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Africa's new partnership for sustainable health development 'makes sense'

With Africa's "emerging position in the global order, ... astute African leaders are striving to ensure that this realignment delivers a new paradigm of partnership for sustainable health development -- a partnership that is led by Africa, for Africans, through African-sourced solutions," UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe writes in a Huffington Post "Impact Blog" opinion piece.

19 Jul 2012

ScinoPharm to offer commercial manufacturing of topiramate API for VIVUS' Qsymia

ScinoPharm announced today that its Tainan, Taiwan Facility will provide commercial manufacturing of topiramate active pharmaceutical ingredient ("API") for VIVUS' Qsymia, a new drug for the treatment of obesity approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration on July 17, 2012.

19 Jul 2012

Diabetes linked to onset of Alzheimer's disease

Researchers from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), collaborating with scientists from Northwestern University in Illinois, have provided direct experimental evidence that diabetes is linked to the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

19 Jul 2012

Researchers verify role of alpha-synuclein aggregates in vivo

Using a two-photon microscope capable of peering deep within living tissue, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found new evidence that alpha-synuclein protein build-up inside neurons causes them to not only become "leaky," but also to misfire due to calcium fluxes.

19 Jul 2012

Clinical trial to evaluate maraviroc-based PrEP regimens for HIV prevention

Scientists are launching the first clinical trial to test whether drug regimens containing maraviroc, a medication currently approved to treat HIV infection, are also safe and tolerable when taken once daily by HIV-uninfected individuals at increased risk for acquiring HIV infection. The eventual goal is to see if the drug regimens can reduce the risk of infection.

19 Jul 2012

Inhibiting STAT3 might unleash an effective anti-lymphoma immune response

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues have demonstrated that the inhibition of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in mouse models of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), an aggressive and incurable subtype of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that becomes resistant to treatment, can harness the immune system to eradicate residual malignant cells responsible for disease relapse.

19 Jul 2012

People with schizophrenia more likely to develop cancer

People with serious mental illness —schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and disabling depression — are 2.6 times more likely to develop cancer than the general population, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

19 Jul 2012

Abscisic acid has anti-inflammatory effects in the lungs and gut

Building on previous work with the botanical abscisic acida, researchers in the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML) have discovered that abscisic acid has anti-inflammatory effects in the lungs as well as in the gut.

19 Jul 2012

Champions Oncology operating revenues increase to $7.1M for the year ended April 30, 2012

Champions Oncology, Inc., formerly Champions Biotechnology, Inc., engages in the development of advanced technology solutions and services to personalize the development and use of oncology drugs, announced today its financial results for the year ended April 30, 2012.

19 Jul 2012

Researchers identify new behavior for the human macrophage

Researchers at the Institute of Human Virology of the University of Maryland School of Medicine have identified a new behavior for the human macrophage that provides new explanations for several features of HIV biology, including how the virus persists within the body indefinitely, how quiescently infected CD4+ T-cells arise, and how the infection leads to depletion of CD4+ T-cells.

19 Jul 2012

ADHD drugs do not appear to have long-term effects on the brain

Drugs used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) do not appear to have long-term effects on the brain, according to new animal research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

19 Jul 2012

Viewpoints: Texas' indifference to health needs for the poor; Sen. Grassley says IRS is too busy to deal with health law

The state with the country's worst health care record just happens to have a governor who has been the loudest voice against national efforts to improve it. A quarter of the residents of Texas, 6.3 million people, are uninsured, by far the highest percentage in the country. ... Yet Gov. Rick Perry - strangely puffed up as he was so often in his presidential bid - recently told the Obama administration that he would proudly refuse a huge infusion of Medicaid money that would significantly reduce those shameful statistics and cover 1.7 million more people.

18 Jul 2012

Study focuses on interaction between two key proteins involved in apoptosis

A promising method for promoting programmed cell death (apoptosis) developed by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Weizmann Institute of Science paves the way for a possible novel therapy to target cancer cells.

18 Jul 2012

Cancer more likely in people with serious mental illnesses

18 Jul 2012

Interferon beta not associated with less progression of disability in patients with RRMS

Among patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), treatment with the widely-prescribed drug to treat MS, interferon beta, was not associated with less progression of disability, according to a study in the July 18 issue of JAMA.

18 Jul 2012

State roundup: Mass. to allow coupons for some branded drugs

Johns Hopkins Hospital lost its coveted spot as the nation's top-ranked hospital for the first time in 22 years, edged out by Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital in the latest analysis by U.S. News & World Report to be released Tuesday. Hopkins still ranked No. 2, and marketing experts said falling one spot will hurt the hospital's ego more than its reputation.

18 Jul 2012

USDTL releases new BloodSpot Collection Kit

United States Drug Testing Laboratories (USDTL), a reference laboratory specializing in alcohol and drugs of abuse testing, released a new BloodSpot Collection Kit for testing PEth a direct biomarker for beverage alcohol consumption.

18 Jul 2012

Vivus receives FDA approval for Qsymia to manage chronic weight

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Qsymia (phentermine and topiramate extended-release) as an addition to a reduced-calorie diet and exercise for chronic weight management.

18 Jul 2012

Combination prevention strategy trials to start later this year in Africa, GlobalPost reports

As part of its "AIDS Turning Point" series, GlobalPost examines how the United States and its African partners are designing clinical trials at four African sites to test whether a combination of prevention methods and strategies -- "notably the vaccine-like preventative effect on transmission when someone starts taking AIDS drugs, as well as the life-long protection afforded to many due to male circumcision" -- could "put them on the road to a Holy Grail: the numbers of HIV infections tumbling down."

18 Jul 2012

Novel technique can cause apoptosis of cancer cells

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Weizmann Institute of Science have developed a technique to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, that could lead to new approaches to treating cancer.

18 Jul 2012