blood test

(UT Southwestern Medical Center) A simple blood test may help doctors better predict whether prostate cancer will recur or spread in patients who have undergone surgery for the disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

Researchers have identified a panel of proteins linked to early development of pancreatic cancer in mice that applies also to early stages of the disease in humans -- a breakthrough that brings scientists a significant step closer to developing a blood test to detect the disease early, when cure rates are highest.

Researchers have discovered that people with high oxidation levels of the low-density lipoprotein particle that carries cholesterol throughout the blood are much more likely to develop metabolic syndrome -- which can lead to a considerably increased risk of developing heart disease.

A protein profile has been identified in the blood of chronic sinusitis sufferers that may enable physicians to objectively diagnosis and treat the disease, researchers say.

Silence isn't always golden. In the case of hepatitis B, people with a past -- and seemingly resolved -- infection often don't know that they still have a silent form of the disorder.

Now, new research suggests that slightly abnormal results from a blood test, once thought to be a fleeting curiosity, can tip off doctors to the presence of this potentially infectious and lethal viral renegade.

A new blood test that can give an early diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease and distinguish between Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease could be launched this summer, reports Marina Murphy in SCI's Chemistry & Industry magazine.

It may soon be possible to take a simple blood test and predict whether or not someone has low levels of a particular molecule, predisposing them to the development of type 2 diabetes.

If the test is positive, it may then be possible to use preventative treatment, slowing down, or even halting that development.

A test that profiles molecular biomarkers in blood could become the first accurate diagnostic test for Parkinson's disease, new research shows.