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Voraxaze receives FDA approval for treatment of toxic methotrexate levels

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Voraxaze (glucarpidase) to treat patients with toxic levels of methotrexate in their blood due to kidney failure.

18 Jan 2012

Scientists discover novel mechanism to prevent cell death of nerve cells

Oxygen and glucose are the food of our brain. If they are absent, such as during a stroke, nerve cells die. An international research team at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany, and McMaster University, Canada, has discovered a novel mechanism to prevent this cell death. The results of the study have now been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

16 Jan 2012

Researchers publish first detailed figures that show risk of Rasilez and ACE inhibitors or ARBs

Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital have published the first detailed figures showing the risk of using the prescription drug Rasilez in combination with certain other blood pressure-lowering medications.

13 Jan 2012

Researchers discover a way to sensitize glioblastoma to chemotherapy

Brain cancer cells are particularly resistant to chemotherapy - toxins enter the cells, but before the toxins can kill, cancer cells quickly pump them back outside. In fact, brain cancer cells are even better than healthy cells at cleaning themselves. This means that when hit with chemotherapy, healthy cells tend to die before brain cancer cells. Especially in the brain, killing healthy cells is bad.

13 Jan 2012

Researchers identify human receptor that can taste fat

Why do we like fatty foods so much? We can blame our taste buds. Our tongues apparently recognize and have an affinity for fat, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. They have found that variations in a gene can make people more or less sensitive to the taste of fat.

13 Jan 2012

Study shows how Notch gene and PRC2 protein complex work together to cause T-ALL

A new study published in the journal Nature Medicine by NYU Cancer Institute researchers, shows how the cancer causing gene Notch, in combination with a mutated Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) protein complex, work together to cause T- cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

13 Jan 2012

Researchers analyze microorganisms in human gut as a complex, integrated biological system

For the first time, researchers have analyzed the multitude of microorganisms residing in the human gut as a complex, integrated biological system, rather than a set of separate species. Their approach has revealed patterns that correspond with excess body weight.

11 Jan 2012

Inhibiting glutaminase can curb growth of B cell cancers

Cancer cells have been long known to have a "sweet tooth," using vast amounts of glucose for energy and for building blocks for cell replication.

11 Jan 2012

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation names 18 new Fellows

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on supporting innovative early career researchers, named 18 new Damon Runyon Fellows at its fall Fellowship Award Committee review.

11 Jan 2012

Research identifies several new means to potentially target cancer

Scientists at the University of Leicester have opened up a whole new approach to the therapeutic intervention for a family of anti-cancer drug targets, thanks to a completely new and unexpected finding.

11 Jan 2012

Infectious disease-fighting drugs could be designed to block pathogen's entry into cells

New research shows that infectious disease-fighting drugs could be designed to block a pathogen's entry into cells rather than to kill the bug itself.

11 Jan 2012

Cancer cells feed on sugar-free diet

Cancer cells have been long known to have a “sweet tooth,” using vast amounts of glucose for energy and for building blocks for cell replication.

10 Jan 2012

CMS increases NLA for T-SPOT.TB test's CPT code 86481

Oxford Immunotec, Inc. announces that, following a reconsideration request made by the company, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has increased the national limitation amount (NLA) for the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code 86481 which is used for the T-SPOT.TB test.

10 Jan 2012

DHA plays an essential role in creating healthy sperm

Who knew that male fertility depends on sperm-cell architecture? A University of Illinois study reports that a certain omega-3 fatty acid is necessary to construct the arch that turns a round, immature sperm cell into a pointy-headed super swimmer with an extra long tail.

10 Jan 2012

Researchers uncover exact function of LARGE enzyme linked with MD

Researchers at the University of Iowa have worked out the exact function of an enzyme that is critical for normal muscle structure and is involved in several muscular dystrophies. The findings, which were published Jan. 6 in the journal Science,, could be used to develop rapid, large-scale testing of potential muscular dystrophy therapies.

10 Jan 2012

JDRF, KalVista collaborate to focus on novel approach for diabetic macular edema

KalVista Pharmaceuticals and JDRF have formed a research partnership focused on a novel approach being developed by KalVista to preserve vision and slow the progression of diabetic eye disease.

9 Jan 2012

AICAR therapy may combat heat stroke

We've all seen the story in the news before. Whether it's the death of a physically fit high school athlete at football training camp in August, or of an elderly woman gardening in the middle of the day in July, heat stroke is a serious, life-threatening condition for which there is no treatment beyond submersion in ice water or the application of ice packs to cool the body to a normal temperature.

8 Jan 2012

Scientists develop simple, reliable test to identify biomarkers for MPS

A team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Zacharon Pharmaceuticals, have developed a simple, reliable test for identifying biomarkers for mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS), a group of inherited metabolic disorders that are currently diagnosed in patients only after symptoms have become serious and the damage possibly irreversible.

8 Jan 2012

Trail of research that led to discovery of aspirin's role in prevention of first heart attack

Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., DrPH, the first Sir Richard Doll Research Professor as well as first recipient of an endowed chair in the new Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, has published a Citation Classic in the current issue of Clinical Chemistry. Hennekens was the founding principal investigator (PI) of the landmark Physician's Health Study and was the first to demonstrate that aspirin prevents a first heart attack.

7 Jan 2012

Researchers crack structure and function of malarial protein

A biology lab at Washington University has just cracked the structure and function of a protein that plays a key role in the life of a parasite that killed 655,000 people in 2010.

7 Jan 2012