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Once a year treatment for osteoporosis now available in the U.S.

A once-a-year treatment for the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis has been given approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States.

20 Aug 2007

FDA says cough and cold products used irresponsibly with children

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States says it is concerned that cough and cold products sold over the counter (OTC) are being irresponsibly used particularly with children under the age of two.

20 Aug 2007

Breast feeding mothers warned of risks of Codeine for babies

The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in the United States has issued a warning to nursing mothers regarding the pain-killer codeine.

20 Aug 2007

Depression over-diagnosed and many people just blue

An Australian psychiatrist has accused the medical profession of over-diagnosing depression, and says thousands of people are wrongly being prescribed drugs to treat it.

20 Aug 2007

Specific antagonism lowers blood pressure

High blood pressure (hypertension) is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, and the frequent use of drugs known as NSAIDs, for example to treat individuals with rheumatoid arthritis, can cause hypertension.

17 Aug 2007

Reactivating a critical gene lost in kidney cancer reduces tumor growth

Researchers at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, have found that a key gene is often silenced in clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer, and when they restored that gene in human kidney cancer cells in culture and animal experiments, tumors stopped growing and many disappeared.

17 Aug 2007

PET MPI provides a more accurate "picture" of coronary obstruction

Physicians need to know how badly heart vessels are blocked before they can decide how to treat patients at risk of having a heart attack.

17 Aug 2007

Antibacterial soaps show no health benefits over plain soaps

Antibacterial soaps show no health benefits over plain soaps and, in fact, may render some common antibiotics less effective, says a University of Michigan public health professor.

17 Aug 2007

Nicotinic receptors may be important targets for treatment of multiple addictions

For years, scientists have known that some people are biologically more susceptible to drug addiction than others, but they have only been able to speculate why.

17 Aug 2007

New target for the development of anti-influenza drugs

Scientists at Cure Lab, Inc., a biotechnology company based in Canton, Massachusetts, in collaboration with researchers at Boston University and Harvard Medical School have discovered a potential new target for the development of anti-influenza (flu) drugs, including those that may be effective against potentially pandemic influenza strains like H5N1.

17 Aug 2007

Sirtuin protein instrumental in fat production and metabolism

A new Joslin Diabetes Center-led study has identified a protein found in fat cells that may play a major role in how fat is produced and stored, offering a new target for treatments to prevent obesity and reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes.

17 Aug 2007

Researchers discover how a protein modulates the inflammatory response in acute respiratory distress syndrome

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have discovered how a protein modulates the inflammatory response in sudden, life-threatening lung failure.

17 Aug 2007

HIV protein both causes brain injury and prevents its repair

New evidence reported in the August issue of Cell Stem Cell, a publication of Cell Press, offers a novel perspective on how the HIV/AIDS virus leads to learning and memory deficits, a condition known as HIV-associated dementia.

17 Aug 2007

FDA approves updated labeling for Warfarin (Coumadin)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced the approval of updated labeling for the widely used blood-thinning drug, Coumadin, to explain that people's genetic makeup may influence how they respond to the drug.

17 Aug 2007

Effectiveness of mouse breeds that mimic Alzheimer's disease symptoms questioned

Scientists have shown that recently developed mouse breeds that mimic the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD) may not be as effective as previously assumed.

17 Aug 2007

Study looks at how children's anxiety and depression may be associated with substance abuse throughout adulthood

Research underway at Rutgers University Camden seeks to examine links between children's mental health problems and alcohol, nicotine, and illegal drug use over time.

17 Aug 2007

Combination of drugs might decrease the chance of chronic myeloid leukemia returning

Individuals with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) are treated first with a drug known as imatinib (Gleevec), which targets the protein known to cause the cancer (BCR-ABL).

17 Aug 2007

Scientists discover how HIV/AIDS disrupts the normal replication of stem cells in the adult brain

A prominent problem in AIDS is a form of dementia that robs one's ability to concentrate and perform normal movements.

17 Aug 2007

Abortion pill does not spoil later pregnancies

According to the latest research the abortion pill poses no apparent risk to a woman who later decides to have a child.

16 Aug 2007

Caution urged on use of drugs to raise "good" cholesterol

With 40 percent of all heart attacks and related cardiovascular problems occurring in people who have low levels of so-called "good" cholesterol, researchers have long sought medications to increase the amount of this type of cholesterol in the body's circulation.

16 Aug 2007