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New understanding of how Staphylococcus aureus hides

A major cause of human and animal infections, Staphylococcus aureus bacteria may evade the immune system" defences and dodge antibiotics by climbing into our cells and then lying low to avoid detection.

17 Jun 2007

Isradipine may slow Parkinson's

Gloria E. Meredith, Ph.D., collaborated with D. James Surmeier, Ph.D. and other scientists at Northwestern University to study the drug, Isradipine, and its possible effects on Parkinson's disease.

17 Jun 2007

Changing face of dialysis care in the United States

As medical, economic, and policy trends converge to alter the way dialysis care is organized and financed, protecting the unique relationship between dialysis patients and the kidney specialists who direct their care is a top priority, according to a special feature in the July Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

17 Jun 2007

Stress and Alzheimer's disease

Subjecting mice to repeated emotional stress, the kind we experience in everyday life, may contribute to the accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, report researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

17 Jun 2007

Boys and delinquency

Researchers trying to understand why high school-age boys are involved in serious delinquency more often than girls have found that males are exposed to higher levels of risk factors and lower amounts of protective factors.

16 Jun 2007

Gene implicated in the development of cancer cells can be switched on using drugs

A gene implicated in the development of cancer cells can be switched on using drugs, report researchers from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

16 Jun 2007

New cellular pathway that operates to restrict inflammation and immunity

Jonsson Cancer Center have discovered a novel anti-inflammatory cell signaling pathway that may serve as a vital Yin-Yang mechanism to maintain the delicate balance of immune response.

16 Jun 2007

New era of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis

Three new drugs for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have ushered in a new era of treatment for this difficult and debilitating condition.

16 Jun 2007

The big donor shortage

Associate Professor Catherine Waldby of the University of Sydney looks at the fraught and often frightening world of organ donation in an opinion piece.

16 Jun 2007

The unexpected connection of two gene regulation mechanisms points to new ways for the fight against leukemia

When the activity of individual genes it is longer required, there are two main mechanisms responsible for the “switching off”, mainly DNA methylation and the Polycomb protein complex. Sometimes, these mechanisms lose their efficiency and some of the genes that should be "switched off" remain active.

16 Jun 2007

Newer breast cancer drug may protect heart

By uncovering how one breast cancer drug protects the heart and another does not, Duke University Medical Center researchers believe they may have opened up a new way to screen drugs for possible heart-related side effects and to develop new drugs.

16 Jun 2007

Steps for children to get a good nights sleep

Over the past decade, children have been going to bed later and sleeping less.

16 Jun 2007

Sensitivity to diverse range of chemotherapeutic drugs linked to common pathway

Using a functional genomic screen, scientists have defined elements that impact the responsiveness of cancer cells to drugs commonly used as anticancer therapeutics.

15 Jun 2007

Scientists decode RNA mystery

A team of University of Maryland scientists have made a discovery that will help better direct drug therapies to their molecular targets.

15 Jun 2007

Splitting high-dose pills and swallowing half could save cost

Slicing certain pills in half could slice a hefty amount off of America's prescription drug costs. While only some types of pills can be split safely, the practice could be used by millions of Americans – including many of those who take popular cholesterol-lowering drugs.

15 Jun 2007

Irrational use of medicines is a major problem all over the world

The World Health Organization (WHO) and many other bodies are concentrating on improving the use of medicines. Problem-based teaching of Pharmacology and Therapeutics to undergraduate medical students has been recognized as a key intervention to improve the use of medicines.

15 Jun 2007

Hybrid gold-dendrimer nanoparticles target and image tumors

Dendrimer nanoparticles, made of spherical, highly branched polymers, have shown promise as drug delivery vehicles capable of targeting tumors with large doses of anticancer drugs.

14 Jun 2007

Zimulti (rimonabant) gets the thumbs down from FDA advisory panel

An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. have unanimously voted that the federal agency should refuse approval for a new weight loss drug.

14 Jun 2007

New target for Type 2 diabetes

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered a potential new target for treating type 2 diabetes, according to a new study that appeared online this week in Nature.

14 Jun 2007

Mild cognitive disorder often an early symptom of Alzheimer's disease

Using new MRI techniques to analyze tissue composition and structure in the brain, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the National Institute on Aging successfully detected mild cognitive disorder (MCI), a condition in which patients suffer mild memory problems and is often an early symptom of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

14 Jun 2007