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Viagra protects cardiomyocytes against cell death

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have shown that a widely used drug for treating erectile dysfunction, Viagra, reduces the death of heart cells under heart attack-like conditions in a laboratory model.

31 Jan 2005

$Phenoxodiol gets fast track status for its intended use in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer$

Phenoxodiol gets fast track status for its intended use in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer

Marshall Edwards today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the investigational anti-cancer drug, phenoxodiol, fast track status for its intended use in patients with hormone- refractory prostate cancer (HRPC).

26 Jan 2005

Exercise may be the easiest for women to decrease their risk of heart disease

For decades, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was prescribed for postmenopausal women to protect them from cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, results from the Women’s Health Initiative questioned its effectiveness, which has led to more caution in prescribing and using HRT for this purpose.

26 Jan 2005

Evolutionarily ancient enzyme-repair system used to identify type of DNA damage responsible for the onset of skin-tumor development

In a finding that broadens our insight into the cause of certain kinds of UV-induced skin cancer, researchers at Erasmus University Medical Center (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) have employed an evolutionarily ancient enzyme-repair system to identify the principal type of DNA damage responsible for the onset of skin-tumor development.

26 Jan 2005

Drug reviparin reduces the risk of death after heart attack

The drug reviparin (a low molecular weight heparin anticoagulant), when administered to patients with a heart attack, is effective in reducing the risk of death and the risk of a subsequent heart attack, according to a study in the January 26 issue of JAMA.

26 Jan 2005

Plant protein mimics hormone that mitigates diabetes and obesity

A common protein that protects plants from fungal infection mimics the activity of a hormone in mammals that is linked to weight loss and is believed to play a role in mitigating heart disease, obesity and diabetes, according to a team of researchers at Purdue University and several collaborating institutions.

25 Jan 2005

Lack of the enzyme acetyl CoA carboxylase 2 turns fat cells into fat burners

Lack of the enzyme, acetyl CoA carboxylase 2 or ACC2, appears to turn the adipose or fat cells of mice into fat burners, explaining in part why the animals can eat more and weigh less than their normal counterparts, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers.

25 Jan 2005

Over-eating at an early age may stay well into adulthood

Melbourne researchers have found that over-eating at a very young age can have a long-lasting effect on the body and in particular seems to enhance the production of hormones made in fat and involved in metabolism.

24 Jan 2005

Role of ethnicity in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

The first study to examine nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among different ethnic and racial groups in the United States finds that Hispanics may be at a higher risk of developing the condition. The study is published in Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hepatology is available online via Wiley InterScience.

19 Jan 2005

Cellular fuel gauge could hold clue to diabetes

A molecule in the body could hold the key to explaining why people who exercise regularly are less likely to have illnesses such as type 2 diabetes.

19 Jan 2005

Simplified approach to the management of patients with an acute coronary syndrome

A simplified approach to the management of patients with an acute coronary syndrome (chest pain at rest or with mild exertion) can help ensure that precise risk-reducing strategies are followed to the letter by doctors and other caregivers of patients with this medical condition, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers.

19 Jan 2005

Study provides insight into strategies for telomere-based molecular cancer therapeutics

A new study published in the January issue of Cancer Cell provides exciting new information about how to boost the effectiveness of a promising cancer treatment that targets telomeres in an attempt to interfere with the ability of a cancer cell to continuously divide.

17 Jan 2005

No to over the counter statin!

Last Friday an FDA expert panel voted overwhelmingly against the over-the-counter sale of Merck's cholesterol lowering drug Mevacor (lovastatin). Mevacor is one of a number of drugs known as "statins" which are widely considered to be the most effective drugs for the treatment of high cholesterol. Statins work by inhibiting a liver enzyme used in the manufacture of cholesterol.

17 Jan 2005

Patient drawings important diagnostic tool for heart attack recovery

Simple drawings by heart attack victims of what they believe has happened to their heart may be an important diagnostic tool to aid their recovery, research at The University of Auckland has shown.

17 Jan 2005

Molecular pathway turns a juvenile heart into an adult heart

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have discovered the molecular sequence of events in mice that turn a juvenile heart into an adult heart capable of responding to increased workloads.

17 Jan 2005

Scientists uncover new evidence to help explain statins’ effects in Alzheimer’s disease

Scientists at Jefferson Medical College and the Farber Institute for Neurosciences at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia have taken another step in understanding the potential effects of anti-cholesterol drugs on Alzheimer’s disease.

12 Jan 2005

Euro funding for diabetes and exercise research

Researchers at The University of Nottingham are among a network of European scientists who have been awarded €12.7 million (around £8.7 million) for a study into the relationship between lack of exercise and the development of diabetes — and the health benefits of regular exercise in its prevention and cure.

12 Jan 2005

Research breakthrough in treatment of TB and MDR-TB

FASgen Inc.'s compound, FAS20013, has emerged from an intense multi-year program of pre-clinical studies that clearly validate its potential as an ideal new drug for the treatment of tuberculosis and MDR-TB, the disease caused by organisms that are resistant to the drugs now commonly used to treat TB. Initial clinical trials in both TB and MDR-TB are scheduled for later this year.

12 Jan 2005

Gold is rewriting the script

Pen strokes of the rich and famous and remote-controlled drug delivery systems of the future have been given the golden treatment in a new technology being developed at the University of Melbourne.

11 Jan 2005

Scientists identify a protein that regulates alcohol-withdrawal seizures

Seizures are the most life-threatening, as well as disconcerting, symptoms of withdrawal in people who are alcoholics and who abruptly stop drinking. Heavy consumption of alcohol, or ethanol, the substance in beer, wine and liquor that is addictive, leads to changes in the brain.

10 Jan 2005