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Drug offers alternative treatment strategy for insomnia

Orexin receptor antagonism may offer a novel treatment approach to insomnia, clinical findings suggest.

7 Dec 2012

ASU scientists use X-ray laser to reveal 3-D structure of cathepsin B enzyme

An international team of scientists, using the world's most powerful X-ray laser, has revealed the three dimensional structure of a key enzyme that enables the single-celled parasite that causes African trypanosomiasis (or sleeping sickness) in humans.

6 Dec 2012

NOXXON commences NOX-H94 Phase IIa trial to treat anemia of chronic disease

NOXXON Pharma today announced the treatment of the first patients in a Phase IIa clinical trial of its anti-hepcidin Spiegelmer NOX-H94 to treat anemia associated with chronic disease.

5 Dec 2012

Pain can be treated by targeting immune and nerve cells outside brain or spinal cord

The treatment of inflammatory pain can be improved by endogenous opioid peptides acting directly in injured tissue. Scientists at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Université Paris Descartes showed that pain can be successfully treated by targeting immune and nerve cells outside the brain or spinal cord.

3 Dec 2012

Researchers study antimicrobial peptides in fish gills to find solution for blocking human infections

Living in an environment teaming with bacteria and fungi, fish have evolved powerful defenses against waterborne pathogens, including antimicrobial peptides located in their gills. Undergraduate researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are studying the biology and the mechanics of one of those peptides with the hope they can use that knowledge to create engineered surfaces that kill bacteria responsible for foodborne illnesses and hospital-acquired infections.

1 Dec 2012

NAP and SAL injection during pregnancy improve memory, learning tasks in offsprings

Mice with a condition that serves as a laboratory model for Down syndrome perform better on memory and learning tasks as adults if they were treated before birth with neuroprotective peptides, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

30 Nov 2012

Membrane-proximal external region of HIV could be used to design vaccines

Beatriz Apellaniz, PhD holder of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country, has studied in her PhD thesis HIV regions that could be used to design a vaccine. The researcher has focussed her research on a specific region of the surface protein of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which is responsible for the Autoimmune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), one of the diseases with the greatest human morbidity and mortality.

30 Nov 2012

Rhythm raises additional $8 million to complete Series B financing

Rhythm announced today that the company has raised an additional $8 million to complete a $33 million Series B financing.

27 Nov 2012

Moderate exercise protects elderly hearts

The more exercise taken by individuals aged 65 years and older, the less likely biomarkers indicative of cardiac injury and new-onset heart failure are to increase, show US study findings.

26 Nov 2012

Somnogen induces sleep in patients with primary hypersomnia

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have discovered that dozens of adults with an elevated need for sleep have a substance in their cerebrospinal fluid that acts like a sleeping pill.

22 Nov 2012

Study: 2-PMPA improves cognition in mice with MS

Johns Hopkins researchers report the successful use of a form of MRI to identify what appears to be a key biochemical marker for cognitive impairment in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis (MS). In follow-up experiments on mice with a rodent form of MS, researchers were able to use an experimental compound to manipulate that same marker and dramatically improve learning and memory.

21 Nov 2012

New polymer-based system to fight infection, filter water and heal wounds

Working in the lab for the last few years, three generations of University of Akron polymer scientists say their mutual and passionate curiosity about science has led to their discovery of a first-of-its-kind, easily adaptable biocompatible polymer structure able to fight infection, filter water and perform a host of other functions.

20 Nov 2012

UBC microbiologist receives Prix Galien 2012 Research Award

UBC microbiologist Robert E.W. Hancock has received the Prix Galien 2012 Research Award, widely considered the most prestigious honour in Canadian pharmaceutical research and innovation. Hancock is being recognized for pioneering work unravelling the complex interactions between antibiotics and bacteria.

20 Nov 2012

Researchers discover new gene for susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease

A large-scale international study involving French researchers from the Inserm-Institut Pasteur Lille-Universit- Lille Nord de France "Public health and molecular epidemiology of ageing-related diseases" joint research unit led by Philippe Amouyel, has just discovered a gene for susceptibility to a rare disease that causes susceptibility to a common one, Alzheimer's disease, providing evidence of the heterogeneous aetiology of Alzheimer's disease.

20 Nov 2012

Researchers discover health similarities between humans and pigs

An international scientific collaboration that includes two Kansas State University researchers is bringing home the bacon when it comes to potential animal and human health advancements, thanks to successfully mapping the genome of the domestic pig.

17 Nov 2012

Oxytocin regulates social distance between women and men

Flirting brings women and men closer. But the "social distance" ensures that they will keep a certain spatial distance from each other. Researchers under the leadership of the University of Bonn studied whether this distance can be diminished by the so-called love hormone, oxytocin.

16 Nov 2012

D737 compound restores motor function and longevity in fruit flies with Alzheimer's

An efficient, high-volume technique for testing potential drug treatments for Alzheimer's disease uncovered an organic compound that restored motor function and longevity to fruit flies with the disease, according to new research that could help put the search for an effective Alzheimer's drug on a faster track.

16 Nov 2012

Combination of hormones may effectively treat obesity with few side effects

Scientists at Indiana University and international collaborators have found a way to link two hormones into a single molecule, producing a more effective therapy with fewer side effects for potential use as treatment for obesity and related medical conditions.

14 Nov 2012

Scientists to develop hydrogels that can be injected into patients to form active biological scaffolds

Smart scaffolding that can guide cells, proteins and small-molecule drugs to make new tissue and repair damage inside the body is in the works at Rice University.

14 Nov 2012

Elevated ST2 biomarker levels strongly indicate heart failure and mortality in HIV patients

Critical Diagnostics, makers of the Presage ST2 Assay, announced today that during a presentation at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Los Angeles, the results of a study demonstrated that elevated levels of the biomarker ST2 in HIV patients was strongly indicative of the development of heart failure and mortality.

9 Nov 2012