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Body Shop founder Roddick reveals she has Hepatitis C

Anita Roddick the founder of the Body Shop has revealed she is suffering from the disease Hepatitis C.

14 Feb 2007

Mechanism driving iron overload in thalassemia identified

Led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, an international group of scientists has pinpointed a specific genetic relationship as the cause of dangerous iron overload in persons with a form of the inherited blood disease, beta-thalassemia.

14 Feb 2007

New oral blood thinner

A new oral blood thinner is being compared to an old standby to see if it works as well and is easier to manage long term, researchers say.

13 Feb 2007

Researchers discover how to fight iron disorders with a drug against hypertension

We all know that iron deficiencies are dangerous, but also too much iron is bad for our health. Our body stores excess iron in various tissues, where it can lead to organ failure and even death if not treated before irreversible damage has occurred.

12 Feb 2007

Natural gum improves gold nanoparticles for cancer imaging

Gold nanoparticles have shown significant promise as agents to detect and treat cancer, but researchers have had difficulty creating gold nanoparticles that have suitable pharmacological properties for use in humans.

12 Feb 2007

Serious warning placed on antibiotic Ketek

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States has issued a warning about an antibiotic used to treat sinusitis and bronchitis.

12 Feb 2007

Antipodean Pharma commences phase 2 trial in hepatitis C

Antipodean Pharmaceuticals has announced it has initiated a Phase 2 clinical trial of its lead compound MitoQ (mitoquinone) to investigate the drug's efficacy to reduce liver damage in patients with raised liver enzymes associated with the Hepatitis C virus (HCV).

5 Feb 2007

Potential new cancer fighting drug found by mistake

Researchers in the United States appear to have almost inadvertently stumbled across what could be a new cancer treatment.

5 Feb 2007

Weight loss supplement - conjugated linoleic acid - shows nasty side effects

A supplement some people turn to in hopes of losing a few pounds may have some previously unknown, unsavory side effects, suggest two new studies.

30 Jan 2007

A prediction rule for disease outcome in patients with recent-onset undifferentiated arthritis

Marked by chronic inflammation of the joints and tissue, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a painful and potentially disabling autoimmune disease.

30 Jan 2007

New type of buckyball

Scientists at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have developed a new type of buckyball nanoparticle that acts as a passkey, allowing peptide-based drugs to enter cancer cells.

29 Jan 2007

SH2B1 protein plays a key role in controlling body weight, response to insulin and leptin

A single protein in brain cells may act as a linchpin in the body's weight-regulating system, playing a key role in the flurry of signals that govern fat storage, sugar use, energy balance and weight, University of Michigan Medical School researchers report.

29 Jan 2007

Early feeding could help reduce liver dysfunction in critically ill patients

Changing the way that critically ill patients suffering from sepsis or multiple organ failure are fed could reduce liver dysfunction.

25 Jan 2007

Hepatitis C virus replication in transfected and serum-infected cultured human fetal hepatocytes

Researchers open the way for improved study of hepatitis C virus by devising a novel virus culture system that allows replication of patient-isolated virus in nontransformed hepatocytes, instead of culture-adapted virus strains in transformed cell lines.

23 Jan 2007

Nanoparticles from crab shells show promise for drug delivery

Nanoparticles made of chitosan, a naturally occuring polymer isolated from crab and shrimp shells, have shown promise as carriers of anticancer drugs, antitumor genes, and other novel therapeutic agents.

22 Jan 2007

Biomimetic amplification of nanoparticle homing to tumors

A collaborative, multidisciplinary team of researchers has created nanoparticles that act much like a developing clot to target tumors.

16 Jan 2007

Stem cell research discovery could mean 'big things' for cancer

A new discovery in stem cell research may mean big things for cancer patients in the future. Gary Van Zant, Ph.D., and a research team at the University of Kentucky published their findings in Nature Genetics.

14 Jan 2007

Stem cells derived from human amniotic fluid appear to offer many of the benefits of embryonic stem cells

...including the ability to grow into brain, muscle, bone and other tissues -- according to a study published in the Jan. 7 online edition on the journal Nature Biotechnology, the Washington Post reports.

9 Jan 2007

Mammalian pharmacokinetics of carbon nanotubes using intrinsic near-infrared fluorescence

In the first experiments of their kind, researchers have determined that carbon nanotubes injected directly into the bloodstream of research lab animals cause no immediate adverse health effects and circulate for more than one hour before they are removed by the liver.

18 Dec 2006

Interruptions in antiretroviral treatment increases risk of developing AIDS-related diseases

Interruptions in an HIV-positive person's antiretroviral treatment regimen can increase the risk of developing AIDS-related diseases and sometimes can be fatal, according to a study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Los Angeles Times reports.

2 Dec 2006