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Scientists discover a compound that gets rid of excess cholesterol

New research by scientists in the United States carried out in mice has revealed a compound that releases excessive cholesterol accumulated inside cells.

27 Jan 2009

Aspirin shown to help prevent liver damage

According to scientists at Yale University ordinary aspirin may help prevent liver damage in millions of people suffering from the side effects of common drugs, alcohol abuse and obesity-related liver disease.

27 Jan 2009

Breastfed babies less likely to be neglected

An international team of specialists have carried out a study which has revealed that mothers who breastfeed are less likely to neglect their children.

27 Jan 2009

Drug-coated stents less risky for heart bypass patients

Coronary bypass surgery may carry less risk of serious complications if stents coated with a drug that suppresses cell growth are used in the procedure rather than bare-metal stents, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers and colleagues have found.

23 Jan 2009

Scientist decodes the language of memory cells

When an infection attacks, the body's immune system sounds the alert, kills the invading germs and remembers the pathogen to protect against contracting the same type of infection again.

23 Jan 2009

Inhaled corticosteroids reduces severity of asthma attacks in preschoolers

The largest study of its kind on preschoolers has demonstrated that preventive treatment with high doses of inhaled corticosteroids is effective in reducing the severity and duration of asthma attacks triggered by colds.

23 Jan 2009

New treatment for latent form of tuberculosis

Patients who are infected with the latent form of tuberculosis (TB) show no symptoms and are not contagious, yet they pose the biggest challenge when it comes to controlling the disease.

23 Jan 2009

Researchers create precise biosensor for detecting blood glucose

Researchers have created a precise biosensor for detecting blood glucose and potentially many other biological molecules by using hollow structures called single-wall carbon nanotubes anchored to gold-coated "nanocubes."

23 Jan 2009

Low-carb diet burns more excess liver fat than low-cal diet

People on low-carbohydrate diets are more dependent on the oxidation of fat in the liver for energy than those on a low-calorie diet, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a small clinical study.

23 Jan 2009

Genetic interactions are the key to understanding complex traits

In recent years, genetic studies have uncovered hundreds of DNA variations linked to common diseases, such as cancer or diabetes, raising the prospect that scientists can gauge disease risk based on information in an individual's genome.

23 Jan 2009

Lisofylline drug improves type 2 insulin action; reduces harm of fat in preclinical study

Results of a preclinical study involving DiaKine Therapeutics' lead drug candidate Lisofylline (LSF) indicate the compound may reduce two key risk factors for type 2 diabetes.

23 Jan 2009

Morbidity rates increased substantially after Hurricane Katrina

In the year following Hurricane Katrina, the health of survivors 65 and over declined nearly 4 times that of a national sample of older adults not affected by the disaster, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

23 Jan 2009

Topical treatment wipes out herpes with RNAi

Whether condoms or abstinence, most efforts to prevent sexually transmitted diseases have a common logic: keep the pathogen out of your body altogether.

21 Jan 2009

Discovery could lead to novel arrhythmia treatments

Abnormal heart rhythms - arrhythmias - are killers. They strike without warning, causing sudden cardiac death, which accounts for about 10 percent of all deaths in the United States.

21 Jan 2009

Slices of living human brain tissue are helping scientists identify new stroke therapies

Slices of living human brain tissue are helping scientists learn which drugs can block the waves of death that engulf and engorge brain cells following a stroke.

21 Jan 2009

Lou Gehrig's disease in humans has genetic links to degenerative myelopathy in dogs

An incurable, paralyzing disease in humans is now genetically linked to a similar disease in dogs.

21 Jan 2009

Protease inhibitor found to aid diabetic retinopathy treatment

Researchers from Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, and ActiveSite Pharmaceuticals, Inc., San Francisco, announced today that they have demonstrated that a specific inhibitor of the protease plasma kallikrein, ASP-440, developed by ActiveSite Pharmaceuticals, may provide a new therapeutic approach for treatment of diabetic retinopathy, the most common eye-related complication of diabetes.

21 Jan 2009

Loss of sex drive after menopause affects health, quality of life

Women with low levels of sexual desire, often as a result of menopause, are more likely to be depressed and to suffer physical symptoms such as back pain and memory problems than women who report higher levels of desire, according to a new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals.

21 Jan 2009

Oral steroids ineffective treatment for wheezing in children

A new study from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry has found that a common treatment for wheezing in preschool children is no more effective than a placebo.

21 Jan 2009

Potential new target in the war on HIV/AIDS

The study revealed that a variant of a protein involved in HIV pathogenesis can suppress production of an HIV protein, known as Nef. Nef is required for the human immunodeficiency virus to develop into AIDS through a series of complex events involving viral elements and cellular proteins. Nef has never been a target for drug treatment in HIV patients.

21 Jan 2009