Medical News

RSS

Washington state law requiring pharmacies stock emergency contraception is struck down

A federal judged ruled Wednesday that Washington can't require pharmacists to carry and give patients emergency contraception. Other cases included a whether a lesbian couple can share health benefits and challenge to a Mass. law on abortion buffer zones.

24 Feb 2012

Bath salts mimic effects of two powerful narcotics

The street drug commonly referred to as "bath salts" is one of a growing list of synthetic and unevenly regulated narcotics that are found across the United States and on the Internet. New research on this potent drug paints an alarming picture, revealing that bath salts pack a powerful double punch, producing combined effects similar to both methamphetamine (METH) and cocaine.

24 Feb 2012

South Sudan hoping NTD initiative will bring relief from high levels of disease, IRIN reports

"Decades of war, neglect, and lack of development have left South Sudan with nine out of 10 of th[e] key neglected tropical diseases [NTDs] -- all but Chagas disease, which is endemic to South America," and health workers in the new nation are hoping that the recent formation of a large public-private partnership to combat the diseases "will finally help to have an impact on South Sudan's appalling health indicators," IRIN reports.

24 Feb 2012

Nicotine can contribute to atherosclerosis

Cigarette smoke has long been considered the main risk factor for heart disease. But new research from Brown University in Providence, R.I., shows that nicotine itself, a component of cigarette smoke, can contribute to the disease process by changing cell structure in a way that promotes migration and invasion of the smooth muscle cells that line blood vessels.

24 Feb 2012

NYU Langone HJD first in the Metro NY area to launch J-tip needle-free anesthetic system

NYU Langone Hospital for Joint Diseases' Center for Children, part of the new Hassenfeld Pediatric Center, is the first pediatric hospital in the Metropolitan New York area to introduce the J-tip needle-free anesthetic system.

24 Feb 2012

UM scientists discover high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins

Sharks are among the most threatened of marine species worldwide due to unsustainable overfishing. Sharks are primarily killed for their fins alone, to fuel the growing demand for shark fin soup, which is an Asia delicacy. A new study by University of Miami (UM) scientists in the journal Marine Drugs has discovered high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins, a neurotoxin linked to neurodegenerative diseases in humans including Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig Disease.

24 Feb 2012

UBC develops algorithm to predict how and when proteins misfold

Several neurodegenerative diseases - including Alzheimer's and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) - are caused when the body's own proteins fold incorrectly, recruit and convert healthy proteins to the misfolded form, and aggregate in large clumps that gum up the works of the nervous system. "For Star Trek fans, this is like the Borg, a fictional race of cyborgs that abduct and assimilate humans and other species," says Steven Plotkin, a biophysicist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver who studies the process of protein misfolding.

24 Feb 2012

WHO urging Afghans to vaccinate children for measles following outbreak in western region

The WHO "is calling on all Afghans to vaccinate their children after a recent measles outbreak that has been made worse by severe weather that hampers access to immediate treatment as well as low immunization coverage," the U.N. News Centre reports.

24 Feb 2012

Unfolded end of Colicin N protein can kill antibiotic-resistant microbes

When bacteria wage a turf war, some of the combatants have an extra weapon. Certain strains of the bacteria E. coli produce proteins that kill competing E. coli and other like microbes, and researchers from Newcastle University in England have recently discovered something surprising about one of these lethal proteins: even after the toxic folded portion of the protein is removed, the unfolded end is still deadly.

24 Feb 2012

New experiments may provide insights into possible modes of heart damage from alcohol

Beyond the personal tragedy of chronic alcoholism there is heartbreak in the biological sense, too. Scientists know severe alcoholism stresses the heart and that mitochondria, the cellular energy factories, are especially vulnerable to dysfunction. But they don't know the precise mechanism.

24 Feb 2012

ACS 243rd National Meeting & Exposition to be held March 25-29

Journalists may now register and reserve housing for a scientific conference that news media accounts have termed the "World Series of Science." One of the largest scientific conferences of the year, it is the American Chemical Society (ACS) 243rd National Meeting & Exposition. More than 14,000 scientists and others are expected for the event. It will be held March 25-29, 2012, in San Diego, Calif., at the San Diego Convention Center and area hotels.

24 Feb 2012

Scientists identify specific pathways behind breast cell's transformation into cancer

Although it's widely accepted that inflammation is a critical underlying factor in a range of diseases, including the progression of cancer, little is known about its role when normal cells become tumor cells. Now, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shed new light on exactly how the activation of a pair of inflammatory signaling pathways leads to the transformation of normal breast cells to cancer cells.

24 Feb 2012

UA researchers identify the likely culprit of epilepsy

Only 10 years ago, deciphering the genetic information from one individual in a matter of weeks to find a certain disease-causing genetic mutation would have been written off as science fiction. It was the time of the Human Genome Project, and it had taken armies of sequencing robots working around the clock for almost a decade to unravel the complete sequence of the human genetic code - referred to as the genome - by churning out the DNA alphabet letter by letter.

24 Feb 2012

MSU students analyze bones for clues into Nubians' diets, health histories and lifestyles

In a narrow, modest laboratory in Michigan State University's Giltner Hall, students pore over African skeletons from the Middle Ages in an effort to make the bones speak. Little is known about these Nubians, meaning the information collected by graduate and undergraduate students in MSU's Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Program will help shed light on this unexplored culture.

24 Feb 2012

Medical News

Washington state law requiring pharmacies stock emergency contraception is struck down

Bath salts mimic effects of two powerful narcotics

South Sudan hoping NTD initiative will bring relief from high levels of disease, IRIN reports

Nicotine can contribute to atherosclerosis

NYU Langone HJD first in the Metro NY area to launch J-tip needle-free anesthetic system

UM scientists discover high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins

UBC develops algorithm to predict how and when proteins misfold

WHO urging Afghans to vaccinate children for measles following outbreak in western region

Unfolded end of Colicin N protein can kill antibiotic-resistant microbes

New experiments may provide insights into possible modes of heart damage from alcohol

ACS 243rd National Meeting & Exposition to be held March 25-29

Scientists identify specific pathways behind breast cell's transformation into cancer

UA researchers identify the likely culprit of epilepsy

MSU students analyze bones for clues into Nubians' diets, health histories and lifestyles

European Urology to launch two new Resource Centres

Physical activity keeps workers mentally fit

RCSI's 31st annual international conference addresses identity of nurses in medicine

EMA accepts MAA filing of Genzyme's teriflunomide for MS

Scientists decode two new blood types

First comprehensive framework to close the gap on Indigenous eye health for Australians

How real-time off-gas analysis improves fermentation process control

Advancing Drug Safety Assessment With AI, Predictive Modeling, and Human-Relevant Data

AI-powered analytics and experimental validation

Latest News