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Mobile phones could play a valuable role in helping HIV patients to take medication every day

Mobile phones could play a valuable role in helping HIV patients to take their medication every day, according to a new Cochrane Systematic Review. The researchers found that patients were less likely to miss doses if they were sent weekly mobile phone text message reminders.

15 Mar 2012

New position paper outlines national approach to antimicrobial stewardship

As the supply of life-saving antibiotics becomes increasingly threatened, infectious diseases experts urge healthcare systems and policymakers to step up efforts to protect patients by preserving the effectiveness of available antibiotics through antimicrobial stewardship initiatives.

15 Mar 2012

NCH to expand outpatient methadone education program

Carl Backes, Jr., MD, a neonatologist and current cardiology fellow at Nationwide Children's Hospital, has been awarded $35,000 from the March of Dimes Ohio Chapter for his project to expand an outpatient methadone education program.

15 Mar 2012

AT-1001 shows promise in treating drug addiction

In preclinical studies, researchers at SRI International and Astraea Therapeutics have recently evaluated the role of a new drug receptor target that shows promise for the treatment of drug addiction.

15 Mar 2012

Largest-ever study of community-wide TB drug prevention did not improve TB control in South African mines

"After seven years of research, the world's largest study of preventative tuberculosis (TB) therapy has found that untargeted, community-wide distribution of TB prevention drugs did not improve TB control in South African gold mines," PlusNews reports.

15 Mar 2012

State roundup: Caregivers face 'burnout' threat as need grows, Kansas nursing home staff inadequate?

Long term care advocates say they're concerned about caregiver burnout. And they say Wisconsin may be overestimating projected savings from uncompensated care that relatives provide. State health officials need to find nearly $80 million in savings from a popular program that keeps the elderly and disabled out of nursing homes. The administration wants to know what assistance friends and family are giving so that care isn't replaced by Medicaid services.

15 Mar 2012

Joint U.N. statement on closure of drug detention camps is 'unequivocal'

Daniel Wolfe, director of the International Harm Reduction Development Program, part of the Open Society Public Health Program, writes in the Open Society Foundations' blog about "a recent joint U.N. statement calling for the immediate closure of the hundreds of centers in which drug users are detained in the name of treatment," saying the statement "came not a moment too soon."

14 Mar 2012

New rule ensuring equal access for ESRD patients receives DPC praise

Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC), the nation's largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, applauded the Administration for taking steps to solidify a key provision that will ensure end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients have equal access to private coverage as Affordable Care Act reforms are implemented.

14 Mar 2012

Various State Legislatures consider insurance exchanges, HMO audits, mental health care

A selection of health policy news from Iowa, Oregon, California, Oregon, Maryland, Connecticut, Kansas and Texas.

14 Mar 2012

Scientists grow rudimentary retina structure from blood cells

For the first time, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have made early retina structures containing proliferating neuroretinal progenitor cells using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells derived from human blood.

14 Mar 2012

Publicly available profile of effects of approved and investigational medicines

The National Institutes of Health and Eli Lilly and Company will generate a publicly available resource to profile the effects of thousands of approved and investigational medicines in a variety of sophisticated disease-relevant testing systems, NIH announced today.

14 Mar 2012

Consistent gains in five-year survival for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

A study by the Children's Oncology Group (COG) reported that five-year survival for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL, the most common type of pediatric cancer) among children treated through COG clinical trials increased from 83.7 percent during the period 1990-1994 to 90.4 percent in the period 2000-2005.

14 Mar 2012

Researchers identify first gene mutation associated with chronic, often fatal form of neuroblastoma

Researchers have identified the first gene mutation associated with a chronic and often fatal form of neuroblastoma that typically strikes adolescents and young adults. The finding provides the first clue about the genetic basis of the long-recognized but poorly understood link between treatment outcome and age at diagnosis.

14 Mar 2012

Microbubbles and focused ultrasound help drugs enter the brain

One of the trickiest parts of treating brain conditions is the blood brain barrier, a blockade of cells that prevent both harmful toxins and helpful pharmaceuticals from getting to the body's control center. But, a technique published in JoVE, uses an MRI machine to guide the use of microbubbles and focused ultrasound to help drugs enter the brain, which may open new treatment avenues for devastating conditions like Alzheimer's and brain cancers.

14 Mar 2012

Narcotic drug use should be treated as illness, U.N. drug office director says

"Prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, reintegration and health have to be recognized as key elements in our strategy" to fight drug demand, supply and trafficking, U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime Executive Director Yuri Fedotov said Monday at the opening session of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, United Press International reports.

14 Mar 2012

Researchers discover molecular mechanism responsible for low back pain

Italian researchers at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart in Rome found an important molecular mechanism responsible for low back pain and other acute vertebral problems like cervical axial pain, all due to aging and degeneration of the vertebral column.

14 Mar 2012

FDA approves Botox injections for overactive bladder

When you think of Botox injections, you probably think of getting rid of unwanted wrinkles around the eyes or forehead, but recently the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved using the injections to help patients with neurological conditions who suffer from incontinence, or an overactive bladder.

14 Mar 2012

Scientists gain insight into why lithium salts are effective at treating bipolar disorder

Scientists have gained insight into why lithium salts are effective at treating bipolar disorder in what could lead to more targeted therapies with fewer side-effects.

14 Mar 2012

Biomedical research advances through new Australian Institute

The Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology (BMET) will be officially opened this evening at the University of Sydney, and will significantly advance this highly multidisciplinary research for life sciences and medicine.

14 Mar 2012

Scientists track genetic pathway of prostate cancer in new approach to drug discovery

Tracking the genetic pathway of a disease offers a powerful, new approach to drug discovery, according to scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine who used the approach to uncover a potential treatment for prostate cancer, using a drug currently marketed for congestive heart failure. Their findings are published in the current online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

14 Mar 2012

Drugs News and Research

Mobile phones could play a valuable role in helping HIV patients to take medication every day

New position paper outlines national approach to antimicrobial stewardship

NCH to expand outpatient methadone education program

AT-1001 shows promise in treating drug addiction

Largest-ever study of community-wide TB drug prevention did not improve TB control in South African mines

State roundup: Caregivers face 'burnout' threat as need grows, Kansas nursing home staff inadequate?

Joint U.N. statement on closure of drug detention camps is 'unequivocal'

New rule ensuring equal access for ESRD patients receives DPC praise

Various State Legislatures consider insurance exchanges, HMO audits, mental health care

Scientists grow rudimentary retina structure from blood cells

Publicly available profile of effects of approved and investigational medicines

Consistent gains in five-year survival for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Researchers identify first gene mutation associated with chronic, often fatal form of neuroblastoma

Microbubbles and focused ultrasound help drugs enter the brain

Narcotic drug use should be treated as illness, U.N. drug office director says

Researchers discover molecular mechanism responsible for low back pain

FDA approves Botox injections for overactive bladder

Scientists gain insight into why lithium salts are effective at treating bipolar disorder

Biomedical research advances through new Australian Institute

Scientists track genetic pathway of prostate cancer in new approach to drug discovery

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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