Agents believed to selectively "restart" genes that limit cancer's growth -- a potential treatment option already in early clinical studies -- instead turn off as many genes as they turn on, a team of researchers from the
The first study of the patient's perspective on errors in medicine may have health care professional rethinking what is important to their patients.The study, published in the Annals of Family Medicine, suggests that patients are more di
The antidepressant Cymbalta (duloxetine HCl), a dual-reuptake inhibitor of serotonin and norepinephrine, 60 mg once or twice daily, significantly reduced pain in more than half of women treated for fibromyalgia, with and without major depression, accor
A study to help women decide how to give birth has started in Bristol and Weston. Known as the DiAMOND study (Decision Aids for Mode Of Next Delivery), it is being run jointly by the Universities of Bristo
Doctors who routinely measure blood pressure in people under 35 are more likely to misdiagnose than to detect hypertension correctly, according to a study in this week's BMJ. This could lead to unnecessary lifelong
A new study that will look at 50,000 sisters of women diagnosed with breast cancer opened today for enrollment across the United States. The Sister Study, conducted by the National Institute of Environm
The National Cancer Institute has awarded the Arizona Cancer Center at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center a three-year grant to e
Any long-term study that follows people in their old age is bound to lose numbers because of deaths among its subjects, but the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ALSA) and many of its participants are still going strong.The Adelaide-base
Young women who were treated for cancer as children have a greater chance of developing breast cancer if their treatment included chest radiation, if they initially had cancer of the bones, muscles, or connective tissue, or had a family history of brea
Women with late effects of polio experience menopause differently than their non-disabled peers - physiologically, physically and psychologically - according to a new study funded by Post-Polio Health International.A team of researchers from th
Migraine is a common and disabling condition that typically includes attacks of severe, pulsating, 1-sided headaches, often accompanied by nausea and sensitivity to sound and light, according to background information in the article. Population-based studies suggest that 6 percent to 7 percent of men and 15 percent to 18 percent of women experience migraine headaches. Many patients require interval treatment as attacks occur often or are insufficiently controlled. Drug treatment with beta-blockers, calcium antagonists, or other agents has been shown to reduce the frequency of migraine attacks; however, the success of treatment is usually modest and tolerability often suboptimal. Acupuncture is widely used for preventing migraine attacks although its effectiveness has not yet been fully established.
Klaus Linde, M.D., of the Centre for Complementary Medicine Research, Technische Universit?Munich, Germany, and colleagues investigated whether acupuncture reduced headache frequency more effectively than sham acupuncture or no acupuncture in patients with migraines. The study consisted of a three-group, randomized, controlled trial (April 2002-January 2003) involving 302 patients (88 percent women), average age 43 years, with migraine headaches, based on International Headache Society criteria. Patients were randomized to either acupuncture, sham acupuncture, or waiting list control. Acupuncture and sham acupuncture were administered by specialized physicians and consisted of 12 sessions per patient over 8 weeks. The sham treatment consisted of needles placed at non-acupuncture points. Patients were treated at 18 outpatient centers in Germany. Patients completed headache diaries from 4 weeks before to 12 weeks after randomization and from week 21 to 24 after randomization.
The researchers found that between baseline and weeks 9 to 12, the average number of days with headache of moderate or severe intensity decreased by 2.2 days from a baseline of 5.2 days in the acupuncture group compared with a decrease to 2.2 days from a baseline of 5.0 days in the sham acupuncture group, and by 0.8 days from a baseline of 5.4 days in the waiting list group. No difference was detected between the acupuncture and the sham acupuncture groups while there was a difference between the acupuncture group compared with the waiting list group (1.4 days). The proportion of responders (reduction in headache days by at least 50 percent) was 51 percent in the acupuncture group, 53 percent in the sham acupuncture group, and 15 percent in the waiting list group.
"In conclusion, in our trial, acupuncture was associated with a reduction of migraine headaches compared with no treatment; however, the effects were similar to those observed with sham acupuncture and may be due to nonspecific physiological effects of needling, to a powerful placebo effect, or to a combination of both," the authors write.
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