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Kidney damage causes high blood pressure

Doctors have long believed that high blood pressure directly caused kidney damage.

8 Feb 2009

Healthcare reform

Faced with a barrage of pressing issues, the Obama administration has placed health-care reform high on its agenda.

8 Feb 2009

Medicines sold in Sweden cause serious environmental harm in India

Many of the substances in our most common medicines are manufactured in India and China.

8 Feb 2009

Advances in vivo biological imaging

The Springer journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry (ABC) has chosen the chemist Wei Sun (26) as the recipient of its Best Paper Award 2008.

8 Feb 2009

New guideline for prescribing opioid pain drugs published

A national panel of pain management experts representing the American Pain Society (APS) and the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) has published the first comprehensive, evidence-based clinical practice guideline to assist clinicians in prescribing potent opioid pain medications for patients with chronic non-cancer pain.

8 Feb 2009

New genes involved in acute lymphoblastic leukemia play fundamental role in prognosis of the disease

The inactivity or "silence" of certain genes plays a fundamental role in the prognosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia as well as in response to treatment, according to the results of research involving a team made up of specialists from the University Hospital of Navarra and the Center for Applied Medical Research at the same University of Navarra, as well as the Reina Sofía Hospital in Cordoba, Andalusia.

8 Feb 2009

Medications control metabolism dominate spending for prescription meds

Medications that affect a person's metabolism by helping to lower cholesterol, control diabetes and control weight accounted for $38 billion of the $208.1 billion that American adults spent on medications in 2006, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

8 Feb 2009

Weight loss stops obstructive sleep apnea

For sufferers of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a new study shows that losing weight is perhaps the single most effective way to reduce OSA symptoms and associated disorders, according to a new study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine , one of the American Thoracic Society's three peer-reviewed journals.

8 Feb 2009

Long-sought protein structure may help reveal how 'gene switch' works

The bacterium behind one of mankind's deadliest scourges, tuberculosis, is helping researchers at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) move closer to answering the decades-old question of what controls the switching on and off of genes that carry out all of life's functions.

8 Feb 2009

Missing gene plays role in autism

It is estimated that three to six out of every 1,000 children in the United States have autism - and the number of diagnosed cases is rising.

8 Feb 2009

Study identifies gene variants associated with early-onset myocardial infarction

The largest study ever completed of genetic factors associated with heart attacks has identified nine genetic regions - three not previously described - that appear to increase the risk for early-onset myocardial infarction.

8 Feb 2009

Idenix Pharmaceuticals and GSK sign agreement for novel NNRTI for treatment of HIV

Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today announced the execution of a license agreement granting GSK exclusive worldwide rights to IDX899.

8 Feb 2009

How electronic medical records can be used to test drug efficacy

For years controversy has surrounded whether electronic medical records (EMR) would lead to increased patient safety, cut medical errors, and reduce healthcare costs.

8 Feb 2009

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor protects key brain cells in Alzheimer's models

Memory loss, cognitive impairment, brain cell degeneration and cell death were prevented or reversed in several animal models after treatment with a naturally occurring protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

8 Feb 2009

Heart failure linked to memory problems

Nearly half of patients with heart failure (HF) have problems with memory and other aspects of cognitive functioning, reports a new study published by Elsevier, in the February issue of Journal of Cardiac Failure.

8 Feb 2009

Growth factor protects key brain cells in Alzheimer's models

8 Feb 2009

Discovery of direct link between vitamin D and MS susceptibility 'gene'

Researchers have found evidence that a direct interaction between vitamin D and a common genetic variant alters the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS).

8 Feb 2009

FDA approves orphan drug ATryn anticoagulant

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued its first approval for a biological product produced by genetically engineered (GE) animals.

8 Feb 2009

FDA approves first ablation catheters for the treatment of atrial fibrillatio

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first ablation catheters for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (uncoordinated contractions of the upper heart chambers), one of the most common types of arrhythmias-or abnormal heart rhythms--affecting more than two million Americans.

8 Feb 2009

Emergency physicians question antibiotic guidelines for pneumonia

A new study from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center that assessed emergency physicians understanding of time-based, antibiotic treatment guidelines for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) found that more than half believed they prescribed antibiotics needlessly in order to comply with guidelines.

8 Feb 2009