News by Subject Medicine & Health

Sechenov University together with their German colleagues suggest a new highly sensitive, quick, and pain-free method for diagnosing kidney cancer. This method is based on measuring of the immune response to arrestin-1, a retina protein that is synthesized in the cancerous cells of kidneys.

The marketing of consumer 'neurotechnologies' can be enticing: apps that diagnose a mental state, and brain devices that improve cognition or 'read' one's emotional state. However, many of these increasingly popular products aren't fully supported by science and have little to no regulatory oversight, which poses potential health risks to the public. Two bioethicists suggest the creation of a working group that would further study, monitor, and provide guidance for this growing industry -- which is expected to top $3 billion by 2020.

A new approach to pancreatic cancer screening may help doctors detect the disease in people at high risk before it reaches more advanced and difficult-to treat stages. A team led by Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) scientists has developed a new, simple blood test that, when combined with an existing test, detects nearly 70 percent of pancreatic cancers with a less than 5 percent false-positive rate.

A new study confirms the long-suspected role of obesity as a risk factor for developing renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a type of kidney cancer, and identifies several specific obesity-related factors. These factors include multiple measures of obesity, diastolic blood pressure and fasting insulin. In contrast, the study found little evidence for an association with RCC risk for systolic blood pressure, circulating lipids, diabetes or fasting glucose.

A group of scientists from Russia's Ural Federal University, headed by Professor Grigory Zyryanov, synthesized a group of multi-purpose fluorophores. The scientists told about the content and results of their research on the unique technology in a respected international scientific journal "Dyes and Pigments".

Rapid blood tests used by the NHS are unable to rule out tuberculosis (TB) and should be replaced with a new, more accurate test, a study has found.

Researchers at the University of Exeter and the Pacific Northwest Research Institute in Seattle have developed a new risk score which takes into account detailed genetic information known to increase the chances of type 1 diabetes. This could be used to help identity babies at highest risk of developing the condition in the future. The score may also be used at the time of diabetes diagnosis to help decide if someone has type 1 or type 2 diabetes, which need very different treatments.