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New study could help develop anti-inflammatory drugs with fewer side effects

10 Dec 2012

Scientists identify key molecular pathway that leads to depression

Scientists have identified the key molecular pathway leading to depression, revealing potential new targets for drug discovery, according to research led by King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry. The study, published today in Neuropsychopharmacology, reveals for the first time that the 'Hedgehog pathway' regulates how stress hormones, usually elevated during depression, reduce the number of brain cells.

6 Dec 2012

Selective targeting of neurotransmitters may allow for new medication therapies for GI conditions

Selective targeting of the neurotransmitter that differentially affects brain cells that control the two distinct functions of the pancreas may allow for new medication therapies for conditions like diabetes, dyspepsia and gastro-esophageal reflux, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.

5 Dec 2012

Enzalutamide shows promise in treating triple-negative and estrogen-positive breast cancer

Breast cancers are defined by their drivers - estrogen and progesterone receptors (ER and PR) and HER2 are the most common, and there are drugs targeting each. When breast cancer has an unknown driver, it also has fewer treatment options - this aggressive form of breast cancer without ER, PR or HER2, which was thought not to be driven by hormones, is known as triple negative.

3 Dec 2012

Childhood trauma can leave permanent epigenetic marks on DNA

Abused children are at high risk of anxiety and mood disorders, as traumatic experience induces lasting changes to their gene regulation. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich have now documented for the first time that genetic variants of the FKBP5 gene can influence epigenetic alterations in this gene induced by early trauma.

3 Dec 2012

Study points to complexity of relationship between sleep duration and energy balance regulation

A new study suggests that increasing the amount of sleep that adults get could lead to reduced food intake, but the hormonal process differs between men and women.

30 Nov 2012

Fertility treatment auto-injector: an interview with Lai Chiu Tang, Senior Industrial Designer at Cambridge Consultants

During IVF treatment you will need to take certain drugs. For example, for IVF it will be Follicle Stimulating Hormones (FSH) which are used to stimulate the ovaries to produce a mature egg so that they can be fertilised externally and then put back into the womb.

29 Nov 2012

$ACE-inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers can treat heart failure with preserved ejection fraction$

ACE-inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers can treat heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

A novel study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden suggests that commonly used drugs to treat heart failure and high blood pressure may have a wider range of application than earlier known, and also can be used against so called HFPEF - a type of heart failure that until now has been impossible to treat.

29 Nov 2012

Cancer-related fatigue and exercise: an interview with Dr Fiona Cramp

It is likely that there is more than one reason why people with cancer experience fatigue. The causes are likely to include side effects of the treatment that people are receiving for cancer as well as the direct effects of the cancer.

28 Nov 2012

Overexpressed enzyme contributes to development of preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a serious complication of pregnancy and the major cause of death for both mother and child in Europe and the U.S. It affects about one in 20 pregnancies. The main symptoms are high blood pressure and protein in the urine.

26 Nov 2012

Advances in genomic techniques help understand cancer at cellular and molecular level

Cancer is a complex disease and only thanks to advances in genomic techniques have researchers begun to understand, at a cellular and molecular level, the mechanisms which are disrupted in cancer cells. This knowledge is a key prerequisite for developing effective treatment strategies.

23 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

Flame retardants may cause neurodevelopmental problems in children

Children exposed to high levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers either prenatally or during childhood have poorer attention, fine motor coordination, and intelligence quotients than those exposed to low levels, show results from two studies.

21 Nov 2012

Combination of Abraxane and gemcitabine improves survival of patients with pancreatic cancer

A new cancer drug combination demonstrated significant improvement in overall survival of late-stage pancreatic cancer patients compared to those receiving standard treatment, according to results of a Phase III clinical trial led by physicians from Scottsdale Healthcare's Virginia G. Cancer Center Clinical Trials, a partnership with the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).

17 Nov 2012

People with Prader-Willi Syndrome may have impaired autonomic nervous system

An Australian study reveals that people with the rare genetic disorder known as Prader-Willi Syndrome may have an impaired autonomic nervous system. This discovery opens up a new way of looking at the insatiable appetite experienced by all sufferers, as well as their very high risk of cardiovascular disease.

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 discover how external signals regulate vascular remodelling at cell level

Blood vessels are extremely dynamic: depending on the external conditions, they can adapt their permeability for nutrients, their contractility, and even their shape. Unlike cardiac muscle cells, for example, the smooth muscle cells in blood vessels demonstrate a high degree of plasticity, so they can specialise or multiply as required, even repairing damage to the vessel wall.

13 Nov 2012

Respiratory symptoms differ significantly during different stages of the menstrual cycle

Respiratory symptoms vary significantly during different stages of the menstrual cycle, with higher frequencies during the mid-luteal to mid-follicular stages, according to a new study.

9 Nov 2012

Premenopausal use of hormonal contraceptives may improve women’s cognitive abilities

Premenopausal use of hormonal contraceptives may improve the cognitive abilities of women in midlife and for years afterward. This finding may have implications for prevention of declining cognitive function that occurs with advancing age and in diseases such as Alzheimer's.

8 Nov 2012

Lexicon announces data from LX4211 Phase 2b trial on type 2 diabetes

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that data from the Phase 2b clinical trial of LX4211 are being presented today as a Clinical Sciences Special Report in the Emerging Therapeutics for Diabetes and Dyslipidemia section of the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions Conference held in Los Angeles, California.

7 Nov 2012