Cancer sufferers whose parents beat the disease have a better chance of doing the same, according to a Swedish study that suggests survival traits are hereditary.The research says good survival, defined as living for at least 10 years past the cancer diagnosis, extends to breast, lung, prostate and colorectal cancers.The same may hold for other cancers, the researchers, led by Dr Linda Lindstrom of the Karolinksa Institute in Stockholm, say. more...
SOME people with Type 2 diabetes may soon be able to reduce their injections from 14 to just one a week, after a long-acting version of an existing drug performed well in a clinical trial. The drug, exenatide, has been available in Australia in a twice-daily version since last year. But researchers have found that patients given an experimental higher-dose formulation, requiring just one weekly injection, achieved better blood sugar control than patients on the existing twice-daily product. Both sets of patients recorded similar reductions in weight - already noted as an advantage of exenatide. more...
Drugs taken by millions of men to alleviate depression may affect their fertility, say US scientists. A small number of healthy men given the antidepressant paroxetine for four weeks had far higher levels of sperm with damaged DNA. The results, reported in New Scientist magazine, do not necessarily mean these men would have serious problems becoming a father. more...
Vitamin C supplements may substantially reduce the benefit from a wide range of anti-cancer drugs, research suggests.Thirty to 70% less cancer cells in a lab were killed by a range of drugs, after pretreatment with vitamin C.Follow-up chemotherapy tests found tumours grew more rapidly in mice given cancer pretreated with vitamin C. more...
An Australian study has found that sleep deprivation can contribute to obesity in children.Researchers from the University of South Australia studied the sleeping habits of 4,000 children aged between 9 and 18, across the country.They found that being overweight did not have a particular effect on sleep patterns, but it was likely that less sleep triggered appetite-stimulating hormones. more...