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Doctors in the United States say yes to marijuana

Doctors in the United States have given their endorsement for marijuana to be used for medical purposes.

17 Feb 2008

Chronic pain is a disease in its own right

The concept that chronic pain is a disease in its own right is leading to new specific treatments aimed at physical, psychological, and environmental components of this major disease, including genetic predisposition, according to a world renowned pain medicine expert.

17 Feb 2008

Waking up during surgery - how likely is it?

Most patients worry before an operation about waking up during the surgery unable to move or cry out and their fears are not without grounds.

17 Feb 2008

Researchers explain why Avastin can cause potentially fatal brain inflammation

New research by scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute may help explain why the anti-cancer drug Avastin, which targets a growth factor responsible for creation of new blood vessels, causes potentially fatal brain inflammation in certain patients.

14 Feb 2008

New clues about how cancer cells grow

Scientists in Switzerland are uncovering new clues about how cancer cells grow - and how they can be killed - by studying stem cells, 'blank' cells that have the potential to develop into fully mature or 'differentiated' cells and other scientists in UK have made a breakthrough in understanding the cause of the most common form of childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

14 Feb 2008

Brain's serotonin system differs between men and women

Serotonin is a brain neurotransmitter that is critical to the development and treatment of depression and chronic anxiety, conditions that, for reasons still unknown, are much more common in women than in men.

14 Feb 2008

Scientists solve structure of gene regulator that plays key role in cancer

Scientists at The Wistar Institute have collaborated on a major advance in understanding a gene regulator that contributes to some of the deadliest cancers in humans.

14 Feb 2008

Drug delivery straight to the brain

Scientists at the University of Portsmouth have won nearly half a million pounds to try and develop a way of allowing drugs to be delivered straight to the brain.

14 Feb 2008

Additional similarities found between nicotine and opiate addiction

"That was good!" "Do it again."This is what the brain says when people use tobacco, as well as 'hard drugs' such as heroin.

14 Feb 2008

Scientists discover why some breast cancers are drug resistant

Research by British scientists has revealed how cancer cells which have a faulty gene can become resistant to treatment.

13 Feb 2008

NSW bottom of the league when it comes to public health spending

Figures in the latest report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare have revealed a few surprises.

13 Feb 2008

Throwing money at back pain treatments does not guarantee relief

A new study by researchers in the United States has revealed that despite the billions of dollars spent in recent years on treating back pain, many people gain little relief.

13 Feb 2008

New Jefferson trial to test radiation-emitting beads against advanced liver cancer

Liver cancer specialists at Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia are beginning an 18-month study of a new treatment for liver cancer.

13 Feb 2008

New findings show additional similarity between opiate and nicotine addiction

"That was good!" "Do it again." This is what the brain says when people use tobacco, as well as ‘hard drugs' such as heroin.

13 Feb 2008

Fake antimalarial drugs analysis highlights threat to global health

A unique collaboration between scientists, public health workers and police has led to the arrest by the Chinese authorities of alleged traders of fake anti-malarial drugs in southern China and the seizure of a large quantity of drugs.

13 Feb 2008

Pharmaceutical policies: effects of cap and co-payment on rational drug use

A new review of existing research suggests that co-pays and caps on drug expenditures could keep crucial medications out of the hands of those who need them.

13 Feb 2008

Discovery of 'overdrive' protein could broaden drug design options

New research by scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows for the first time that an important family of proteins known to function at the cell surface also functions at a site within the cell.

13 Feb 2008

What do marathoners and heart failure patients have in common?

The new study shows that the fatigue that marathoners and other extreme athletes feel at the end of a race is caused by a tiny leak inside their muscles that probably also saps the energy from patients with heart failure.

12 Feb 2008

Toxic blue-green algae may provide new anti-cancer drugs

A collaborative team of researchers spearheaded by Dennis Carson M.D., professor of medicine and director of the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has identified a potent new anti-cancer drug isolated from a toxic blue-green algae found in the South Pacific.

12 Feb 2008

Oxcarbazepine doesn't prevent migraine

Contrary to some reports, the epilepsy drug oxcarbazepine does not appear to prevent migraine, according to research published in the February 12, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

12 Feb 2008