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Bill introduced in U.S. Senate is latest push to award prizes for new drug development

"As Washington prepares for a major international AIDS conference this summer, developments on the drug front are once again elevating the subject of the continuing epidemic in the public eye," CQ HealthBeat reports.

22 May 2012

Government-supported 'Prize Funds' would help important drugs have greater social impact

"Every year, millions of people die from preventable and treatable diseases, especially in poor countries," World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate, writes in this BusinessDay opinion piece.

22 May 2012

New research reveals effective treatments for gastrointestinal conditions

New research being presented at Digestive Disease Week- (DDW) reveals effective treatments for a number of gastrointestinal conditions, which are often chronic and costly.

22 May 2012

Investigators describe how they synthesized polymers to stabilize proteins

Proteins are widely used as drugs - insulin for diabetics is the best known example - and as reagents in research laboratories, but they react poorly to fluctuations in temperature and are known to degrade in storage.

22 May 2012

New knowledge related to host-parasite interaction in severe malaria

Researchers from Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, the University of Copenhagen and the University of Edinburgh have uncovered new knowledge related to host-parasite interaction in severe malaria, concerning how malaria parasites are able to bind to cells in the brain and cause cerebral malaria - the most lethal form of the disease.

22 May 2012

HSF-1 protein likely source of chemotherapy-related heart damage in mice

Blocking a protein in the heart that is produced under stressful conditions could be a strategy to prevent cardiac damage that results from chemotherapy, a new study suggests.

22 May 2012

New strategy can reactivate genes that cause cancer tumors to shrink and die

A team of scientists has developed a promising new strategy for "reactivating" genes that cause cancer tumors to shrink and die. The researchers hope that their discovery will aid in the development of an innovative anti-cancer drug that effectively targets unhealthy, cancerous tissue without damaging healthy, non-cancerous tissue and vital organs.

22 May 2012

VEN occurs also in the insula of macaque monkeys

The anterior insular cortex is a small brain region that plays a crucial role in human self-awareness and in related neuropsychiatric disorders. A unique cell type - the von Economo neuron (VEN) - is located there. For a long time, the VEN was assumed to be unique to humans, great apes, whales and elephants.

22 May 2012

Scientists unravel action mechanism of castor oil

Castor oil is known primarily as an effective laxative; however, it was also used in ancient times with pregnant women to induce labour. Only now have scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research succeeded in unravelling the mysteries of the action mechanism. A receptor by the name of EP3 on the cells of the intestine and uterus is apparently responsible. This is activated by an ingredient in the oil.

22 May 2012

New therapeutic options for management of melanoma brain metastases

In a recent article published in MELANOMA RESEARCH and a subsequent commentary in British medical journal THE LANCET, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center discussed new therapeutic options for the management of melanoma brain metastases. Patients with advanced melanoma are at high risk for developing brain metastases. Once brain metastases are present, these patients tend to have poor outcomes.

21 May 2012

$Children with pelvic and thigh fractures rarely develop dangerous blood clots$

Children with pelvic and thigh fractures rarely develop dangerous blood clots

Children with pelvic and thigh fractures develop dangerous blood clots so rarely that anti-clotting therapy should be given only to those with underlying conditions that increase clotting risk, according to a study from Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

21 May 2012

Large neurological problems could be addressed through changing Botch activity

Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered a protein that appears to play an important regulatory role in deciding whether stem cells differentiate into the cells that make up the brain, as well as countless other tissues.

21 May 2012

Neurogenesis may encourage excessive weight gain and fat storage

New nerve cells formed in a select part of the brain could hold considerable sway over how much you eat and consequently weigh, new animal research by Johns Hopkins scientists suggests in a study published in the May issue of Nature Neuroscience.

21 May 2012

Scientists decipher structure of bacterial injection needles at atomic resolution

The plague, bacterial dysentery, and cholera have one thing in common: These dangerous diseases are caused by bacteria which infect their host using a sophisticated injection apparatus. Through needle-like structures, they release molecular agents into their host cell, thereby evading the immune response.

21 May 2012

Deletion of 'lunatic fringe' promotes tumor formation of basal-like breast cancers

Multiple research projects - including a 2006 study conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - have used DNA microarray analysis to identify several breast cancer subtypes, including luminal A, luminal B, basal-like and HER2-enriched.

21 May 2012

$Anti-clotting drugs rarely needed in children with big-bone fractures$

Anti-clotting drugs rarely needed in children with big-bone fractures

21 May 2012

Biomarker neutralizes effect of bevacizumab in pancreas and kidney cancer patients

Diether Lambrechts (VIB - KU Leuven) said "in two large clinical studies with patients with advanced stages of pancreas and kidney cancer a variant in the DNA was discovered that identified patients who did not respond well to the prescribed course of bevacizumab.

21 May 2012

Study shows how a drug-lead compound suppresses tumour formation

A team of scientists from the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Department of Biological Sciences and Mechanobiology Institute have discovered how a drug-led compound - a compound that is undergoing preclinical trials as a potential drug - can deprive cancer cells of energy and stop them from growing into a tumour. This drug-led compound is named BPTES.

21 May 2012

First Edition: May 21, 2012

Today's headlines includes reports on a new poll that explores what it is like to be sick in America.

21 May 2012

Pernix Therapeutics introduces Omeclamox-Pak® for the treatment of H. pylori infection and duodenal ulcer disease

Pernix Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE Amex: PTX), a specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced the introduction of Omeclamox-Pak®, a ten-day therapy of omeprazole delayed-release capsules (20 mg), clarithromycin tablets (500 mg) and amoxicillin capsules (500 mg) for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and duodenal ulcer disease (active or one-year history) to eradicate H. pylori in adult patients.

21 May 2012