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Dissimilar interaction of opioid receptors may explain why men, women experience pain differently

Women and men experience pain, particularly chronic pain, very differently. The ability of some opioids to relieve pain also differs between women and men. While it has been recognized since the mid-nineties that some narcotic analgesics are more effective in women than men, the reason for this difference was largely unknown.

19 Aug 2011

NCD Alliance says U.S., Canada, E.U. stalling efforts to fight NCDs

The NCD Alliance, which represents about 2,000 health organizations from around the world focused on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), "on Thursday accused the United States, Canada and Europe of harming efforts to fight cancer, diabetes, heart and other diseases because they will not agree to set United Nations targets," Reuters reports.

19 Aug 2011

Southampton scientists to progress nutrition and respiratory research

Clinicians and scientists working in the Southampton Centre for Biomedical Research, established by the partnership between Southampton's University Hospitals Trust (SUHT) and the University of Southampton, have been awarded £17m to progress the city's world-leading nutrition and respiratory research facilities.

19 Aug 2011

Longer looks: Doctors advocating less care; addiction as a 'disease'

These physicians are not anti-medicine. They are not trying to save money on their copayments or deductibles. And they are not trying to rein in the nation's soaring health-care costs, which at $2.7 trillion account for fully one sixth of every dollar spent in the U.S. They are applying to their personal lives a message they have become increasingly vocal about in their roles as biomedical researchers and doctors: more health care often means worse health.

19 Aug 2011

High blood phosphate levels can set CKD patients on a rapid path to kidney failure

High blood phosphate levels can set chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients on a rapid path to kidney failure, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

19 Aug 2011

Prior parasitic worm infections may complicate TB therapy

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major threat to global health, taking the lives of more than a million people worldwide each year. Its greatest impact is often in the most impoverished places on earth, where patients frequently suffer from multiple chronic illnesses at the same time. In such situations, the question of whether each individual illness might make concurrent illnesses more difficult to treat becomes a critical issue both for specific patients and for general public health.

19 Aug 2011

FDA grants Fast Track designation for DARA's KRN5500 neuropathic pain relief drug

DARA BioSciences, Inc. announced today that its investigational drug KRN5500 has been granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain in patients with cancer.

19 Aug 2011

Uppsala University to lead new advanced cancer study

Several prominent cancer researchers are now joining forces in an advanced new cancer study. The goal is to understand which tumors will be difficult to treat and to find out why certain cancer drugs lose their effect after a period of use.

19 Aug 2011

AHRQ awards Johns Hopkins Evidence-based Practice Center $475,000 for study on effective wound care

An estimated $25 billion is spent annually on treating chronic wounds on patients in the United States. These chronic wounds deeply affect the quality of life of more than six million people who have them. The most common types of chronic skin wounds and skin ulcers are related to venous disease (conditions related to or caused by veins that become diseased or abnormal).

18 Aug 2011

Cortex second quarter net loss decreases to $356,000

Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. reported a net loss of approximately $356,000, or $0.00 per share, for the quarter ended June 30, 2011, compared with a net loss of approximately $2,454,000, or $0.04 per share, for the corresponding prior year period, with the difference reflecting revenues in the current year period from the Company's option agreement with Servier, France's largest privately held pharmaceutical company.

18 Aug 2011

New leukemia drug in early clinical testing offers some clues for better treatment

While testing a new drug designed to treat chronic leukemia, researchers at Cleveland Clinic discovered new markers that could identify which patients would receive maximum benefit from the treatment.

18 Aug 2011

SAMHSA-funded project to develop a Prescriber's Clinical Support System

Medical professionals will gain access to free clinical support in the use of opioid medications through a new grant announced by SAMHSA today. SAMHSA awarded $1.5 million to the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry to develop a Prescriber's Clinical Support System.

18 Aug 2011

Insight into how HIV reservoirs may form

Much like cities organize contingency plans and supplies for emergencies, chronic infectious diseases like HIV form reservoirs that ensure their survival in adverse conditions. But these reservoirs-small populations of viruses or bacteria of a specific type that persist despite attack by the immune system or drug treatment-are not always well understood.

18 Aug 2011

U.S. research collaboration addresses threat of cancer in Latin America

In a post in the State Department's "DipNote" blog, Krysten Carrera, a Presidential Management fellow at the National Cancer Institute currently serving in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, discusses "the growing international effort to address the threat of chronic non-communicable diseases."

18 Aug 2011

ADA releases papers that examine dental safety net programs

The American Dental Association today released the second in a series of papers that examine the challenges and solutions to bringing good oral health to millions of Americans, including the growing population whose only possible source of dental care is the so-called oral health safety net.

18 Aug 2011

Endo terminates collaboration and axomadol development program with Grunenthal

Endo Pharmaceuticals announced today that it is terminating its research program and collaboration related to the development of axomadol.

18 Aug 2011

EMA accepts Pfizer's regulatory submissions of two investigational cancer drugs for review

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has accepted Pfizer's regulatory submissions for review of two investigational compounds - crizotinib, an oral first-in-class anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with previously treated ALK-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); and bosutinib for the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome positive (Ph+) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the chronic phase.

18 Aug 2011

New research: Sniffer dogs can reliably identify lung cancer

Sniffer dogs could be used for the early detection of lung cancer, according to new research published in the European Respiratory Journal.

18 Aug 2011

New gout drug may help severely affected: Study

A new drug for gout could help very sick gout patients who don't get better with usual treatment, according to a new study. The research was designed and funded by the pharmaceutical company Savient, which markets the drug, called Krystexxa (pegloticase).

17 Aug 2011

Addiction – a brain disorder say experts

According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, addiction is a chronic brain disorder like any other chronic brain disease such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder. Neurological abnormalities like disruptions in neurotransmission and the reward system drive addiction, the group said in a statement.

17 Aug 2011