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Foreign drug manufacturing, testing raise regulatory and ethical concerns

JAMA discusses "a recent report from the Pew Health Group about the growing risks of substandard and counterfeit medications resulting from the increasing overseas production of pharmaceuticals and their ingredients."

25 Aug 2011

Tel Aviv University researcher finds already-medicated patients transmit HIV virus to others

Since HIV infection rates began to rise again around 2000, researchers have been grasping for answers on what could be causing this change, especially in the homosexual community.

25 Aug 2011

U.N. summit on NCDs 'is a battleground' of private versus public interests

David Stuckler of the University of Cambridge, Sanjay Basu of the University of California, San Francisco, and Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, write in a BMJ commentary that misconceptions and fallacies "have led to serious under-budgeting for non-communicable diseases".

25 Aug 2011

Scientists identify cellular protein that plays a critical role in Ebola virus infection

Research published by two teams of Army scientists and collaborators has identified a cellular protein that plays a critical role in Ebola virus infection.

25 Aug 2011

Study: Rates of HIV have increased in Pakistan's general population

Rates of HIV have increased in Pakistan's general population, as the virus has spread beyond at-risk groups to women and their children, according to an international team of researchers, including a University of Florida scientist.

25 Aug 2011

Researchers discover how antipsychotic drugs manage symptoms of schizophrenia

The classic symptoms of schizophrenia - paranoia, hallucinations, the inability to function socially-can be managed with antipsychotic drugs. But exactly how these drugs work has long been a mystery.

25 Aug 2011

Transradial cardiac catheterizations reduce complications, increase patient comfort

Each year, more than one million cardiac catheterizations are performed in the United States, and most of these procedures are performed through the groin to access the arteries that provide blood supply to the heart.

25 Aug 2011

Scientists identify critical protein responsible for Ebola virus infection

In separate papers published online in Nature, two research teams report identifying a critical protein that Ebola virus exploits to cause deadly infections. The protein target is an essential element through which the virus enters living cells to cause disease.

25 Aug 2011

Free Alzheimer's disease conference to take place on Sept. 17

University of Louisville faculty researchers and clinicians with expertise in polypharmacy, caregiving and more will join with a Washington-based geriatric researcher at a free conference examining Alzheimer's disease.

25 Aug 2011

People with Down syndrome have diminished optokinetic, vestibular reflexes

A scientist investigating why those with Down syndrome often have poor balance and motor coordination has found that key eye reflexes are substantially altered.

25 Aug 2011

Repeated cocaine use can increase individual's risk of mood disorders

It is well established that a mood disorder can increase an individual's risk for substance abuse, but there is also evidence that the converse is true; substance abuse can increase a person's vulnerability to stress-related illnesses.

25 Aug 2011

Successful aging, quality of life linked with sexual satisfaction in older women

A study by researchers at the Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego finds that successful aging and positive quality of life indicators correlate with sexual satisfaction in older women.

25 Aug 2011

Amniotic fluid-derived stem cells show promise against lung disease

Two papers published in the current issue of Cell Transplantation, highlight the rich source of stem cells in human amniotic fluid that can be isolated and transplanted for therapeutic purposes.

25 Aug 2011

Researchers discover NPC1 protein as crucial for Ebola virus to enter host cells

Although outbreaks are rare, Ebola virus, the cause of Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is one of the deadliest known viruses affecting humans. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 1,850 EHF cases with more than 1,200 deaths have been documented since the virus was identified in 1976.

25 Aug 2011

Azithromycin can effectively reduce acute COPD exacerbations

A common antibiotic added to the usual treatment plan for some patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can reduce acute exacerbations — sudden onsets of worsened cough, wheezing and labored breathing — and improve quality of life, according to findings from the COPD Clinical Research Network reported in the Aug. 25, 2011, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

25 Aug 2011

Patients with liver disease may now access UCSD's new Nevada clinic

Patients in Nevada seeking care for liver disease may now access the university-level expertise of UC San Diego Health System's Center for Hepatobiliary Disease and Abdominal Transplantation.

25 Aug 2011

IMMY, University of Nevada receive FDA clearance for CrAg Lateral Flow Assay

The Food and Drug Administration has cleared a new diagnostic test that will help save the lives of hundreds of thousands of AIDS patients stricken with cryptococcosis, a fungal meningitis.

25 Aug 2011

Parkinson’s disease breakthrough with stem cell research

A new stem cell study has raised hopes for therapy in Parkinson's disease. Researchers said they have, for the first time, generated stem cells from one of the most rapidly-progressing forms of the disease. They said the development will boost research into the condition because it will allow scientists to model the disease in laboratories and help them shed light on why certain nerve cells die. The research was led by the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with University College London (UCL).

24 Aug 2011

State film subsidy programs undermine longstanding tobacco control efforts

State governments, including California as well as others in Canada and the United Kingdom, pour hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into major motion pictures that depict smoking -- leading to thousands of new teen smokers every year, a University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) researcher has found.

24 Aug 2011

Melanin also protects from ionizing radiation

Sunbathers have long known that melanin in their skin cells provides protection from the damage caused by visible and ultraviolet light. More recent studies have shown that melanin, which is produced by multitudes of the planet's life forms, also gives some species protection from ionizing radiation. In certain microbes, in particular some organisms from near the former nuclear reactor facilities in Chernobyl, melanin has even been linked to increased growth in the presence of ionizing radiation.

24 Aug 2011