Drugs News and Research

RSS

Boosting hypocretin could elevate both mood and alertness in humans

What makes us happy? Family? Money? Love? How about a peptide? The neurochemical changes underlying human emotions and social behavior are largely unknown. Now though, for the first time in humans, scientists at UCLA have measured the release of a specific peptide, a neurotransmitter called hypocretin, that greatly increased when subjects were happy but decreased when they were sad.

8 Mar 2013

EEG patterns track propofol effects

Researchers have identified electroencephalogram signatures of changes in consciousness caused by propofol.

7 Mar 2013

Analysis of anonymized web log data on drugs could be used as early warning system

The authors base their findings on an analysis of the anonymised search logs of millions of US web users, who agreed to install a browser add-on and share their online searches with Microsoft throughout 2010.

7 Mar 2013

RA patients who initiate anti-TNF therapies do not have higher risk of shingles: Study

Although patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a disproportionately higher incidence of herpes zoster (shingles), an analysis that included nearly 60,000 patients with RA and other inflammatory diseases found that those who initiated anti-tumor necrosis factor therapies were not at higher risk of herpes zoster compared with patients who initiated nonbiologic treatment regimens, according to a study appearing in the March 6 issue of JAMA.

7 Mar 2013

High Court to consider whether drug company deals restrain trade

Generic drugs have dramatically changed the pharmaceutical and health-care landscape in the last 25 years and now account for about 80 percent of prescriptions in the United States, with lower prices for consumers and insurers.

7 Mar 2013

UCLA scientists discover new genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease

Scientists at UCLA have discovered a new genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease by screening people's DNA and then using an advanced type of scan to visualize their brains' connections.

7 Mar 2013

Study suggests more accurate way to monitor patient awareness during general anesthesia

Massachusetts General Hospital investigators have identified specific EEG signatures that indicate when patients lose and regain consciousness under the general anesthetic drug propofol.

7 Mar 2013

Study investigates how cancer cells 'hijack' platelets

A new research study has investigated how cancer cells 'hijack' blood cells known as platelets, enabling cancer to spread around the body and promoting the growth of new tumours, it was reported today at the annual Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) Research Day.

7 Mar 2013

mTORC2 plays key role in regulating memory formation

Introductions at a party seemingly go in one ear and out the other. However, if you meet someone two or three times during the party, you are more likely to remember his or her name. Your brain has taken a short-term memory - the introduction - and converted it into a long-term one.

7 Mar 2013

High HDL levels block development of aneurysms in the aorta

New research provides early evidence that 'good' cholesterol may possess anti-aneurysm forming properties. In laboratory-based investigations, scientists found that increased levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL), the so-called good cholesterol, blocked the development of aneurysms - dangerous 'ballooning' in the wall of a blood vessel - in the body's largest artery, the aorta.

7 Mar 2013

Study shows how nanoparticles can be formed to efficiently carry cancer drugs to tumor cells

Small particles loaded with medicine could be a future weapon for cancer treatment. A recently-published study shows how nanoparticles can be formed to efficiently carry cancer drugs to tumor cells. And because the particles can be seen in MRI images, they are traceable.

7 Mar 2013

Scientists pinpoint neural basis for stress-related relapse in rat models

All too often, stress turns addiction recovery into relapse, but years of basic brain research have provided scientists with insight that might allow them develop a medicine to help. A new study in the journal Neuron pinpoints the neural basis for stress-related relapse in rat models to an unprecedented degree.

7 Mar 2013

Selective activation of the dentate gyrus can reduce anxiety without affecting learning

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have found the first evidence that selective activation of the dentate gyrus, a portion of the hippocampus, can reduce anxiety without affecting learning.

7 Mar 2013

University of Sunderland pharmaceutical scientists receive CFUK grant for research into cystinosis

Pharmaceutical scientists at the University of Sunderland have been awarded £125,000 by the Cystinosis Foundation (CF) UK to fund the next stage of their research into a rare genetic disease.

7 Mar 2013

Drugs that inhibit buildup of acylcarnitines may block axonal degeneration

Anyone whose hand or foot has "fallen asleep" has an idea of the numbness and tingling often experienced by people with peripheral nerve damage. The condition also can cause a range of other symptoms, including unrelenting pain, stinging, burning, itching and sensitivity to touch.

6 Mar 2013

Viewpoints: Doctors, nurses not reaping same health care 'bonanzas' as other providers; House GOP spending plan doesn't solve budget problems

When I followed the money trail in Time magazine's story "A Bitter Pill" behind the drugs, medical devices or CT scan equipment that the patients or their insurance companies were billed for, the profit margins for the hospitals that supplied them, as high as they were, were eclipsed by the margins of the manufacturers that sold them to the hospitals.

6 Mar 2013

Media examine reaction to, potential implications of 'functional cure' of infant born with HIV

"The remarkable case of a baby being cured of HIV infection in the United States using readily available drugs has raised new hope for eradicating the infection in infants worldwide, but scientists say it will take a lot more research and much more sensitive diagnostics before this hope becomes a reality," Reuters reports.

6 Mar 2013

Targeting ARF6 may be effectively prevent melanoma metastasis to lungs

Researchers have identified a critical protein role in the metastasis of melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer.

6 Mar 2013

Scientists discover key biochemical step underlying heart failure

Some 5.8 million Americans suffer from heart failure, a currently incurable disease. But scientists at Temple University School of Medicine's (TUSM) Center for Translational Medicine have discovered a key biochemical step underlying the condition that could aid the development of new drugs to treat and possibly prevent it.

6 Mar 2013

European scientists find root cause of age-related dementia

A team of European scientists from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and the Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases at the University of Cologne in Germany has taken an important step closer to understanding the root cause of age-related dementia.

6 Mar 2013

Drugs News and Research

Boosting hypocretin could elevate both mood and alertness in humans

EEG patterns track propofol effects

Analysis of anonymized web log data on drugs could be used as early warning system

RA patients who initiate anti-TNF therapies do not have higher risk of shingles: Study

High Court to consider whether drug company deals restrain trade

UCLA scientists discover new genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease

Study suggests more accurate way to monitor patient awareness during general anesthesia

Study investigates how cancer cells 'hijack' platelets

mTORC2 plays key role in regulating memory formation

High HDL levels block development of aneurysms in the aorta

Study shows how nanoparticles can be formed to efficiently carry cancer drugs to tumor cells

Scientists pinpoint neural basis for stress-related relapse in rat models

Selective activation of the dentate gyrus can reduce anxiety without affecting learning

University of Sunderland pharmaceutical scientists receive CFUK grant for research into cystinosis

Drugs that inhibit buildup of acylcarnitines may block axonal degeneration

Viewpoints: Doctors, nurses not reaping same health care 'bonanzas' as other providers; House GOP spending plan doesn't solve budget problems

Media examine reaction to, potential implications of 'functional cure' of infant born with HIV

Targeting ARF6 may be effectively prevent melanoma metastasis to lungs

Scientists discover key biochemical step underlying heart failure

European scientists find root cause of age-related dementia

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Latest News