My Clinical Trials Diary

A vitamin jab that shrinks tumours in a day is being hailed as a powerful new treatment for cancer. British researchers who are testing the therapy say injecting an extract of vitamin E into the bloodstream has a rapid effect. Within 24 hours, tumours begin to shrivel and after ten days they have almost completely disappeared. So far, research has focused on the vitamin's ability to find and destroy skin cancers. But scientists from the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde, who led the research, are confident it will work for other types of tumours, too. Vitamin E is vital for helping the body to fight illness and is found in foods such as vegetable oils, cereals, nuts, green vegetables and eggs. It is rich in antioxidants that protect against disease by blocking damage from free radicals - harmful molecules that attack cells in much the same way as rust rots a car But for the past few years, one particular compound found in vitamin E has attracted attention a...

A bandage that gradually releases infection-fighting drugs and then dissolves once the wound has healed could help thousands of burns victims. The high-tech dressing, pioneered at Tel Aviv University in Israel, is designed to combat the high rate of infections among burns patients. It's estimated that as many as 70 per cent of patients with very severe burns die from infections that penetrate the body through damaged skin and wounds. Standard care involves regular cleaning and changing of bandages, which can disrupt the healing process. One of the major problems doctors face is that if these kinds of wounds are too dry, they won't heal fully; if they are too moist, there is a high risk of contamination by bacteria. To get round this, Israeli scientists have developed special fibres that are woven in such a way that they can 'store' significant quantities of antibiotic drugs. These fibres are used to make a dressing that sits on top of a burn and allows the medicine to s...

[1] Various methods are used to obtain specimens for hematocrit determination in neonates. We evaluated arterial sampling and found this method to be acceptable. Arterial values correlated closely with simultaneously obtained venous samples. Venous blood obtained with a tourniquet had a significantly higher hematocrit than that obtained without a tourniquet. [2] Influence of tourniquet application on venous blood sampling for serum chemistry, hematological parameters, leukocyte activation and erythrocyte mechanical properties Background: Venous blood sampling is usually performed using a tourniquet to help locate and define peripheral veins to achieve successful and safe venipuncture. Despite widespread usage of tourniquets for venipuncture by medical and laboratory staff, very few are aware of the effects of tourniquet application on laboratory parameters. In addition, definitive guidelines regarding when and how to use a tourniquet for blood sampling are lacking. The aim ...