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Warning about deaths and serious reactions linked to blood thinning drug heparin

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States says the production of a popular blood thinning drug has been halted temporarily after more than 300 reports of health problems associated with the drug.

13 Feb 2008

Human growth hormone abuse raises serious health risks

Human growth hormone (HGH), when medically necessary, is a safe and effective clinical treatment for children and adults.

13 Feb 2008

Night-time noise from aircraft or traffic can increase a person's blood pressure

Scientists from Imperial College London and other European institutions monitored 140 sleeping volunteers in their homes near London Heathrow and three other major European airports.

13 Feb 2008

Baxter's multiple-dose vial Heparin linked to severe allergic reactions

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that Baxter Healthcare Corporation has temporarily stopped manufacturing multiple-dose vials of the injectable blood-thinning drug heparin due to reports of serious allergic reactions and hypotension (low blood pressure) in patients who receive high "bolus" doses of the drug.

11 Feb 2008

New islet transplantation for patients with Type 1 diabetes

A team led by Dr Richard Smith, Consultant Senior Lecturer in Renal Medicine at North Bristol NHS Trust and the University of Bristol, will offer a pioneering new treatment for some patients with Type 1 diabetes, the Department of Health announced today.

11 Feb 2008

Researchers find new U.S. trend in antibiotic resistance

A research team from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, examining bacterial isolates obtained in hospital and non-hospital clinical settings between 2000 and 2006, has identified drug-resistant strains of E. coli and Klebsiella bacteria in more than 50 blood, urine and respiratory samples.

11 Feb 2008

Bioniche receives funding to scale-up E. coli O157:H7 vaccine production

Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. has announced that it has secured a $5 million commercial loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) in support of the scale-up of vaccine production at its Belleville, Ontario facility.

8 Feb 2008

Cellcept immunosuppressant further linked to birth defects

A new study documents malformations seen in an infant born to a kidney transplant recipient who had taken mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), a widely used immunosuppressant available commercially as Cellcept.

7 Feb 2008

Vitamin D for cancer

It sounds too good to be true … a little inexpensive pill that could block the development of some cancers, strengthen bones, prevent multiple sclerosis and alleviate winter depression.

7 Feb 2008

For safety, NHLBI changes intensive blood sugar treatment strategy in trial of diabetes and cardiovascular disease

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health has stopped one treatment within a large, ongoing North American clinical trial of diabetes and cardiovascular disease 18 months early due to safety concerns after review of available data, although the study will continue.

6 Feb 2008

Precise geometry and energy of protein structures holds key to cures

Your mother always told you to do your geometry homework, and for scientists seeking new treatments for diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, this advice turns out to be right on the mark.

5 Feb 2008

Intensive insulin therapy reduces the risk of death in critically ill patients

For critically ill patients, intensive insulin therapy (IIT) to keep blood sugar (glucose) at normal levels reduces the risk of acute kidney injury, reports a study in the March Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

4 Feb 2008

New liquid treatment for wide-neck brain aneurysm tested at Jefferson Hospital

Neurological surgeons at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience are among the first surgeons in the United States using an FDA-approved liquid system for treating wide-necked brain aneurysms, which could eventually replace current treatments.

4 Feb 2008

Novel wound-healing peptide gel

First-String Research, Inc. (FSR), a spin-off biotechnology company from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), has begun the human clinical trial process for its unique, wound-healing peptide gel.

4 Feb 2008

Enzyme released by mast cells in the lungs could be a new target for asthma

An enzyme released by mast cells in the lungs appears to play a key role in the tightening of airways that is a hallmark of asthma pointing to a potential new target for treatment against the illness.

4 Feb 2008

Why is scratching so nice?

In the first study to use imaging technology to see what goes on in the brain when we scratch, researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have uncovered new clues about why scratching may be so relieving - and why it can be hard to stop. The work is reported online in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology and will appear in a future print issue.

31 Jan 2008

MUSC spin-off to test wound-healing peptide gel

30 Jan 2008

Lungs' mast cells could provide new treatment target for asthma, other respiratory disease

30 Jan 2008

Breakdown of kidney's self-cleaning ability makes them more vulnerable to dysfunction and disease

The kidney actively cleans its most selective filter to keep it from clogging with blood proteins, scientists from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reveal in a new study.

30 Jan 2008

Kidney cancer drug attacks a major type of acute myeloid leukemia

A drug used to treat kidney cancer also targets a genetic mutation active in about one third of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most common and lethal form of adult leukemia, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the Jan. 29 edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

30 Jan 2008