news 2009

Medicine/Pharmacology - 21.05
EU funding to prevent haemorrhages in newborns
Thrombocytopenia means a lack of platelets, which increases the risk of haemorrhaging. Around 4 000 children a year in Europe are born with the disease A research network now wants to develop a ‘vaccine' that could be used in at-risk pregnancies.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 18.05
New drug shrinks brain tumours in melanoma patients
Australian researchers have reported promising results with a new drug that shrinks brain tumours in melanoma patients. Their findings are published in The Lancet medical journal today.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 17.05
’Rare’ genetic variants are surprisingly common, life scientists report
A large survey of human genetic variation shows that rare genetic variants are not so rare after all and offers insights into human diseases. "I knew there would be rare variation but had no idea there would be so much of it," said the senior author of the research, John Novembre, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and of bioinformatics at UCLA.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 17.05
New technique reveals unseen information in DNA code
Imagine reading an entire book, but then realizing that your glasses did not allow you to distinguish “g” from “q.” What details did you miss? Geneticists faced a similar problem with the recent discovery of a “sixth nucleotide” in the DNA alphabet.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 17.05
New Research from Penn Medicine Challenges Established Concept that Raising HDL Helps Counter Heart Attack Risk
A new study published by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania , the Broad Institute, and Massachusetts General Hospital, challenges the conventional concept that raising a person's HDL levels (good cholesterol) will always help lower their risk of a heart attack.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 17.05
Blast trauma study suggests how to protect troops
An analysis of the brains of military personnel exposed to bomb blasts or concussive injuries, combined with experiments simulating the effect of blasts on the brain, suggests how soldiers could be better protected from improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 16.05
Researchers lead world’s largest study into pre-eclampsia
PA 134/12 Researchers from The University of Nottingham are leading the largest ever international research project into the genetics of the potentially fatal condition pre-eclampsia. The research will aim to provide new insights into the prevention, prediction and treatment of the disease, which kills up to 40,000 women and almost one million babies every year worldwide.

Medicine/Pharmacology - 16.05
Want to avoid ED following prostate surgery? Find an experienced, gentle surgeon
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-skin cancer in the U.S., and radical prostatectomy, the surgical removal of the prostate gland, remains the most popular therapeutic option, accounting for half of treatments.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 15.05
Unexpected source of diabetic neuropathy pain
Nearly half of all diabetics suffer from neuropathic pain, an intractable, agonizing and still mysterious companion of the disease. Now Yale researchers have identified an unexpected source of the pain and a potential target to alleviate it.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 15.05
Insulin nasal spray therapy shows memory improvement in Alzheimer’s patients
By Clare LaFond and Lorin Smith UW Health Sciences/UW Medicine and Puget Sound VA Health Care System A research team led by Suzanne Craft, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington based at the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, has found that a four-month pilot trial of insulin nasal spr

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 15.05
Early Biomarker for Pancreatic Cancer Identified
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center have identified a new biomarker and therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer, an often-fatal disease for which there is currently no reliable method for early detection or therapeutic intervention.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 15.05
Study highlights how superbug spreads
Hospitals in large cities act as breeding grounds for the superbug MRSA prior to it spreading to smaller hospitals. University researchers found evidence that shows for the first time how the superbug spreads between different hospitals throughout the country.

Medicine/Pharmacology - 14.05
Smoked Cannabis Reduces Some Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis
Controlled trial shows improved spasticity, reduced pain after smoking medical marijuana Controlled trial shows improved spasticity, reduced pain after smoking medical marijuana A clinical study of 30 adult patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has shown that smoked cannabis may be an effective treatment for spasticity - a common and disabling symptom of this neurological disease.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 14.05
Scientists uncover potential treatment for painful side effect of diabetes
Why diabetics suffer from increased pain and temperature sensitivity is a step closer to being understood and effectively treated. Research published reveals that a multi-national collaboration between scientists from Warwick Medical School in the UK, and universities in Germany, New York, Australia and Eastern Europe, has discovered key information around one of the most distressing side effects of diabetes.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 14.05
Researchers explain different mechanisms of pain
Researchers at the University of Leeds have found a previously unknown mechanism through which pain is signalled by nerve cells. A discovery that could explain the current failings in the drug development process for painkillers and which may offer opportunities for a new approach.