Lung disease experts at Johns Hopkins are calling for physicians to show much greater caution in prescribing inhaled corticosteroid drugs for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease after finding evidence that the widely used anti-inflammatory medications increase the risk of pneumonia by a full third.

Bevacizumab, a cancer drug, may be associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism, according to an analysis of several randomized controlled trials released on November 19, 2008 in JAMA. When a cancer forms, it necessarily undergoes the process of angiogenesis, whereby new blood vessels proliferate into the tumor.

Hormone therapy could accentuate certain pre-existing heart disease risk factors and a heart health evaluation should become the norm when considering estrogen replacement, new research suggests.

Third study confirming the benefit of Avastin in breast cancer shows that Avastin can be effectively combined with commonly used chemotherapies Roche announced that the Avastin study RIBBON-1 met its primary endpoint of increasing the time women with breast cancer lived without their disease advancing (known as progression-free survival) compared to chemotherapy alone, as determined by the treating physicians.

The Stowers Institute’s Rong Li Lab has published findings that shed light on the ability of cells to adapt to disruptions to their basic division machineries - findings that may help explain how cancer cells elude the body’s natural defense mechanisms or chemotherapy treatment. The work was published in the November 26 issue of Cell.

Ann Keen, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Health Services, last week visited Harefield Hospital where she learnt more about its leading primary angioplasty service for heart attacks and its artificial heart programme. Ms Keen spent an hour at the hospital meeting staff and patients who had recently benefited from care at Harefield. Praising the hospital, she said, “It is a privilege and an absolute pleasure to be here. Thank you for everything you’re doing - it’s fantastic.

Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP) reported that preladenant, its novel and selective adenosine2a receptor antagonist, met the primary endpoint in a Phase II dose-finding trial in patients suffering from moderate to severe Parkinson’s disease experiencing motor fluctuations and abnormal involuntary movements (dyskinesias). The trial results were presented at the company’s 2008 R&D Update meeting being hosted for analysts and portfolio managers at company headquarters.

A report by The Audit Office informs that most people in the United Kingdom are dying in hospital - even though the majority would prefer to die at home. The Audit Office explains that of the half-a-million people who die each year in England, over 66% are over the age of 75. Most deaths take place in an acute hospital, usually after a period of chronic illness, such as cancer, stroke, heart disease, neurological disease, dementia or heart disease.

The four ECG machines and an echocardiogram machine, which help medics diagnose heart problems, have been sent to the Federal Medical Centre in Abeokuta after they were decommissioned at City hospital.

Lung disease experts at Johns Hopkins are calling for physicians to show much greater caution in prescribing inhaled corticosteroid drugs for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease after finding evidence that the widely used anti-inflammatory medications increase the risk of pneumonia by a full third.