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Systems biology brings hope of speeding up drug development

Almost every day brings news of an apparent breakthrough against cancer, infectious diseases, or metabolic conditions like diabetes, but these rarely translate into effective therapies or drugs, and even if they do clinical development usually takes well over a decade.

19 Nov 2008

Party drinking or drinking problem?

From sexual antics with co-workers to acts of violence and embarrassing text messages, alcohol fuels a number of "bad behaviors" at workplace and family holiday parties, according to a new study commissioned by Caron Treatment Centers, one of the nation's leading non-profit addiction treatment centers.

19 Nov 2008

Amgen, Takeda and Millennium update on phase 3 trial of Motesanib in non-small cell lung cancer

Amgen and Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company, a subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited , today announced that enrollment in the Phase 3 MONET1 trial evaluating motesanib (AMG 706) in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin for the first-line treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been temporarily suspended following a planned safety data review of 600 patients by the study's independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC). Motesanib is part of a broad co-development program between Amgen and Takeda.

19 Nov 2008

Ten years after tobacco master settlement agreement, much work to be done to combat tobacco use

November 23, 2008 will mark the 10th anniversary of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between the tobacco industry and 46 states. Despite a commitment by the states to use proceeds from the settlement to combat tobacco use, states have unfortunately devoted the funds to other priorities at the same time the tobacco industry has increased spending on marketing and promotions. The tragic result is that after five years of decline, youth smoking rates have stalled since 2003.

19 Nov 2008

Scientists find DNA repair 'scissors' after 18 year hunt

Cancer Research UK scientists have identified a long sought after enzyme that plays a critical role in a DNA repair pathway linked with inheritable breast and ovarian cancer, reveals research published in Nature.

19 Nov 2008

Keep tobacco out of sight of children, say Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK has sent an urgent plea to the Government today - calling for politicians to protect children and young people from tobacco advertising - to stop tobacco taking even more lives.

19 Nov 2008

Study to examine early, inherited form of Alzheimer's disease

The adult children of people diagnosed with inherited Alzheimer's disease are the focus of a new study to better understand the biology of the disease.

19 Nov 2008

Common ADHD drugs do not cause genetic damage in children

In contrast to recent findings, two of the most common medications used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do not appear to cause genetic damage in children who take them as prescribed, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Duke University Medical Center.

19 Nov 2008

Scientists discover new compounds to target muscular dystrophy

Using a drug-discovery technique in which molecules compete against each other for access to the target - the strand of toxic RNA that causes the most common form of muscular dystrophy in adults - a team at the University of Rochester Medical Center has identified several compounds that, in the laboratory, block the unwanted coupling of two molecules that is at the root of the disease.

19 Nov 2008

Cancer drug bevacizumab linked to significantly increased risk of blood clots

An analysis of randomized controlled trials indicates that use of the cancer drug bevacizumab is associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (blood clots in the deep veins of the legs or in the lungs), according to an article in the November 19 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

18 Nov 2008

Obese women who undergo bariatric surgery decrease pregnancy-related health complications

Obese women who have weight loss surgery before becoming pregnant have a lower risk of pregnancy-related health problems and their children are less likely to be born with complications, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

18 Nov 2008

Early breast health education may be key to lowering breast cancer mortality rates

Project Early Awareness, a breast cancer education program of Howard University Cancer Center, brings a young survivor into high school classrooms to dispel breast cancer myths, provide breast cancer facts, and teach breast self exams.

18 Nov 2008

Pros and cons of gastric bypass surgery

Severely obese patients who underwent two different gastric bypass techniques had lost up to 31 per cent of their Body Mass Index (BMI) after four years, with no deaths reported among the 50 study subjects, according to the November issue of the British Journal of Surgery.

18 Nov 2008

High levels of social support may protect brain during stroke

New research in mice suggests that high levels of social support may provide some protection against strokes by reducing the amount of damaging inflammation in the brain.

18 Nov 2008

Trial of Gore-tex-type material to stop strokes

A study is under way at Rush University Medical Center using a small, soft-patch device made of a Gore-tex-type material - often used to make durable outerwear - to close a common hole found in the heart called a patent foramen ovale (PFO) in order to prevent recurrent strokes and transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) in adults.

18 Nov 2008

Diabetes cost U.S. estimated $217.5 billion in 2007

According to findings from a National Diabetes Economic Barometer study, undiagnosed, pre-diabetes and diabetes cost the United States an estimated $217.5 billion in 2007 due to higher medical expenditures and lost productivity.

18 Nov 2008

Link found between cryptorchidism and genetic mutations

A small percentage of males born with cryptorchidism (failure of one or both testicles to descend into the scrotum), the most frequent congenital birth defect in male children, are more likely to have genetic mutations, including for a syndrome that is a common genetic cause of infertility, according to a study in the November 19 issue of JAMA .

18 Nov 2008

Human granulocytic anaplasmosis - tick-borne disease found in China

It appears that for the first time human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA), an emerging tick-borne infectious disease found in the U.S. and Europe, has been identified in China and apparently was transmitted from person to person, according to a study in the November 19 issue of JAMA.

18 Nov 2008

Researchers examine trends in prescription opioid use for non-cancer pain

A review of more than 4 million insured patients with private coverage and Medicaid, published in the The Journal of Pain showed that rates of opioid use did not differ widely between non-cancer pain conditions but there were higher rates of opioid use among Medicaid patients.

18 Nov 2008

Stress found to impair decision making in rats

Neuroscientists from the University of Washington have found that a single exposure to uncontrollable stress impairs decision making in rats for several days, making them unable to reliably seek out the larger of two rewards.

18 Nov 2008