News and Events
New target discovered to treat epileptic seizures following brain trauma or stroke
Posted:December 5, 2008
New therapies for some forms of epilepsy may soon be possible, thanks to a discovery made by a team of University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute neuroscience researchers.
NRL's P-3 aircraft support project to study tropical cyclones
Posted:December 5, 2008
The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has been hunting for tropical cyclones as part of a multi-national study to understand, observe, and predict the potential impacts of Pacific tropical cyclones. This project, called Tropical Cyclone Struture-2008, is part of a nine-nation project being carried out with the endorsement of the World Meteorological Organization, a part of the United Nations. The main goal of Tropical Cyclone Structure-2008 is to increase the predictability of tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific region.
'MEDNIK:' A novel genetic syndrome
Posted:December 4, 2008
Canadian researchers announce the discovery of MEDNIK, a debilitating genetic syndrome, in a study published December 5 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics. The team demonstrates that this syndrome is caused by a newly found mutation in the human AP1S1 gene.
The International Society for Stem Cell Research releases new guidelines
Posted:December 4, 2008
Today, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), the world's leading professional organization of stem cell researchers, released new guidelines for the responsible development of safe and effective stem cell therapies for patients. A Commentary article that summarizes the Guidelines for the Clinical Translation of Stem Cells will be published by Cell Press in the December issue of Cell Stem Cell, the official affiliated journal of the ISSCR.
UCLA expert blames American values for health-care crisis
Posted:December 4, 2008
To heal our ailing health care system, we need to stop thinking like Americans. That's the message of two articles by UCLA's Dr. Marc Nuwer, a leading expert on national health care reform, published this week in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Coerced medication used in psychiatric care despite lack of clinical evidence
Posted:December 4, 2008
Researchers are calling for more studies into the practice of forcing psychiatric patients to take medication, after a research review showed that there have been very few rigorous investigations of the procedure.
Few Ontario women with invasive ovarian cancer referred for genetic testing of breast cancer genes
Posted:December 4, 2008
An Ontario study of 491 women with invasive ovarian cancer found only a small proportion, 19%, were referred for genetic testing of BRCA1 and BRCA2, the breast cancer genes, which means family members are not informed of their cancer risk.
Some 70 percent of schoolchildren don't walk to school
Posted:December 3, 2008
Days when schoolchildren walked to neighbourhood schools are long gone. A new study by a team of researchers led by Paul Lewis, a professor of Urban Planning at the Université de Montréal, shows that only 30 percent of children attending elementary school reach school on foot or by bicycle.
International study supports new standard of treatment for women with advanced ovarian cancer
Posted:December 3, 2008
Results of a phase III, international randomized clinical trial demonstrate a new standard of care for treating advanced ovarian cancer that significantly reduces side-effects and post-operative deaths compared to the previously established treatment course. The study, presented at the 12th Biennial Meeting of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society (IGCS) in Bangkok in October, has a major impact on many countries where the new standard represents a more practical course of treatment.
EEGs show brain differences between poor and rich kids
Posted:December 3, 2008
University of California, Berkeley, researchers have shown for the first time that the brains of low-income children function differently from the brains of high-income kids.
Uncovering the real dirt on granular flow
Posted:December 3, 2008
A handful of sand contains countless grains, which interact with each other via friction and impact forces as they slip through your fingers. When a handful becomes a load in an excavator bucket, those interactions multiply exponentially.
McGill researcher on a quest to cure disfiguring parasitic disease
Posted:December 3, 2008
Eating a meal in a restaurant is one of those trivial, everyday activities we take for granted in the developed world. For Canadian aid worker Louisette Pouliot, however, the simple act of grabbing a quick bite at an outdoor eatery in Ouagadougou, the capital of the African nation of Burkina Faso, had profound implications for her life and health.
Radiologists diagnose and treat self-embedding disorder in teens
Posted:December 3, 2008
Minimally invasive, image-guided treatment is a safe and precise method for removal of self-inflicted foreign objects from the body, according to the first report on "self-embedding disorder," or self-injury and self-inflicted foreign body insertion in adolescents. The findings will be presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Prostate cancer drug reduces testosterone levels in as little as 3 days
Posted:December 3, 2008
More than 95 per cent of men who took degarelix for prostate cancer saw their testosterone levels fall dramatically as early as three days after they started treatment, according to a paper in the December issue of BJU International.
Ovarian cancer subtypes are different diseases: Implications for biomarker studies
Posted:December 2, 2008
In a new analysis of tissue biomarkers expressed in ovarian cancer samples, published by PLoS Medicine, David Huntsman and his colleagues from Vancouver General Hospital suggest that substantial differences exist between ovarian cancer subtypes which should be reflected in patient management. Although ovarian cancer is not the most common gynecologic cancer in women, the disease contributes a substantial burden of mortality in part because symptoms are nonspecific and the disease presents late in its course.
Ice beetles impacted by climate change
Posted:December 2, 2008
In the summer of 1968, Dave Kavanaugh set off on a hike that would change the course of his life. As a second-year medical student at the University of Colorado, he had joined a climbing club with a few members of the biophysics department, and the group had set their sights on Gray's Peak—the ninth highest mountain in Colorado. Kavanaugh, who has never been able to do anything slowly, scampered up to the top of the peak in record time and sat down to wait for the rest of the group. As he peeled an orange and gazed out at the surrounding terrain, a sudden movement caught his eye. A small black beetle had crawled up onto his boot. While most climbers would have ignored (or possibly squashed) the small intruder, Kavanaugh whipped a collecting vial out of his pack—beetle collecting had been a hobby ever since he took an elective entomology course in college—and scooped up the rare specimen. He had never seen it before in Colorado, and as he learned when he got back to campus, neither had many others. There were only two previous records of the species in the state. "That was it," says Kavanaugh with a grin. "I was hooked."
Marked improvement in body image, physical stamina, post-surgical pectus patients report
Posted:December 2, 2008
Patients who have had the common chest wall deformity known as pectus excavatum corrected report improved body image and ability to exercise, according to a study published December in the journal Pediatrics.
Thrombosis patients face greater risks than previously believed
Posted:December 2, 2008
Deep venous thrombosis (DVT), the formation of blood clots in the lower limbs, is the third-most common vascular disease in North America after heart attack and stroke, and is a frequent complication in hospitalized patients. DVT is a potentially serious condition that can lead to rapid death from pulmonary embolism if untreated, and has become such a serious health concern that the U.S. Surgeon General and the Canadian Safer Healthcare Now! coalition both recently issued highly publicized calls to action to reduce the number of cases of DVT in high risk groups, in part by improving the adoption of preventative measures like the early administration of blood thinners.
Risk of death may be higher with drug commonly used during cardiac surgery
Posted:December 2, 2008
The risks of death are probably higher with aprotinin, a drug commonly used to control blood loss and transfusions during cardiac surgery, compared with lysine analogues, according to a study http://www.cmaj.ca//cgi/rapidpdf/cmaj.081109 to be published in the January 20th issue of CMAJ.
A picture paints more than a petabyte of data
Posted:December 1, 2008
In the age of the petabyte, we all need help digesting and understanding massive amounts of information. In this month's Physics World, a series of features celebrates the ascendance of visual methods that are being used to make meaning of the mountains of scientific data.