Endocrinology News and Research

Latest Endocrinology News and Research

Experts say vitamin D assists body's immune system to fight against H1N1

The world's leading vitamin D experts say that raising your levels of "the sunshine vitamin" this winter might be the best way to help your body naturally raise its resistance to all forms of the flu virus - including the H1N1 swine flu virus.

26 Nov 2009

MICARDIS receives Health Canada approval to reduce the risk of non-fatal stroke

MICARDIS(R) (telmisartan) has received Health Canada approval to reduce the risk of non-fatal stroke or non-fatal myocardial infarction in patients 55 years or older at high risk of developing major cardiovascular events who cannot tolerate an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor.

26 Nov 2009

Wnt signaling pathway plays a role in diabetic retinopathy

A group led by Dr. Jian-xing Ma at The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK has demonstrated that the Wnt signaling pathway plays a role in diabetic retinopathy.

26 Nov 2009

Merck to commence MK-6913 phase IIa efficacy trial for treatment of hot flashes/hot flushes

The Swedish biotech company Karo Bio today announced that Merck & Co., Inc., through an affiliate, plans to enter a clinical phase IIa trial with the collaboration's lead investigational drug candidate, MK-6913, identified as part of their joint research collaboration. No milestone payment to Karo Bio is associated with the initiation of phase II clinical development.

26 Nov 2009

GIS scientists publish the first genetic historical map of Han Chinese

The first genetic historical map of the Han Chinese, the largest ethnic population in the world, as they migrated from south to north over evolutionary time was published online today by the American Journal of Human Genetics by scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS).

26 Nov 2009

Aetna Better Health teams up with Hartford student to highlight the importance of diabetes and health literacy

For the second time this year, Aetna Better Health in Connecticut is teaming up with a local student to help complete a senior year “Social Justice Project,” while at the same time informing local residents on the important issues of diabetes and health literacy.

26 Nov 2009

Preventative care program to educate and seek affordable health care for people with bipolar disorder

Once again, the National Bipolar Foundation and the MedicAlert Foundation receive a proclamation endorsing their "Safe 'til Stable" program, which is now being widely accepted as a preventive health care measure for bipolar disorder.

26 Nov 2009

Study reveals that ghrelin can increase resistance to Parkinson's disease

Ghrelin, a hormone produced in the stomach, may be used to boost resistance to, or slow, the development of Parkinson's disease, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in a study published in a recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

25 Nov 2009

Foot ulcers: One of the many challenges of diabetics

Diabetics face many health challenges, and among them is the risk of developing foot ulcers.

25 Nov 2009

Health reform financing ideas watered down, questions remain on premiums, taxes

The New York Times reports that while the Senate health bill "includes nearly every big idea that health economists and medical researchers have for slowing cost growth — as well as for improving the patchwork quality of American health care, ... many of the ideas, like the rule on Medicare reimbursement, have been at least partly neutered. A provision to punish hospitals for infecting their patients, for example, would cut payments for the related treatments by a mere 1 percent.

25 Nov 2009

Seven-day event focuses on nuclear medicine, molecular imaging, nanomedicine and clinical trials

SNM will hold its Conjoint Mid-Winter Meetings Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2010, at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, N.M. This year, SNM joins its annual Mid-Winter Educational Symposium with the 2010 Annual Meeting and Educational Symposium of the American College of Nuclear Medicine (ACNM), the Nanomedicine and Molecular Imaging Summit and the Clinical Trials Network Community Workshop.

25 Nov 2009

Tulane University surgeon performs a new form of endoscopic surgery

Tulane University School of Medicine surgeon Dr. Emad Kandil is one of the first in the country to perform a new form of endoscopic surgery that uses a small incision under the arm to remove all or a portion of the thyroid or parathyroid glands without leaving a scar on the neck.

25 Nov 2009

Health watch: When you eat just as vital to what you eat

When you eat may be just as vital to your health as what you eat, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Their experiments in mice revealed that the daily waxing and waning of thousands of genes in the liver—the body's metabolic clearinghouse—is mostly controlled by food intake and not by the body's circadian clock as conventional wisdom had it.

25 Nov 2009

Initiation of Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of BN83495 announced

Ipsen today announced the initiation of an international, multi-center, controlled, randomized Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of BN83495, its investigational first-in-class steroid sulfatase (STS) inhibitor, in advanced endometrial cancer.

25 Nov 2009

CXCL5 molecule causes insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes in obese people

Many people who are overweight or obese develop insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes at some stage in their lives. A European research team has now discovered that obese people have large amounts of the molecule CXCL5, produced by certain cells in fatty tissue.

25 Nov 2009

Comparison study finds no significant differences in post-transplant survival rates of NASH and ETOH groups

Researchers at the University of Miami School of Medicine compared the outcomes of cirrhotic patients who underwent liver transplants for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) versus alcoholic liver disease (ETOH) and found no statistically significant differences in post-transplant survival rates between the NASH and ETOH groups

25 Nov 2009

Shanghai Biolaxy receives IND approval for insulin formulation to treat diabetes

Shanghai Biolaxy announced the Chinese State Food & Drug Administration (SFDA) has approved the investigational new drug application (IND) for its oral insulin project (Nodlin), an innovative insulin formulation to treat diabetes. This IND approval allows Biolaxy to initiate its first phase I clinical study.

24 Nov 2009

Medical advances abound while surgeons report concerns about medical errors

The Wall Street Journal reports on "20 health-care advances to give thanks for this Thanksgiving." Among the most key: "Life expectancy in the U.S. reached an all-time high of 77.9 years in 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available, continuing a long upward trend. (That's 75.3 years for men and 80.4 years for women.) ... Death rates dropped significantly for eight of the 15 leading causes of death in the U.S., including cancer, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, accidents, diabetes, homicides and pneumonia, from 2006 to 2007."

24 Nov 2009

RESTAURANT SURVIVAL GUIDE in the EAT THIS, NOT THAT! book series released

The authors of the bestselling EAT THIS, NOT THAT! book series, with more than five million copies in print, today released the ultimate reference book for making the most effective food choices while dining at your favorite restaurants — EAT THIS, NOT THAT! RESTAURANT SURVIVAL GUIDE by David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding.

24 Nov 2009