer from chronic itch. However, it is poorly treated.

Music therapy eases depression, soothes agitation in nursing home residents with dementia

Did you know that around the world there are more than 35 million people living with dementia? People who are diagnosed with dementia, a progressively worsening disorder that affects memory, often experience a sad mood, agitation, and

Lutetium-177 radioisotope targeted therapy for treatment of cancer and other diseases

By their nature, radioactive isotopes are unstable and can change to more stable forms by radioactive decay and emission of different types of radiation.  This emitted radiation is useful for cancer treatment which includes placement of “sealed”

Combinatorial cancer therapies: too many “good guys” don’t do always good!

“Μέτρον άριστον” (Metron ariston) is an ancient Greek phrase, attribute to Cleobulus (6th century BC), one of the Seven Sages of Antiquity, and is translated, as “Moderation is the best”. This was meant to be applied to

Gene therapy: a promising candidate for cystic fibrosis treatment

An improved gene therapy treatment can cure mice with cystic fibrosis (CF). Cell cultures from CF patients, too, respond well to the treatment. Those are the encouraging results of a study presented by the Laboratory for Molecular

Focusing on non-tumor-derived factors for leukemia therapy

Approximately 10-20 million people worldwide are estimated to be infected with human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I), and 1-3% of HTLV-I-infected individuals develop a cancer of CD4+ T lymphocytes in the blood each year.  The retrovirus-associated

Can use of a vacuum dressing reduce postoperative complications in dogs and cats?

Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is a therapeutic technique which uses a vacuum dressing to promote wound healing. An adhesive sealed dressing is used connected to an adjustable vacuum source which allows the controlled application of sub-atmospheric

Iron can help improving symptoms of Restless Legs Syndrome

Despite many treatment options for Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) the therapy is still not satisfactory. Even treated patients suffer from insomnia and pain. The decreasing effectiveness of treatment over the years associated with a deterioration of RLS-symptoms

Proposed novel therapy for a sexually transmitted disease

Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) is one of the seven pathogens that cause sexually transmitted disease, also popularly known as venereal disease. The NG infections are contagious. Their prevalence is higher among women than in men, high among sexually

Demyelination and remyelination signalling in multiple sclerosis as an aid to targeted therapy

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) characterised by demyelination. Demyelination, i.e. damage and erosion of the myelin sheath which protects the nerve fibres, occurs in the white matter of

The potential of LINGO-1 as a therapeutic target for essential tremor

Essential tremor (ET) is probably the most common movement disorder. Because the etiology of ET is unknown, treatment of ET is symptomatic and is geared towards reducing the patient’s embarrassment and disability. The first line treatment is

Time for a new understanding of chest pain

Most people who present to hospitals with pain in the chest have nothing wrong with their hearts. A small proportion have another physical problem such as acid reflux from the stomach but most have health anxiety or

A natural compound called rutin may shade light on diabetes therapy

Diabetes and its major risk factor, obesity, have become a world-wide epidemic and cause of suffering for millions of people. There is still no drug of cure for diabetes and the currently available drugs suffer from a

Complementary therapies can increase survival in cancer patients

It is well known that a large percentage of cancer patients use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), usually with the goal of improving quality of life, providing supportive care as well as  relieving pain

CITED1 is a potential therapeutic target for metastatic melanoma

Cancer kills over 8 million people every year. What makes it so deadly is its ability to spread from the organ where it originates to the rest of the body, a process known as metastasis. Even though

Electroconvulsive therapy without seizures?

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), sometimes called “electroshock therapy” is considered the most effective short-term treatment available for major depression. The procedure involves passing electrical current through the brain with electrodes placed on the scalp and is done in

A functional immune system against cancer in breast cancer patients

One of the hallmarks of cancer development is the ability of tumor cells to evade the recognition by the host immune system. However, the presence of immune responses against cancer is frequently observed in cancer patients. The

A combination therapy to induce apoptosis in difficult-to-treat cancer cells

The presence of activated PI3K-AKT is a major obstacle to successful chemotherapies. Since PI3K-AKT is activated in many healthy tissues, chemical inhibitors of PI3K-AKT inevitably have many unwanted side effects. By using a cholesterol-targeting drug called beta-cyclodextrin

Minimizing injuries from acute myocardial infarction

Reperfusion therapy is currently the mainstay treatment of acute myocardial infarction, as it salvages myocardial cells from ischemic cell death. However, abrupt restoration of coronary blood flow induces another type of cell death called “lethal reperfusion injury,”

Potential for therapeutic intervention in lung diseases

The major function of the lung is to enable ambient oxygen uptake (essential for life) and eliminate carbon dioxide (a waste byproduct of metabolism) from the body. Surfactant protein A (SP-A), is a protein found in the