Strong painkillers increase the risk of hip fracture among persons with Alzheimer's disease
People using strong painkillers, opioids, have twice the risk of hip fracture compared to non-opioid users, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows. The risk was highest in the first two months of opioid use. The results were published in the PAIN journal.
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Aspirin and omega-3 reduce pre-cancerous bowel polyps
Both aspirin and a purified omega-3, called EPA, reduce the number of pre-cancerous polyps in patients found to be at high risk of developing bowel cancer, according to new research. A clinical trial, led by the University of Leeds, found that both aspirin and EPA reduced the number of bowel polyps in patients one year on from a screening colonoscopy (large bowel camera test), although they did not reduce the chances of an individual having any polyps present in the bowel.
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Scorpion venom to shuttle drugs into the brain
The Peptides and Proteins lab at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) has published a paper in Chemical Communications describing the capacity of a small molecule (peptide) derived from chlorotoxin, found in scorpion venom (Giant Yellow Israeli scorpion), to carry drugs across the blood-brain barrier (BBB).
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Diabetes drug prevents heart failure
In the largest trial to date to assess cardiovascular outcomes for an important class of diabetes medications, researchers have found that dapagliflozin markedly reduced the risk of hospitalization for heart failure in a broad population of patients with diabetes. This benefit was seen across the study population, including in patients who did not have a history of heart attack or heart failure.
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Blue light can reduce blood pressure
Exposure to blue light decreases blood pressure, reducing the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, a new study from the University of Surrey and Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf in collaboration with Philips reports. During this study, published in the prestigious European Journal of Preventative Cardiology, participants were exposed to 30 minutes of whole-body blue light at approximately 450 nanometres, a dose comparable to daily sunlight - followed by exposure to a control light on a different day.
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Gap in research means millions living with long-term consequences of cancer
Millions of people are living with the long-term consequences of cancer and its treatment, but currently there is very little research on the problems they face and how these can be tackled, according to the UK's National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI). Thanks to successes in research on diagnosing and treating cancer, more people are living longer with cancer and with the lasting side-effects of treatments.
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Tumour immune cells could aid cancer therapies
A pioneering technique designed to spot differences between immune cells in tumours could speed the development of cancer treatments, research suggests. Scientists say the approach could be used to help doctors choose the best treatments for individual patients and predict which tumours are likely to respond to a particular therapy.
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