Pharmacology News and Research

Latest Pharmacology News and Research

AACN brings together over thousands of nurses for annual conference

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses brings together thousands of nurses this week in Boston at its annual National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition with the theme "Guided by Why."

21 May 2018

Study provides insights into how immune cells kill bacteria with acid

The first line of immune defense against invading pathogens like bacteria are macrophages, immune cells that engulf every foreign object that crosses their way. After enclosing it in intracellular membrane vesicles, a process called phagocytosis, macrophages kill their prey with acid.

17 May 2018

New study reveals the extent of brain damage due to elevated homocysteine

The amino acid homocysteine occurs naturally in the human body, generated as a byproduct of methionine metabolism.

17 May 2018

Researchers to explore how to prevent stress-related chronic pain conditions

More than 50 million people in the United States suffer from pain in the absence of injury. This includes patients with migraines, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and many other disorders.

15 May 2018

Acetaminophen use helps reduce acute kidney injury risk in pediatric heart surgery patients

Children who underwent cardiac surgery were less likely to develop acute kidney injury if they had been treated with acetaminophen in the first 48 hours after their procedures, according to a Vanderbilt study just published in JAMA Pediatrics.

15 May 2018

Study uncovers promising new line of attack against aggressive prostate cancer

UC San Francisco researchers have discovered a promising new line of attack against lethal, treatment-resistant prostate cancer. Analysis of hundreds of human prostate tumors revealed that the most aggressive cancers depend on a built-in cellular stress response to put a brake on their own hot-wired physiology.

14 May 2018

Research may pave way for new C. diff antitoxins and anti-cancer drugs

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine and Harvard University have discovered how the Clostridium difficile toxin B recognizes the human Frizzled protein, the receptor it uses to invade intestinal cells and lead to deadly gastrointestinal infections.

14 May 2018

Researchers screen molecules that could be potential target for prostate cancer treatments

Cancer researchers at the University of Bath have measured systematically how efficient molecules are at suppressing the activity of a protein associated with prostate and other cancers. The molecules could eventually be developed into new anti-cancer drugs.

14 May 2018

Study finds inappropriate prescriptions given to many older adults discharged from hospital

In a British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology study of 259 older adults discharged from a general medical hospital, more than 4 in 5 patients were issued a potentially inappropriate prescription containing at least 1 potentially inappropriate medication or potential prescribing omission.

11 May 2018

PFKFB3 enzyme appears to play a key role in pulmonary hypertension

A new and early target for treating pulmonary hypertension appears to be an enzyme that's normally key to energy production but destructive in the face of this high blood pressure inside your lungs.

8 May 2018

UH professor receives NIH grant to protect kidneys from obesity

UH professor of pharmacology Tahir Hussain has received $1.6M from the National Institutes of Health to examine a kidney cell that could prevent damage from inflammation caused by obesity.

7 May 2018

Researchers uncover protein linked to breast cancer metastasis

Jean-François Côté, a researcher at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute and professor at Université de Montréal's Faculty of Medicine, studies metastasis, the leading cause of cancer-related death. Recently, his team uncovered a protein that, once deactivated, could prevent the development of metastases in an aggressive type of cancer, HER2-positive breast cancer.

7 May 2018

Scientists successfully test anti-alcoholism drug in animal models

Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have successfully tested in animals a drug that, they say, may one day help block the withdrawal symptoms and cravings that incessantly coax people with alcoholism to drink.

4 May 2018

Study provides first ever recording of changing serotonin levels in human brains

Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have begun to unravel how serotonin acts, based on data collected in a first-of-its-kind experiment that utilized electrochemical probes implanted into the brain of awake human beings.

3 May 2018

Research team uncovers link between circadian clock and aggression center in the brain

Each year around many people worldwide are diagnosed with a form of dementia. Alzheimer's disease is one of them. The disease manifests itself in memory difficulties in particular, but can also result in personality changes and mood swings.

2 May 2018

New GP-write project to develop ultra-safe cells resistant to natural viruses

The Center for Excellence in Engineering Biology and the leadership of Genome Project-write today announced its first grand-scale community-wide project, to develop "ultra-safe cells" that resist natural viruses and potentially radiation, freezing, aging and cancer.

2 May 2018

Researchers identify protein crucial for leukemia's aggressiveness

Researchers have identified a protein critical for the aggressiveness of T-cell leukemia, a subtype of leukemia that afflicts children and adults.

27 Apr 2018

New app could improve safety of cannabis use

Although cannabis, also known as marijuana, has been shown to impair memory, reaction time and attention, it is difficult to assess this impairment in a natural setting. Researchers have developed a prototype app called 'Am I Stoned' that could help cannabis users understand how the drug is affecting them through a series of phone-based tasks.

25 Apr 2018

Study explains why intense exercise curbs appetite

Ever wonder why intense exercise temporarily curbs your appetite? In research described in today's issue of PLOS Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine researchers reveal that the answer is all in your head - more specifically, your arcuate nucleus.

25 Apr 2018

New compound could offer pain-relieving properties without risk of addiction

Researchers at the University of Michigan have engineered a new compound that animal tests suggest could offer the pain-relieving properties of opioids such as morphine and oxycodone without the risk of addiction.

24 Apr 2018