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BDNF methionine variation increases risk of suicidal behaviour

A new study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health has found evidence that a specific gene is linked to suicidal behaviour, adding to our knowledge of the many complex causes of suicide. This research may help doctors one day target the gene in prevention efforts.

10 Oct 2011

A new approach to cancer treatment

Scientists have discovered a mechanism that causes an aggressive type of lung cancer to re-grow following chemotherapy, offering hope for new therapies.

9 Oct 2011

Coalition calls for affordable and flexible essential health benefits package

The newly-formed Essential Health Benefits Coalition today urged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to hold the cost and affordability of the essential health benefits package paramount as recommended by the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

7 Oct 2011

NIH awards LSUHSC $9 million grant to develop pneumonia vaccine

Dr. Judd Shellito, Chief of the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has been awarded approximately $9 million in grant funding to develop a vaccine against Pneumocystis, an important cause of pneumonia in people with HIV infection. This potentially fatal illness is the most common serious opportunistic infection in people with HIV.

7 Oct 2011

First combination drug to treat type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol receives FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Juvisync (sitagliptin and simvastatin), a fixed-dose combination (FDC) prescription medication that contains two previously approved medicines in one tablet for use in adults who need both sitagliptin and simvastatin.

7 Oct 2011

BDNF met variation gene linked to suicidal behaviour

7 Oct 2011

Public perceives health law parts better than whole; Obama increasingly critical to measure's future

Some of the law's specific provisions draw stronger support than the entire package, but the real key to the measure's future is increasingly linked to President Barack Obama's polling numbers.

7 Oct 2011

Research roundup: Health disparities; Prescription drug abuse in Medicare Part D; Medicaid's role for HIV patients

Achieving Equity In Health -- This policy brief examines the outlining factors that cause disparities in the health care system and focuses on the October issue of the journal, which is devoted to research on the subject.

7 Oct 2011

Researchers show how nuclear receptors battle each other during fruit fly metamorphosis

Growing up just got more complicated. Thomas Jefferson University biochemistry researchers have shown for the first time that the receptor for a major insect molting hormone doesn't activate and repress genes as once thought. In fact, it only activates genes, and it is out-competed by a heme-binding receptor to repress the same genes during the larval to pupal transition in the fruit fly.

7 Oct 2011

Implementing electronic prescribing in primary care practices

Primary care physicians provide essential health services to patients of all ages and while a family physician's office is a warm, comfortable environment, a physician's practice also is a business.

7 Oct 2011

UC Davis, UCSF seek to predict and prevent osteoarthritis in young people

How people walk, jump and run and how their knees look in an MRI scanner may hold the secret to predicting years or even decades in advance whether they will develop osteoarthritis, the common degenerative joint disease that strikes half of all Americans by the time they reach the age of 70.

7 Oct 2011

CNBC.com examines counterfeit pharmaceuticals in special report

In a special report, CNBC.com examines "the world of counterfeit pharmaceuticals, from the dangers they pose and where they're made, to what is being done to combat them."

7 Oct 2011

Recap of key briefing on advancements in malaria fight

This post in the Malaria Policy Center blog recaps a Tuesday Capitol Hill briefing, hosted by Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), co-chairs of the Senate Working Group on Malaria, "that highlighted research and development advancements by the U.S. military and U.S. academic institutions to develop the tools to eliminate malaria and keep our servicemen and women safe as they serve overseas."

7 Oct 2011

Bedtime consumption of blood pressure medications improves control of hypertension

Patients who take certain popular types of blood pressure medication once a day are able to achieve somewhat better control of their hypertension if they take their daily dose at bedtime, according to a new systematic review.

7 Oct 2011

House lawmaker looks into drug shortages, price markups

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., the ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has begun an investigation into 'gray market' drug distributors and how they may be driving up costs and adding to the nation's current shortage of cancer and critical-care products.

7 Oct 2011

Keeping HIV patients on ART will have long-term economic benefits, study shows

Investments to keep 3.5 million people living with HIV on antiretroviral drugs provided by programs co-financed through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria through 2020 will cost an estimated $14.2 billion, but "the financial savings would amount to between $12 billion and $34 billion," according to a study published in the journal PLoS One, Sarah Boseley reports in her "Global Health Blog" in the Guardian.

7 Oct 2011

NO could improve recovery of critically ill patients in intensive care

The latest results from an expedition to Mount Everest that looked at the body's response to low oxygen levels suggest that drugs or procedures that promote the body's production of a chemical compound called nitric oxide (NO) could improve the recovery of critically ill patients in intensive care.

7 Oct 2011

Cannabidiol could prevent onset of pain associated with chemotherapy drugs

A chemical component of the marijuana plant could prevent the onset of pain associated with drugs used in chemo therapy, particularly in breast cancer patients, according to researchers at Temple University's School of Pharmacy.

7 Oct 2011

Scientists discover rare genetic alteration responsible for hypoglycaemia

Cambridge scientists have identified the cause of a rare, life-threatening form of hypoglycaemia. Their findings, which have the potential to lead to pharmaceutical treatments for the disorder, were published today, 07 October, in the journal Science.

7 Oct 2011

Scientists discover new metabolic pathway which makes gliomas more aggressive

A research alliance of Heidelberg University Hospital and the German Cancer Research Center, jointly with colleagues of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig, have discovered a new metabolic pathway which makes malignant brain tumors (gliomas) more aggressive and weakens patients' immune systems.

7 Oct 2011