Most people have taken a prescription medication at one time or another, but according to a report from the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in Rockville, Md., not only do women take more medications during their lifetimes, women are more likely to suffer from adverse drug events than men. As a result of this trend: “women should be proactive about their medication use,” explains Rosaly Correa-de-Araujo, M.D., M.Sc., Ph.D.
Lees meer..

Influenza viruses evade infection-fighting antibodies by constantly changing the shape of their major surface protein. This shape-shifting, called antigenic drift, is why influenza vaccines - which are designed to elicit antibodies matched to each year’s circulating virus strains - must be reformulated annually.
Lees meer..

Researchers have shown how an antiviral protein produced by the immune system, dubbed tetherin, tames HIV and other viruses by literally putting them on a leash, to prevent their escape from infected cells.
Lees meer..

Since the isolation and culture of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in 1983, this bacterium has become accepted as an important human pathogen for the development of gastritis, peptic ulcer, and gastric cancer. Cyclooxgenase-2 (COX-2) is a prostaglandin-synthesizing enzyme. Elevated expression of COX-2 is observed in a wide variety of human malignancies, including gastric cancer.
Lees meer..

A Swiss research team has found that using an animal’s own brain cells (autologous transplant) to replace degenerated neurons in select brain areas of donor primates with simulated but asymptomatic Parkinson’s disease and previously in a motor cortex lesion model, provides a degree of brain protection and may be useful in repairing brain lesions and restoring function.
Lees meer..

PAIR Technologies, a start-up company established by University of Delaware researchers and a former DuPont scientist, is preparing to commercialize a high-precision detector - a planar array infrared spectrograph - that can identify biological and chemical agents in solids, liquids, and gases, present at low levels, and in less than a second.
Lees meer..

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health, is using $5.4 million of Recovery Act funds to accelerate basic studies of induced pluripotent stem cells. These cells, abbreviated iPS, are reprogrammed from skin or other easily obtained adult cells and appear to be similar to stem cells derived from embryos. In theory, iPS cells could generate any type of cell and be used to treat diseases.
Lees meer..

Foreign pharmaceutical companies on Wednesday accepted the decision of Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa to enable the country “to bypass patents on 2,000 drugs in order to produce them locally or buy cheaper versions elsewhere,” Agence France-Presse reports. “‘We accept the democratic decision …
Lees meer..

Transcept Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: TSPT) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Complete Response Letter regarding the New Drug Application (NDA) for Intermezzo® (zolpidem tartrate sublingual tablet). The NDA, submitted by Transcept in September 2008, seeks approval to market Intermezzo® for use as-needed for the treatment of insomnia when a middle of the night awakening is followed by difficulty returning to sleep.
Lees meer..

The comparative study of chronic wound treatment at the Hospital Civil of Cd. Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, was concluded successfully. Due to the significantly superior therapeutic success the Ministry of Health ordered the control to be abandoned and moved to Hemospray treatment for ethical reasons. 22 of the 24 patients within the Hemospray group were healed completely, while 22 of the 24 patients of the control group showed no comparable progress.
Lees meer..