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FDA announces required class-wide safety labeling changes for IR opioid pain medications

In a continuing effort to educate prescribers and patients about the potential risks related to opioid use, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced required class-wide safety labeling changes for immediate-release (IR) opioid pain medications. Among the changes, the FDA is requiring a new boxed warning about the serious risks of misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose and death.

23 Mar 2016

Deleting microRNA-155 prevents diet-induced obesity in female mice

Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center seeking a way to combat the growing epidemic of obesity have found that deleting microRNA-155 in female mice prevents diet-induced obesity.

23 Mar 2016

Specialized gene editing system paves way to eventual cure for HIV patients

A specialized gene editing system designed by scientists at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University is paving the way to an eventual cure for patients infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

22 Mar 2016

Computer-assisted methods may help as decision support system to combat Zika virus

Global climate change, international travel, and ineffective vector control programs are aiding the emergence of infectious diseases globally. The currently expanding Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic is one such problem.

21 Mar 2016

Combined loss of XPO1, BCL11A and REL linked to 2p15p16.1 microdeletion syndrome

Individuals with 2p15p16.1 microdeletion syndrome present with intellectual disability, microcephaly, delayed growth, dysmorphic craniofacial features, and digital abnormalities.

21 Mar 2016

UNIGE researchers identify new recessive disease

The objective of genetic medicine is to analyze all the genes that make up the human genome, in order to identify as many genetic diseases as possible. Indeed, each gene variation has the potential to trigger specific defects. Among all genetic conditions, diseases known as "recessive" occur only when both the father and the mother are healthy carriers of the same defective gene which can be passed down to their children.

18 Mar 2016

Psoriasis patients experience widespread bone loss

Researchers from the Genes, Development and Disease Group, headed by Erwin Wagner at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre have discovered that psoriasis patients experience a widespread bone loss as a result of the disease.

17 Mar 2016

Anti-anxiety drug reduces autistic features in Jacobsen syndrome mice

About half of children born with Jacobsen syndrome, a rare inherited disease, experience social and behavioral issues consistent with autism spectrum disorders. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and collaborators developed a mouse model of the disease that also exhibits autism-like social behaviors and used it to unravel the molecular mechanism that connects the genetic defects inherited in Jacobsen syndrome to effects on brain function.

16 Mar 2016

Study: New SARS-like WIV1-CoV virus poised to infect humans

A SARS-like virus found in Chinese horseshoe bats may be poised to infect humans without the need for adaptation, overcoming an initial barrier that could potentially set the stage for an outbreak according to a study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

16 Mar 2016

Anticancer drug restores hearing in neurofibromatosis patients

In a small clinical study with an anticancer drug that halts blood vessel growth, a handful of people with neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) and hearing loss had restoration of hearing.

15 Mar 2016

Over- or under-reaction of immune system can be life-threatening

The dilemma of our immune system is comparable to the story of Icarus and Daedalus from Greek mythology. To escape their captivity, Daedalus built wings from feathers and wax for himself and his son. Daedalus warned his son that he must neither fly too high but also not too low, otherwise the sun's heat or the humidity of the sea would destroy his wings and he would crash. After they had successfully escaped, Icarus became boisterous and flew higher and higher until the sun began to melt the wax of his wings and he fell into the sea. Similarly, an over- or under-reaction of our immune system can be life-threatening.

11 Mar 2016

Sleep Awareness Week 2016: XenoPort launches campaign to raise awareness about impact of RLS on sleep

Nearly 7 million Americans suffer from restless legs syndrome (RLS). For many patients suffering from moderate to severe symptoms, RLS is debilitating – disrupting sleep, influencing mood, and negatively affecting everyday life.

10 Mar 2016

Early childhood presents short-lived window for intervention to ensure future cardio-metabolic health

Research conducted at LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health has found that exposure to poverty does not produce metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers in young, healthy children. It identifies early childhood as an opportunity to prevent a known association in adults between poverty and the metabolic syndrome. The study is one of the first to characterize the timing of exposure to such stress and the emergence of the physiologic changes leading to cardio-metabolic disease and to document these relationships during this critical developmental period.

10 Mar 2016

Clinical review examines benefit of RT in breast cancer patients with BRCA1, BRCA2 mutations

In light of conflicting and inconclusive clinical data on the benefit of radiation therapy in cancer patients with the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation, a clinical review examined the current status of data regarding BRCA1 and BRCA2 deficiency and radiation therapy sensitivity and a potential strategy to intensify the effects of radiation therapy (RT) by poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi), the pharmacologic drugs under investigation as monotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer in patients with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.

9 Mar 2016

Alcohol worst of all drugs that affect fetal health

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set off a firestorm of controversy this month when they suggested that women stop drinking alcohol if they are trying to get pregnant, or could get pregnant. Some people took this advice as the CDC prioritizing hypothetical, yet-to-be-conceived children over real women, which has brought up a number of issues from female autonomy to access to birth control—but how clear is the science about what causes fetal alcohol syndrome and related fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

9 Mar 2016

Therapy change significantly improves treatment outcomes for renal cell carcinoma patients

A research team of the Comprehensive Cancer Center of MedUni Vienna and AKH Vienna was able to demonstrate that a therapy change in the area of metastasising renal cell carcinoma significantly increases the life average expectancy and clearly improves the compatibility of the therapy.

9 Mar 2016

Metabolic syndrome treatment benefits MS patients

Oral antidiabetic medications have beneficial anti-inflammatory effects in patients with multiple sclerosis and metabolic syndrome, providing support for a link between metabolism and autoimmunity, researchers report.

9 Mar 2016

Changes in gut bacteria strongly associated with PCOS-related obesity

Modifying gut bacteria could be a treatment option for some of the symptoms associated with the widespread disease polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), according to a recent study by San Diego State University researchers in collaboration with investigators from the University of California, San Diego.

8 Mar 2016

Zika virus can cause a range of abnormalities in pregnant women, study finds

New research presents strong evidence that the Zika virus can indeed cause a range of abnormalities in pregnant women infected with the virus -- with the effects manifesting any time during pregnancy. Some of the abnormalities noted have not been reported in connection with the virus.

7 Mar 2016

Researchers develop new technique to create naïve pluripotent stem cells

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have for the first time shown that it is possible to derive from a human embryo so-called 'naïve' pluripotent stem cells - one of the most flexible types of stem cell, which can develop into all human tissue other than the placenta.

7 Mar 2016