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Gab2 signalling protein switches off breast cancer and leukaemia

Australian scientists have identified a way to 'switch off' a molecule, a key player in the molecular processes that trigger breast cancer and certain forms of leukaemia.

10 Aug 2008

RNAi used to dramatically suppress HIV infection in an organism

Hopes languished last September when a promising candidate HIV vaccine failed to work. Despite this setback, many researchers still believe immunization is possible, and a new study suggests they're correct-at least at the cellular level.

10 Aug 2008

Researchers find a cancer-inhibiting cyanobacteria that grows on coral reefs

University of Florida College of Pharmacy researchers have discovered a marine compound off the coast of Key Largo that inhibits cancer cell growth in laboratory tests, a finding they hope will fuel the development of new drugs to better battle the disease.

10 Aug 2008

Scientists stop age-related decline in an entire organ

As people age, their cells become less efficient at getting rid of damaged protein - resulting in a buildup of toxic material that is especially pronounced in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders.

10 Aug 2008

The hype around stem cells

The most common use of stem cells in the near future will be in trials testing drugs for toxicity, rather than in revolutionary medical breakthroughs, a world expert in the social effects of stem cell research says.

10 Aug 2008

FDA warns consumers about Baltimore Medicine Shoppe pharmacies

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers who filled prescriptions at The Medicine Shoppe pharmacies located at 8035A Liberty Road and 5900 Reisterstown Road in Baltimore that they may have received drugs that were either expired or suspected counterfeit.

10 Aug 2008

New therapeutic platform technology tackles major diseases

A spin out company from basic structural biology, Asterion Ltd., has led to new technology that provides a way of creating therapeutic proteins to tackle major diseases such as cancer, diabetes and infertility.

8 Aug 2008

Cancer Research UK expresses 'deep concern' on kidney cancer drug decision

Cancer Research UK - the largest publicly funded research charity in the UK - wants to see the way NICE review the value of drugs altered for rare diseases, such as this type of kidney cancer, where clinical benefit is proven but evidence is limited.

8 Aug 2008

Small changes can make big health solutions

We shouldn't be emphasising expensive high tech vaccines and dazzling miracle drugs at the expense of more low tech ways improve people's health, particularly in the face of climate change, a young health researcher writes.

8 Aug 2008

Gene doping in sport

Professor John Rasko, head of the Gene and Stem Cell Therapy Program at the Centenary Institute, University of Sydney, talks about gene doping and other methods of performance enhancement on the eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

8 Aug 2008

Rituximab significantly reduces kidney injury in membranous nephropathy

The drug rituximab causes considerable kidney injury healing in patients with membranous nephropathy, a common form of kidney disease, according to a study appearing in the November 2008 issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

6 Aug 2008

Researchers show how new chemotherapy drugs kill cancerous tumors

Dr Stephen Taylor and Karen Gascoigne at the University of Manchester's Faculty of Life Sciences have taken a new systematic approach to studying anti-mitotic drugs, which are used extensively for breast or ovarian cancer in the UK.

From The University of Manchester 6 Aug 2008

Genetic biomarker linked to subcutaneous growth hormone dose-response

The interindividual variability of response to subcutaneously applied protein-based drugs remains poorly understood. However, defining genetic markers that can be associated with biological effects of such drugs may improve the understanding of individual variability of response and even drug resistance.

6 Aug 2008

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) equally effective in patients with or without history of injection drug use

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has been extremely effective at slowing the progression of HIV infection to AIDS as well as extending the lives and improving the quality of life for those with HIV. However, some doctors have been reluctant to prescribe HAART to HIV-infected injection drug users because of concern that they may not fully benefit from the therapy.

6 Aug 2008

Revolutionary technique that could reduce lifelong drugs for transplant patients shows promising findings

Researchers have developed a ground-breaking procedure that could avoid the need for transplant patients to spend the rest of their lives taking a cocktail of drugs to stop their system from rejecting their new organ, according to a series of papers in the August issue of Transplant International.

5 Aug 2008

Oestrogen - a beneficial addition to treatment of schizophrenia in women

Australian scientists have found that women suffering from schizophrenia were less likely to suffer hallucinations or delusions, when the hormone oestrogen was added to their treatment.

4 Aug 2008

A new target for malaria drugs

The malaria parasite has waged a successful guerrilla war against the human immune system for eons, but a study in this week's Journal of Biological Chemistry has exposed one of the tricks malaria uses to hide from the immune proteins, which may aid in future drug development.

4 Aug 2008

Binge drinking death of 15 year old in SA

A town in South Australia has been devastated over the death of a teenager from what appears to be a drinking binge.

4 Aug 2008

FDA changes policies regarding advisory committees

The Food and Drug Administration today announced several improved policies and procedures strengthening its management of FDA advisory committees. The improvements include stricter limits on financial conflicts of interest for committee members, improved voting procedures, and improvements to the processes for disclosing information pertaining both to advisory committee members and to specific matters considered at advisory committee meetings.

4 Aug 2008

Targeted action on HIV and tuberculosis needed to reach drug users

Health and criminal justice authorities need to provide targeted services to drug users, especially those who inject drugs, to prevent and treat tuberculosis (TB) and HIV. TB is a major cause of death for people living with HIV, but drug users who are HIV-positive face stigma, discrimination and barriers to accessing life-saving treatments.

4 Aug 2008