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Taser shots to the chest are no more dangerous: Study

Taser shots to the chest are no more dangerous than those delivered to other body locations, according to a new study by one of the country's leading experts on the devices.

29 Jun 2012

New drug for Type 2 diabetes results in less hypoglycaemia, less weight gain and perhaps less cardiovascular risk for patients

A new drug could offer significant advantages over existing treatments for Type 2 diabetes patients who don’t respond to metformin, the most commonly prescribed initial drug treatment for the disease. The new drug, linagliptin, results in significantly less weight gain than the most common second-line treatments currently used, and may even carry a smaller risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke, according to an Article published Online First in The Lancet.

29 Jun 2012

Sinai Hospital begins to use Solitaire FR device for treatment of acute stroke

Sinai Hospital has begun use of a new device that provides timely live-saving treatment for acute stroke patients. The Solitaire FR revascularization device is designed to minimize damage caused by blockage of an artery to the brain by mechanically removing blood clots and restoring blood flow.

29 Jun 2012

Boston College chemists use nanowires to power photosynthesis

Harnessing the power of the sun has inspired scientists and engineers to look for ways to turn sunlight into clean energy to heat houses, fuel factories and power devices. While a majority of this research focuses on energy production, some researchers are looking at the potential uses of these novel solar technologies in other areas.

29 Jun 2012

Scientists use patient cells to generate human model of Huntington's

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes and an international team of researchers have generated a human model of Huntington's disease-directly from the skin cells of patients with the disease.

29 Jun 2012

AASLD, EASL to hold special conference on therapy of HCV

The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), together with the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), will be holding an exciting "Special Conference" dedicated to the timely topic of: Therapy of Hepatitis C: Clinical Application and Drug Development.

29 Jun 2012

Researchers create first animal model for RA

Researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have created the first animal model that spontaneously develops rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and is predisposed towards atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.

29 Jun 2012

Researchers create 'Huntington's disease in a dish' to enable search for treatment

Johns Hopkins researchers, working with an international consortium, say they have generated stem cells from skin cells from a person with a severe, early-onset form of Huntington's disease (HD), and turned them into neurons that degenerate just like those affected by the fatal inherited disorder.

29 Jun 2012

Methylphenidate ‘could relieve cancer depression’

The drug methylphenidate is well tolerated among advanced cancer patients and shows promise in alleviating depression in this group, report researchers from Spain.

28 Jun 2012

AHF urges Gilead to set initial price on latest HIV/AIDS drug combination

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) announced that California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer has sent a letter to California-based drug company, Gilead Sciences, Inc. urging the company to set an initial price on its latest HIV/AIDS drug combination—which is known as the 'Quad'—that is "…sensitive to ongoing state budget difficulties," and which will also "…provide the means to keep people with HIV/AIDS alive and as healthy as possible."

28 Jun 2012

UCLA Heart Transplant Program performs 2,000th heart transplant surgery

The UCLA Heart Transplant Program performed its 2,000th heart transplant surgery earlier this month, becoming the first program in the western United States and only the second in the world to achieve this remarkable milestone.

28 Jun 2012

New medical countermeasures against nuclear threats

Concerns about terrorist attacks, the prospect of a rogue nation using nuclear weapons and the Fukushima power plant accident in Japan are fostering efforts to develop a new family of drugs that everyone hopes will never be used, according to an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

28 Jun 2012

Harmonizing prescription drug plans can help save millions of dollars

Taxpayers could save millions of dollars if hospitals and provincial governments harmonized their prescription drug plans, new research suggests.

28 Jun 2012

Scientists identify abnormal gene that leads to Parkinson's

An international team including scientists from the University of Saskatchewan-Saskatoon Health Region and University of British Columbia, with the help of Saskatchewan Mennonite families, has identified an abnormal gene which leads to Parkinson's disease.

28 Jun 2012

Efforts to fight illegal drugs contributing to spread of HIV, report says

The Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP) on Tuesday published a report titled "The War on Drugs and HIV/AIDS: How the Criminalization of Drug Use Fuels the Global Pandemic," which "condemns the drug war as a failure and recommends immediate, major reforms of the global drug prohibition regime to halt the spread of HIV infection and other drug war harms," according to the report summary.

28 Jun 2012

Senate sends FDA user fee bill to Obama; House GOP putting pressure on AARP

In rare show of bipartisanship, the Senate overwhelmingly approved the FDA measure. On the other side of the Capitol, top Republicans delved into whether AARP represented its members' interests when the lobby group for seniors supported the health law.

28 Jun 2012

LUMC oncologist presents survival data for brentuximab vedotin at 17th EHA Congress

A new cancer drug with remarkably few side effects is dramatically improving survival in Hodgkin lymphoma patients who fail other treatments and are nearly out of options.

28 Jun 2012

Nanosphere receives FDA marketing approval for Verigene GP Blood Culture Nucleic Acid Test

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today allowed marketing of the first nucleic acid test that can identify 12 different bacterial types known to cause bloodstream infections.

28 Jun 2012

Arena receives FDA approval for Belviq to treat obesity

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Belviq (lorcaserin hydrochloride), as an addition to a reduced-calorie diet and exercise, for chronic weight management.

28 Jun 2012

Pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma can be treated without radiation and intensive chemotherapy

A multicenter trial showed that nearly half of young patients with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma can be cured without undergoing either irradiation or intensive chemotherapy that would leave them at risk for second cancers, infertility, heart and other problems later.

28 Jun 2012