Medicine Research news

Researchers from Quebec are big winners in a contest organized by Genome Canada in collaboration with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) after having been awarded 60% of the federal funds granted during this Canada-wide competition aimed at selecting the best genomics and personalized health research projects.

The Government of Québec announced today a $10 million investment in the Personalized Medicine Partnership for Cancer (PMPC). This public-private partnership will be focused on establishing an integrated approach for the development and implementation of clinical biomarkers and other personalized healthcare solutions to improve the outcome and cost-efficiency of healthcare services provided to cancer patients in the province of Québec and abroad.

Despite obvious motivation for quitting, 2/3 of patients will resume smoking within twelve months

Addiction to cigarettes, drugs and other stimulants has been linked in the past to the brain’s frontal lobes, but now there is scientific evidence that indicates where in the frontal cortex addiction takes hold and how.  Addiction could be a result of abnormal communication between two areas of the frontal lobes linked to decision-making.  The discovery will undoubtedly stimulate clinical work on new therapies for millions of people who suffer from addiction.

John Bergeron

McGill University’s board of governors has adopted a resolution demanding the Quebec government withdraw the cuts it is imposing on universities and restore the funding that was in place, saying the government’s action is “excessive and injurious” to the university.

Prescription medications remain one of the most common causes of severe adverse reactions in clinical medicine, accounting for thousands of deaths annually in Canada. The urgent need for rigorous, scientific drug safety research has been clearly understood for decades, but lacked national coordination until the arrival of the Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies (CNODES), which today released its first report documenting progress towards its goal of creating a fully operational system for rapid assessment of adverse drug effects in Canada.

"Despite high per-capita spending, health care in Canada consistently underperforms, according to the Commonwealth Fund, which tracks indicators for accessibility, timeliness and outcomes across a number of developed countries. The system that is straining to meet demand today will face an even higher burden in the years ahead, as the population ages. A number of Canadian business schools are looking to meet this challenge by educating future health care managers to bring new perspectives to old problems.

We’ve known for a while that the vestibular system in the inner ear is responsible for helping us keep our balance. And while researchers have already developed a basic understanding of how the brain constructs our perceptions of ourselves in motion, until now no one has understood the crucial step by which the neurons in the brain select the information needed to do so.

People who suffer from fibromyalgia (FM) – a medical disorder characterized by chronic widespread pain – are turning to the streets for marijuana to relieve their pain.A new study published in the journal Arthritis Care & Research, led by Dr. Mary-Ann Fitzcharles,suggests that These people tend to have poorer mental health, and are often on additional prescribed medications that could result in ne

Cachexia, a syndrome characterized by rapid weight loss and muscle deterioration, is a major cause of death among patients suffering from diseases like cancer, AIDS and chronic infection. Now, a newly published study by McGill University researchers shows that a low dose of Pateamine A is effective at preventing cancer-induced muscle wasting, which may lead to cachexia-fighting drugs.

Whether it is for research into clean energy sources, the future of wireless communication or a better understanding of the processes involved in language learning, over 160 established McGill researchers and more than 80 graduate students will benefit from support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) over the next five years.

Thanks to the Cole Foundation, pediatric leukemia research has again this year received support to recruit some of the best and brightest researchers in the field.

According to a new study led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC), older women who have been diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat are at higher risk of stroke than men.