Chronic News and Research

RSS

New cellular pathway could help develop therapeutic treatments for obesity-related disorders

Cardiac researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found a new cellular pathway that could help in developing therapeutic treatments for obesity-related disorders, like diabetes and heart disease.

17 Nov 2010

New educational campaign provides information to Alzheimer's caregivers

More than five million people in the United States (U.S.) have Alzheimer's disease (AD), a progressive and devastating condition that also impacts millions of more people who love and care for these patients. Last year in the U.S., the 11 million unpaid caregivers for patients with Alzheimer's or another dementia provided 12.5 billion hours of care.

17 Nov 2010

LRI pleased with FDA Advisory Committee's approval of Benlysta for lupus

The Lupus Research Institute (LRI) and its National Coalition of state and local lupus organizations are pleased with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Committee's vote to recommend approval of Benlysta® for active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), offering patients new found hope for the first approved treatment option in more than 50 years.

17 Nov 2010

Scientists determine ways to stop damage, promote neuronal growth in spinal cord injury

If researchers could determine how to send signals to cells responding to a spinal cord injury, they might be able to stop one type of cell from doing additional damage at the injury site and instead, coax it into helping nerve cells grow.

17 Nov 2010

New OncoMap technique can detect point mutation in ovarian cancer

Researchers have shown that point mutations mis-spellings in a single letter of genetic code that drive the onset and growth of cancer cells can be detected successfully in advanced ovarian cancer using a technique called OncoMap. The finding opens the way for personalised medicine in which every patient could have their tumour screened, specific mutations identified, and the appropriate drug chosen to target the mutation and halt the growth of their cancer.

17 Nov 2010

Researchers explore interplay between pain and anxiety

Disability from chronic pain in adolescents can be exacerbated by high levels of anxiety, according to research reported The Journal of Pain, the peer review publication of the American Pain Society.

17 Nov 2010

Stratatech receives SBIR grant to develop anti-infective living human skin substitute

Stratatech Corp., a privately-held regenerative medicine company, today announced that it has been awarded a $3.5 million Fast-Track SBIR grant to expand the development of its anti-infective living human skin substitute.

17 Nov 2010

Progenics initiates ONO-3849 phase 2 clinical trial for OIC in Japan

Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the initiation of a phase 2 clinical trial of subcutaneous methylnaltrexone in Japan by its collaborator, Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The drug, designated ONO-3849 in Japan, is being evaluated for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation (OIC) in patients with advanced illness such as cancer.

17 Nov 2010

Changes to flexible spending accounts; High co-pays prompt abandoned prescriptions

Minnesota Public Radio: "[T]he federal health care reform law is cutting back on what [flexible spending] accounts will cover and how much workers can put into them. … These two changes are designed to raise more tax revenue to help pay for insuring another 32 million Americans beginning in 2014.

16 Nov 2010

Isis, Xenon enter collaboration to discover and develop antisense drugs for AI

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced today a new collaboration to discover and develop antisense drugs as novel treatments for the common disease anemia of inflammation (AI).

16 Nov 2010

Today's Op-Eds: Congress needs conservative leadership; reviving tort reform; can states afford to drop Medicaid?

Nothing has gone quite so awry as the massive, government-run Obama health program, and it is plain that the individual mandate, the employee mandate, the abortion funding, the tangle of outsider/insider councils like the comparative effectiveness board and the effective nationalization of healthcare under grants of authority to the Department of Health and Human Services.

16 Nov 2010

Risk reduction of 20 ailments with regular exercise: Review

In a review article researchers have concluded that regular exercise cuts the risk of more than 20 illnesses. Some of these include colon cancer, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and stroke said the study published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

16 Nov 2010

Argon enters licensing agreement with Rex Medical for UltraStream catheter

Argon Medical Devices, Inc. announced today that it has entered into a definitive licensing agreement with Rex Medical, LP for exclusive rights to market and distribute the UltraStream chronic dialysis catheter on a global basis.

16 Nov 2010

Medical Acoustics receives UB CAT/NYSTAR grant

Medical Acoustics LLC, a commercial-stage medical device company which employs acoustic technologies for diagnostic and therapeutic medical applications, today announced that it has been awarded a UB CAT/NYSTAR grant.

16 Nov 2010

Study shows asthma drugs can treat aortic aneurysm

A new study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet shows that asthma drugs are a potential treatment for aortic aneurysm. These drugs, which block cysteinyl-leukotrienes, could reduce the break down of vessel wall tissue and the dilation of the aortic wall, and thus the risk of its rupturing.

16 Nov 2010

Study finds two-thirds of asthma patients take combined ICS/LABA treatment

Despite national guidelines recommending that inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) be used alone as the preferred treatment for patients with mild persistent asthma, a new study finds that nearly two-thirds of these patients are taking more costly drugs that combine an ICS and a long-acting beta agonist (LABA) with no apparent additional clinical benefit noted based on pharmacy and medical claims.

16 Nov 2010

Canadian government announces new research initiative on childhood obesity

The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, today announced new initiatives for research on physical activity and childhood obesity through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

16 Nov 2010

Food, drugs of abuse engage same brain systems, show studies

New animal research helps explain why some eat without hunger or to excess. The studies explore the biological effects of poor eating habits, showing that high-fat diets cause lasting brain changes that may impair healthy eating. Additional studies show that food and drugs of abuse engage many of the same brain systems. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2010, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news on brain science and health.

16 Nov 2010

Teenage binge drinking could cause mental health problems in adulthood: Study

Binge-drinking teenagers may be putting themselves at higher risk in adulthood for mood disorders such as anxiety and depression, Loyola University Health System researchers report.

16 Nov 2010

cTnT blood biomarker may predict risk of cardiovascular problems: Study

Certain measures of the blood biomarker cardiac troponin T (cTnT), a cardiac-specific protein, using a highly sensitive test, are associated with the development of heart failure or cardiovascular death in older adults, according to a study that will appear in the December 8 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early online because it will be presented at the American Heart Association's annual meeting.

16 Nov 2010