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Drug use among young adults on the rise in U.S.

Nearly one in 10 Americans report regularly using illegal drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants or prescription drugs used recreationally, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health made public today. The survey, sponsored by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), collects the data from interviews with 67,500 randomly selected people 12 years or older.

12 Sep 2011

FDA advisory panel suggests warning for bisphosphonates but does not specify wording

Two independent advisory panels to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday recommended increasing the cautionary language on the product labels of bone-building drugs taken by more than five million women in the United States. They did not however mention the exact words of the safety warnings and did not recommend limiting use of the drugs to a proposed five years. About 11 percent of women 55 and older take the drugs to prevent bone fractures.

12 Sep 2011

IBN scientists harness ultrasmall peptides to repair spinal disc damage

New ultrasmall peptides that can be used as building blocks for a wide range of regenerative applications such as spinal disc replacement and cartilage repair have been developed by scientists at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), the world's first bioengineering and nanotechnology research institute. These peptides spontaneously assemble in water to form hydrogels, which resemble collagen, a major component of connective tissues found in cartilage, ligaments, tendons, bone and skin.

12 Sep 2011

Chronic pain gene discovered

Scientists have found the gene responsible for chronic pain. It said that this could lead to drugs for treating long-lasting back pain.

12 Sep 2011

Crocus plant to provide a tumor killing “smart bomb”

According to the latest research, a drug derived from plant extracts could wipe out tumors in a single treatment with minimal side effects. Scientists have turned a chemical found in crocuses into a ‘smart bomb’ that targets cancerous tumors. The advantage is that healthy tissue is unharmed, reducing the odds of debilitating side effects. And unlike other side effect-free drugs, it is able to kill off more than one type of the disease, including breast, prostate, lung and bowel cancer. Potentially, all solid tumours could be vulnerable to drugs developed this way, meaning it could be used against all but blood cancers.

12 Sep 2011

USC team produces world's first high-resolution images of α7 neuroreceptor

For the first time, USC scientists have mapped out a neuroreceptor. This scientific breakthrough promises to revolutionize the engineering of drugs used to treat ailments such as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia.

12 Sep 2011

ASTMH annual meeting to explore latest research on infectious diseases

The 60th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) -- the largest of its kind in the world -- will bring together in one place global experts who are battling a wide range of bacteria, viruses, parasites and other pathogens that each year kill or sicken hundreds of millions of people.

12 Sep 2011

InteRNA, Silence partner to develop novel microRNA therapeutics for cancer

Silence Therapeutics plc, a leading global RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics company, and InteRNA Technologies B.V., a biopharmaceutical company developing pathway targeted microRNA-based therapeutics for cancer, today announce that they have entered into an agreement to develop novel microRNA therapeutics for the treatment of cancer.

12 Sep 2011

Access to lifesaving generic medicines threatened by U.S. trade pact

"Access to affordable lifesaving medicines will be threatened where they are needed most -- in parts of the developing world -- if the U.S. insists on implementing restrictive intellectual property policies in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement," states a press release from Doctors Without Borders.

12 Sep 2011

Common genetic variant may predispose people to acute dissections

Richard Holbrooke, John Ritter, Lucille Ball, Jonathan Larson and Great Britain's King George II were all taken by the same silent killer: an acute aortic dissection. Now, scientists led by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Baylor College of Medicine have found an association with a common genetic variant in the population that predisposes people to acute dissections and can approximately double a person's chances of having the disease.

12 Sep 2011

Scientists identify 28 blood pressure-associated genetic variants

A new report from scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and their colleagues in centers around the world finds that common variants in 28 regions of DNA are associated with blood pressure in human patients.

12 Sep 2011

UMSOM to receive FDA approval for whole parasite malaria vaccine clinical trials

For the first time, a malaria vaccine that uses the entire malaria parasite has proven safe and shown promise to produce a strong immune response in a clinical trial, according to a new study co-authored by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Vaccine Development.

12 Sep 2011

Study: Regional differences exist in treatment of patients with acute cerebral infarction

Considerable regional differences exist in the treatment of patients with acute cerebral infarction. This is the finding presented by Erwin Stolz and his co-authors in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International.

12 Sep 2011

FDA panel votes 9-2 in favor of new blood thinner drug

A new stroke preventer from Bayer and Johnson & Johnson – Xarelto moved one step closer to U.S. approval, but questions remained about restrictions on labeling and the need for more studies.

9 Sep 2011

Roundup: Scott's plan stalls to outsource Fla. prison health care; Calif. Blue Shield begins issuing credits after profit cap

Florida's plan to outsource health care in the third-largest U.S. prison system to save $30 million has stalled, hindering efforts by Governor Rick Scott and lawmakers to hire private operators for state services. Requests for proposals on the prison work were withdrawn last month less than a week after they were issued.

9 Sep 2011

Pharmacologists study first drug-resistant strain of pneumonia to enter Texas

A team of researchers from the University of Houston (UH) and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital (SLEH) are working to develop improved screening methods to detect a potentially lethal, drug-resistant superbug that has made its way to Texas.

9 Sep 2011

NIH awards $12.8 million renewal grant for Louisville adult stem cell research project

At the time when Dr. Roberto Bolli received word that he was awarded a $12.8 million grant renewal from the National Institutes of Health for one research project, five patients in another of his clinical trials at the University of Louisville have reached the successful endpoint of their participation.

9 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: 4th Circuit decision; Advice for the FDA; Docs and the AMA

Minutes after President Obama signed his health-care program into law on March 23, 2010, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II raced to become the first state official to challenge it in court. But as a federal appeals court panel concluded Thursday, being first isn't the same as being right. ... Even if timing were not an issue, the notion that a state could nullify a federal program in this way is absurd (9/8).

9 Sep 2011

Researchers create powerful anti-diabetic prototype drugs with lesser side effects

Researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Fla., report they have created prototype drugs having powerful anti-diabetic effects, yet apparently free - at least in mice - of dangerous side effects plaguing some current diabetes medications.

9 Sep 2011

Preventive benefits, exchanges and coverage options: A catch-all of health law implementation news

Media outlets report on a range of health law issues, including the latest estimates from the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the number of Medicare beneficiaries getting free preventive care, what difficulties may be ahead for health exchanges and the adminstration's new "Enroll America" campaign.

9 Sep 2011