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Wireless asthma inhaler training device could help save thousands of A&E visits and lives

Many asthma patients are not trained adequately to inhale from asthma inhaler devices. This is a problem that can be both serious and expensive considering some 5,000 people visit the emergency room due to and 11 people die from asthma every day, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

13 Mar 2012

Antidepressant could help the workings of anticancer drug used in leukemia

The study by scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research found that tranylcypromine (TCP) – which can be used to treat psychotic depressive states - can make cancer cells vulnerable to the effects of a vitamin A-derivative drug called ATRA.

13 Mar 2012

Botox - a potential for therapy of weak bladders in women

The study, published in the journal European Urology, was carried out at eight uro-gynecology centers in the UK from 2006 to 2009 by researchers from the University of Leicester. A total of 240 women were split into two groups, with 122 women given Botox and 118 receiving a dummy treatment. Researchers found improvements across a range of symptoms, including wetting oneself and feeling a need to rush to the toilet, and how often the women 'leaked' urine.

13 Mar 2012

Scotland says no to prostate cancer drug Abiraterone

Patients with advanced prostate cancer in Scotland will not get access to a new drug which can extend their lives by more than three months. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer to affect men and the second most common cause of death.

13 Mar 2012

FDA panel favors continued research on novel pain medicine

A panel of experts for the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) this Monday recommended that the federal government should allow continued testing of an experimental class of pain drugs for arthritis, despite links to bone decay and joint failure.

13 Mar 2012

Inovio achieves strong T cell immune responses in PENNVAX-B Phase I HIV study

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has achieved strong T cell immune responses in a Phase I clinical study of PENNVAX-B, its product for the treatment of the HIV subtype prevalent in North America and Europe, in HIV-positive subjects.

13 Mar 2012

Thermo Fisher launches innovations that enable customers to improve lab productivity

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today introduced innovations that enable customers to improve laboratory productivity - by delivering results faster and with greater accuracy - while extending the boundaries of routine analysis. During Pittcon, being held from March 11-15, in Orlando, the company will showcase its scale and depth of capabilities across its three premier brands: Thermo Scientific, Fisher Scientific and Unity Lab Services.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 13 Mar 2012

Researchers discover over 500 genes that may contribute to pancreatic cancer

A global team led by scientists from The Methodist Hospital Research Institute has identified more than 500 genes that may cause or contribute to the development of pancreatic cancer.

13 Mar 2012

Health program cuts, cost-saving measures big issues at state capitols

Legislatures around the country are dealing with changes or cost-saving measures to health programs as they consider their budgets.

13 Mar 2012

Diacetylmorphine more cost-effective than MMT in treating street heroin users

Medically prescribed heroin is more cost-effective than methadone for treating long-term street heroin users, according to a new study by researchers at Providence Health Care and the University of British Columbia.

13 Mar 2012

Scientists at Seattle conference discuss progress, obstacles in fight against HIV/AIDS

"Scientists, stymied for decades by the complexity of the human immunodeficiency virus, are making progress on several fronts in the search for a cure for HIV infections," but "a major stumbling block is the fact that HIV lies low in pools or reservoirs of latent infection that even powerful drugs cannot reach, scientists told the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, one of the world's largest scientific meetings on HIV/AIDS," in Seattle last week, Reuters reports.

13 Mar 2012

JAK-STAT inhibitors reverse MS-like disease in mice

A new class of drugs completing clinical trials soon for rheumatoid arthritis should be examined as a treatment for multiple sclerosis, according to the authors of a University of Alabama at Birmingham study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

13 Mar 2012

Tweens decidedly ambivalent toward cigarettes and alcohol

When it comes to prevention of substance use in our tween population, turning our kids on to thought control may just be the answer to getting them to say no.

13 Mar 2012

RhoGDI2 protein helps prevent bladder cancer metastasis to the lungs

The diagnosis of localized bladder cancer carries an 80 percent five-year survival rate, but once the cancer spreads, the survival rate at even three years is only 20 percent. A major study published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation not only shows how bladder cancer metastasizes to the lungs but pinpoints a method for stopping this spread.

13 Mar 2012

DNDi commences Oxaborole SCYX-7158 Phase I clinical trial for sleeping sickness

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) has commenced a Phase I clinical trial in healthy adults in Paris, France, to determine the safety and tolerability of a promising oral drug candidate Oxaborole SCYX-7158, to treat human African trypanosomiasis (HAT, or sleeping sickness) for stage 1 and stage 2 of the disease.

12 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: America's mixed views on health; Contraception and political 'excesses'; Colorado Medicaid debate

Most people tell pollsters they like the parts of the law that have gone into effect: health insurance for people with preexisting conditions, a clause that allows children to stay on their parents' health plans until the age of 26 and discounts for prescription drugs on Medicare. And, as time goes by, Americans seem less worried that the law will have a negative effect on their own medical care ... But the law itself isn't any more popular than the day it passed.

12 Mar 2012

Officials examine Medicaid coverage, quality in context of burgeoning costs

Growing demand for Medicaid services puts a burden on states as they wrestle with tight budgets and patient quality issues.

12 Mar 2012

Many Americans deficient in magnesium, sulfur and sulfate

Many Americans are deficient in magnesium, sulfur and sulfate, experts say. It's a problem that causes a variety of health issues that could be prevented with small changes to diet and behavior, including frequent soaks in Epsom salt.

12 Mar 2012

Cancer Research UK disappointed over SMC ruling against advanced prostate cancer drug

Cancer Research UK is extremely disappointed that the advanced prostate cancer drug, abiraterone, has been ruled too expensive for routine use by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC).

12 Mar 2012

OPKO Health, Scripps Research partner to commercialize Parkinson's disease compound, SR 3306

The Scripps Research Institute and OPKO Health, Inc. today announced a global agreement for the development and commercialization of SR 3306, a novel compound discovered by scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute that blocks the destruction of brains cells in animal models of Parkinson's disease.

12 Mar 2012