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Researchers learn how signaling molecule orchestrates breast cancer's spread

A study led by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) has uncovered how breast tumors use a particular type of molecule to promote metastasis -- the spread of cancer cells. Metastasis is the cause of approximately 90 percent of all cancer-related deaths.

4 Apr 2008

Removing barriers to the distribution of life-saving vaccines

Barriers to the distribution of life saving vaccines in low income countries can and should be overcome, say experts in this week's issue of the BMJ.

4 Apr 2008

New nano-engineered gel inhibits for spinal cord injury

A spinal cord injury often leads to permanent paralysis and loss of sensation below the site of the injury because the damaged nerve fibers can't regenerate.

3 Apr 2008

Discovery of gene variant linked to nicotine addiction and lung cancer

Scientists have identified a genetic variant that not only makes smokers more susceptible to nicotine addiction but also increases their risk of developing two smoking-related diseases, lung cancer and peripheral arterial disease.

3 Apr 2008

New research shows benefits of ultrasound contrast agents outweigh potential risk to heart patients

A Saint Louis University cardiologist called upon the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today to reconsider a strong warning it recently placed on a diagnostic tool, stating that the warning could prevent doctors from detecting life-threatening cardiac events.

1 Apr 2008

Diabetics have same risk for heart attack, stroke or death from cardiovascular diseases

People with diabetes have the same high risk for heart attack or stroke or cardiovascular death as people who've already had a heart attack, researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

1 Apr 2008

Naglazyme approved in Japan

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. has announced that AnGes MG, Inc. (AnGes), BioMarin's marketing and distribution partner in Japan, has received approval for its Marketing Application for Naglazyme(R) (galsulfase) from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) for the treatment of patients with Mucopolysaccharidosis VI ( MPS VI).

1 Apr 2008

Epilepsy advocates propose strategies to heighten treatment expectations

On the heels of the nation's largest event dedicated to the epilepsy community, the National Walk for Epilepsy, advocates today announced their recommendations in response to a new national survey uncovering key challenges facing the epilepsy community.

31 Mar 2008

Potential new target for multiple sclerosis therapy

Researchers demonstrate both genetic and pharmaceutical evidence for the role of a protein called collagenase-2 in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), providing a potential new way to combat this debilitating disease.

31 Mar 2008

Groundbreaking study validates Pittsburgh Compound-B in identifying Alzheimer's disease brain toxins

A groundbreaking study conducted by University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer's disease researchers reported in the journal Brain (currently online) confirms that Pittsburgh Compound-B (PiB) binds to the telltale beta-amyloid deposits found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

28 Mar 2008

FDA deadlines may compromise drug safety by rushing approval

Many medications are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the brink of congressionally mandated deadlines, and those drugs are more likely to face later regulatory intervention than those approved with greater deliberation, researchers at Harvard University have found.

28 Mar 2008

New nanoparticles for targeting tumors

As a wide variety of nanoparticles continue to demonstrate their ability to improve the delivery of imaging agents and drugs to tumors, nanoparticle researchers have turned their attention to the challenge of systematically determining how a given nanoparticle’s physical and chemical characteristics affect its ability to target tumors. Such data could provide drug developers with guidelines to help them select the most effective type of nanoparticle for a given therapeutic or imaging application.

28 Mar 2008

Anticancer siRNA therapy advances, thanks to nanoparticles

Small pieces of nucleic acid, known as siRNAs (short interfering RNAs), can turn off the production of specific proteins, a property that makes them one of the more promising new classes of anticancer drugs in development. Indeed, at least two siRNA-based anticancer therapies, both delivered to tumors in nanoparticles, have begun human clinical trials. Now, three new reports highlight the progress that researchers are making in developing broadly applicable, nanoparticle-enabled siRNA anticancer therapeutics.

28 Mar 2008

Study shows use of asthma medication contradicts guidelines

A study has found only 16 per cent of the 352,082 Australians who filled a prescription for asthma preventer medications for the first time during the period July 2004 to June 2005, went on to use them regularly.

27 Mar 2008

The focus on HIV/AIDS has helped forget the threat of tuberculosis

A leading Australian expert has warned that the international attention devoted to HIV/AIDS has dwarfed the threat of tuberculosis (TB).

25 Mar 2008

Study shows how ignorance can be influential

In the current issue of The RAND Journal of Economics, USC researchers provide a challenge to the classic economic model of information manipulation, in which knowing more than anybody else is the key to influence.

25 Mar 2008

Experimental drug SGX393 offers new approach to help control drug resistance in leukemia

Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers have found that an experimental drug known as SGX393 is effective against Gleevec-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

25 Mar 2008

Free drug samples may burden patients' pockets

Following free drug sample receipt, patients who receive these samples have significantly higher out-of-pocket prescription costs than those who don't, according to the first study to look at the out-of-pocket cost associated with free-sample use, published in the March 24, 2008, issue of Medical Care.

25 Mar 2008

Stanford researchers unmask proteins in telomerase

One of the more intriguing workhorses of the cell, a protein conglomerate called telomerase, has in its short history been implicated in some critical areas of medicine including cancer, aging and keeping stem cells healthy.

24 Mar 2008