Pharmacology News and Research

Latest Pharmacology News and Research

The potential for cannabinoids as medicines

Smokers trying to quit in the future could do it with the help of cannabis based medicines, according to research from The University of Nottingham.

10 Mar 2008

Integrin beta3 protein yields clues to autism

Many children with autism have elevated blood levels of serotonin - a chemical with strong links to mood and anxiety.

6 Mar 2008

Arsenic aids tumor imaging when joined to cancer-homing drug

Arsenic linked to a drug that binds to the blood vessels of cancerous tumors provides a powerful imaging agent that could one day allow physicians to detect hard-to-find tumors and more closely monitor cancer's response to therapy, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

6 Mar 2008

Experimental cancer drug MI-219 promising in preclinical studies

Researchers have long searched for a novel cancer drug that activates a certain protein to kill tumor cells.

4 Mar 2008

Cell proteins could offer a future drug target against weight gain

Two cell proteins that relax the gut and help accommodate a big meal have been identified by UCL (University College London) scientists.

4 Mar 2008

Ten years down the line a pill to cure obesity

British scientists say they may have found a new way to treat obesity by stopping the stomach from expanding.

4 Mar 2008

Arsenic used to label antibodies for the detection of tumors

3 Mar 2008

Hydroxyurea for sickle cell patients

An independent panel convened this week by the NIH concluded that the use of hydroxyurea for sickle cell patients should be increased in adolescents and adults.

28 Feb 2008

Cancer-related protein Akt may play key role in Alzheimer's disease

The cancer-related protein Akt may profoundly influence the fate of the tau protein, which forms bundles of tangled nerve cell fibers in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease, reports a new study led by researchers at the University of South Florida and the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL.

28 Feb 2008

Springer launches 18,000 searchable online protocols in life sciences and biomedicine

Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) has announced the release of Springer Protocols, a protocol database of more than 18,000 searchable online protocols in life sciences and biomedicine.

28 Feb 2008

Discovery of family of genes linked to the development of liver cancer

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Stony Brook University Medical Center has identified a family of genes linked to the development of liver cancer.

28 Feb 2008

Diltiazem reduces cocaine cravings in a rat model

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School have found that diltiazem, a drug used in the treatment of high blood pressure, reduces cocaine cravings in a rat model.

28 Feb 2008

Hormones produced by the heart eliminate pancreatic cancer in mice

Hormones produced by the heart eliminated human pancreatic cancer in more than three-quarters of the mice treated with the hormones and eliminated human breast cancer in two-thirds of the mice, according to researcher David Vesely, a doctor at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa and a professor at the University of South Florida (USF).

27 Feb 2008

Risks of CVD for COX-2 inhibitors lower than previously reported

In an article published in the March issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, researchers from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) assess the totality of evidence, including strengths and limitations of different types of evidence contributing to the debate about cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

27 Feb 2008

Adult-onset obesity seen in mice when gene ubiquitin disrupted

Texas and California scientists who disrupted one type of the gene ubiquitin (Ubb) in mice observed neuronal death in the hypothalamus, impaired control of energy balance and adult-onset obesity in the rodents.

27 Feb 2008

Many stroke, heart attack patients may not benefit from aspirin

Up to 20 percent of patients taking aspirin to lower the risk of suffering a second cerebrovascular event do not have an antiplatelet response from aspirin, the effect thought to produce the protective effect, researchers at the University at Buffalo have shown.

26 Feb 2008

ImClone Systems enrols first patient in clinical trial of IMC-1121B to treat liver cancer

ImClone Systems Incorporated has announced that it has enrolled the first patient in a disease-directed Phase II clinical trial of IMC-1121B to treat patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer).

26 Feb 2008

Hair loss breakthrough

A healthy individual loses around a hundred hairs a day. Nothing to worry about as long as they are constantly replaced and the losses occur evenly around the whole scalp.

26 Feb 2008

Lead exposure may lead to adult-onset obesity in men

Scientists know exposure to low levels of lead can result in learning disabilities, hearing loss, language impairments and vision loss, but a newly discovered side effect may be adult-onset obesity in men, according to a University of Houston professor.

21 Feb 2008