Drugs News and Research

RSS

Baltimore Sun series examines link between commercial sex work, HIV transmission in Baltimore

The Baltimore Sun this week published a two-part series examining the link between commercial sex work and HIV transmission in Baltimore.

6 Nov 2007

Botswana President says AIDS-related deaths decreasing

Botswana President Festus Mogae on Monday during his State of the Nation address to Parliament said while AIDS-related deaths have decreased in the country, huge challenges still lay ahead, AFP/Yahoo! News reports (AFP/Yahoo! News, 11/6).

6 Nov 2007

Ugandan President calls for public-private partnership to fight HIV/AIDS during U.S. meeting

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni last week during a meeting in Washington, D.C., with representatives from the African Diplomatic Corps, U.S. government officials and representatives from the health care industry called for a public-private partnership to fight HIV/AIDS in Uganda, Uganda's Monitor reports.

6 Nov 2007

Common painkillers may prevent Parkinson's disease

Researchers in the U.S. are suggesting that painkillers such as ibuprofen and naproxen can cut the risk of Parkinson's disease by as much as 60%.

6 Nov 2007

Urban kids with asthma need more frequent check-ups

Because even mild asthma among young inner-city children appears to be more unpredictable than ever, four or more check-ups a year after diagnosis is a wise move as a hedge against dangerous flare-ups of wheezing and trips to the emergency room, according to a study from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

6 Nov 2007

Teens who use only cannabis appear to function better than those who also use tobacco

A Swiss study suggests that teens who use only cannabis appear to function better than those who also use tobacco, and are more socially driven and have no more psychosocial problems than those who abstain from both substances, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

6 Nov 2007

New finding about the relationship between stress and cancer

One way environmental stress causes cancer is by reducing the activity level of an enzyme that causes cell death, researchers say.

6 Nov 2007

NSAIDs may lower risk of Parkinson's disease

Over-the-counter pain medications known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may reduce a person's risk of Parkinson's disease, according to a study published in the November 6, 2007, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

6 Nov 2007

Maternal alcohol drinking during pregnancy associated with risk for childhood conduct problems

Maternal alcohol drinking during pregnancy appears to be associated with conduct problems in children, independently of other risk factors, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

6 Nov 2007

Brain chemical anandamide work as antidepressant

American and Italian researchers have found that boosting the amounts of a marijuana-like brain transmitter called anandamide produces antidepressant effects in test rats.

6 Nov 2007

Immtech receives $5.1 million to tackle trypanosomiasis and leishmania

Immtech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that it has received $5.1 million from a scientific consortium led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), which received funds from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to develop drugs for fighting African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis) and leishmania.

6 Nov 2007

Hypertension or atrial fibrillation linked to Alzheimer's disease progression

Alzheimer's disease (AD) may progress more rapidly in people with high blood pressure or a form of irregular heartbeat, atrial fibrillation, according to results of a Johns Hopkins study published in the Nov. 6, 2007, issue of Neurology.

6 Nov 2007

New role for p53 gene in childhood cancer

Researchers have identified a new role for a cancer-prevention gene in the response to drug treatment for childhood cancer.

6 Nov 2007

Genes play important role in risk for dependence on illicit and licit drugs

The genes that play a role in illegal drug abuse are not entirely the same as those involved in dependence on legal substances like alcohol and nicotine, and caffeine addiction appears to be genetically independent of all the others, according to a study led by Virginia Commonwealth University researchers.

6 Nov 2007

New review of catheterization after heart attack

In a subset of patients suffering heart attack, adding stents to clot-busting medical therapy after the optimal treatment window ends isn't justified, say researchers from Duke University Medical Center.

6 Nov 2007

Impact of various diabetes treatments on patients' health after heart attack.

Mayo Clinic researchers helped clarify a growing concern about the link between diabetes mellitus treatments and heart attack with the first large, population-based study showing that a group of common medications does not reduce diabetic patients' heart attack survival rates.

6 Nov 2007

More effective method of treating high blood pressure

Scientists at Robarts Research Institute have developed a simplified and more effective method of treating high blood pressure.

6 Nov 2007

Bayer Pharmaceuticals agrees to a marketing suspension of Trasylol

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that, at the agency's request, Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corp. has agreed to a marketing suspension of Trasylol, a drug used to control bleeding during heart surgery, pending detailed review of preliminary results from a Canadian study that suggested an increased risk for death.

5 Nov 2007

Global Fund, World Bank provide Malawi with $48.5 million to expand HIV/AIDS services, commission says

Malawi's National AIDS Commission in a statement issued Thursday announced that it has received $48.5 million from the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the World Bank to expand HIV/AIDS services in the country up to December, Xinhua News Agency reports.

5 Nov 2007

Fewer U.S. residents purchase prescription drugs from Canada, in part because of Medicare drug benefit

Online drug sales in 2006 from Canadian pharmacies to U.S. consumers dropped about 50%, from $420 million Canadian dollars in 2005 to $211 million Canadian dollars last year, according to data from IMS Health, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

5 Nov 2007