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New scheme to revolutionise system of prescribing medicines

Patients could be saved millions of trips to their GP under a new scheme that has the potential to revolutionise the system of prescribing medicines.

18 Dec 2007

Plant constituent with selective effect on cancer cells

The substance wogonin triggers the death program apoptosis in tumor cells, while it has virtually no effect on healthy cells.

18 Dec 2007

Rifapentine is back for tuberculosis

It has no current market, not even a prescription price. Its makers stopped commercial production years ago, because demand was so low.

18 Dec 2007

What makes us shiver?

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University's Neurological Sciences Institute have uncovered the system that tells the body when to perform one of its most basic defenses against the cold: shivering.

18 Dec 2007

Research provides new information about the body's immune system

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have uncovered new information about the body's immune system in a study that suggests new strategies may be in order for protecting the country's aging population against disease.

18 Dec 2007

Oral diabetes medication - new guidelines

A pair of plain-language guides that outline the latest scientific evidence on the effectiveness and safety of oral medications for adults with type 2 diabetes are now available from HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

18 Dec 2007

Brisk walking cuts rate of metabolic syndrome

Research from Duke University Medical Center shows that even a modest amount of brisk walking weekly is enough to trim waistlines and cut the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS), an increasingly frequent condition linked to obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.

18 Dec 2007

Engineered blood vessels

MIT scientists have found a way to induce cells to form parallel tube-like structures that could one day serve as tiny engineered blood vessels.

18 Dec 2007

Miscarriage and abortion raises likelihood of future low birthweight babies

Women who have miscarried or had an abortion run three times the normal risk of having a subsequent low birthweight baby, suggests research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

18 Dec 2007

Medical College of Georgia selected as RNA laboratory for worldwide diabetes study

The Medical College of Georgia Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine has been selected to isolate RNA and DNA from the blood of thousands of children involved in a worldwide study of the causes of type 1 diabetes.

18 Dec 2007

Effectiveness and risks of six bisphosphonates for osteoporosis

Many medications reduce the risk of bone fractures in people with osteoporosis, but the most commonly used drugs - bisphosphonates - have not been proven more effective than alternatives, according to a new report funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

18 Dec 2007

Scientists identify and repress breast cancer stem cells in mouse tissue

By manipulating highly specific gene-regulating molecules called microRNAs, scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) report that they have succeeded in singling out and repressing stem-like cells in mouse breast tissue - cells that are widely thought to give rise to cancer.

18 Dec 2007

Omega-3 fatty acids for depression - new trial

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences are seeking participants for a clinical trial examining whether two polyunsaturated Omega-3 fatty acids are effective treatments for depression.

18 Dec 2007

Biological physics creates diagnostics of the future

Chalmers University of technology in Sweden is about to enter a new field of research - biological physics.

18 Dec 2007

Cheaper drugs now closer to realization with new DropArray technology

A standard laboratory tool for measuring pharmacological activity of biological substances and performing other related tests may soon be replaced by a new miniaturized bioassay that will be faster, cheaper and more efficient for scientists to use, with new technology developed by Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN).

17 Dec 2007

A common language for health care IT needed

I may say soda and you may say pop, but what if the hospital lab you go to today says BMP and the one you visit next week calls the same test SMA7? Your physician knows that these are the same tests, but the computer systems they use don't automatically know.

17 Dec 2007