Cancer patients can get the vital nutritional benefits from taking antioxidants without the risk of interfering with radiation treatment, according to research findings presented last weekend at the Society of Integrative Oncology's Third International Conference in Boston. The Society for Integrative Oncology is a non-profit organization of oncologists and other health professionals studying and integrating effective complementary therapies in cancer care.

Objective: To assess the efficacy, safety and impact on quality of life of tramadol in the treatment of neuropathic pain in patients with cancer.

Methods: Patients with similar characteristics were grouped in pairs and randomised to receive either tramadol or placebo. The initial tramadol dosage was 1 mg/kg every 6 hours, increasing to 1.5 mg/kg every 6 hours if necessary to control pain.

Many cancer patients who have heart attacks often are not treated with life saving aspirin given the belief in the medical community that they could experience lethal bleeding. Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, however, say that notion is now proven wrong and that without aspirin, the majority of these patients will die.

Updated American Heart Association guidelines for prevention of cardiovascular disease in women say routine low-dose aspirin should be considered for women of all ages to prevent strokes.

Is there a role for vitamin C in the management of erythropoetin-resistant anemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD)?

George Gartley, BSN

Yu-Xiao Yang, MD, MSCE; James D. Lewis, MD, MSCE; Solomon Epstein, MD; David C. Metz, MD

JAMA. 2006;296:2947-2953.

Context Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may interfere with calcium absorption through induction of hypochlorhydria but they also may reduce bone resorption through inhibition of osteoclastic vacuolar proton pumps.

Objective To determine the association between PPI therapy and risk of hip fracture.

Researchers at the 27th Annual Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) meeting announced today that high-dose progesterone treatment helped at-risk pregnant women avoid premature delivery. A preterm birth can have serious consequences to the baby, including cerebral palsy, mental retardation, lung disease, blindness and hearing loss.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved Colazal (balsalazide disodium) for the treatment of mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis in patients 5 to 17 years of age. The condition is a type of inflammatory bowel disease which causes inflammation of the colon and rectum and affects about 5 per 100,000 pediatric patients in the United States each year.

FDA notified healthcare professionals of new emerging safety concerns about Zyvox (linezolid) from a recent clinical study. This open-label, randomized trial compared linezolid to vancomycin, oxacillin, or dicloxacillin in the treatment of seriously ill patients with intravascular catheter-related bloodstream infections including those with catheter-site infections.