Prescription Drugs Abuse on the Rise Among Americans: Study

Drugs Abuse on the Rise Among Americans The number of Americans who used illegal drugs or abused prescription medications rose last year to reach its highest level since 2002, a survey released Thursday showed. Nearly 22 million Americans aged 12 and older used illegal drugs in 2009, a rise of nine percent from 2008, the survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found.Some seven million Americans older than 12 took prescription drugs for non-medical reasons. The bulk of the abuse of prescription medications involved painkillers, which some 5.3 million Americans used off-label last year -- a rise of 20 percent from 2002. Among teens, the rate of nonmedical prescription painkiller use rose...

Read more »

Posted in: Prescription Drugs Abuse on the Rise Among Americans: Study

Enzyme Responsible For Brain Tumors Discovered

Brain Tumors Tom Wurdinger, a Dutch researcher who is connected to Harvard (Boston) and the VUmc Cancer Center in Amsterdam, has discovered the enzyme playing a very important role in the return of malign brain tumor after surgery and radiation. By making this enzyme inactive, the cancer cell can become disorganized and blow itself up. "Potentially an effective supplementary treatment method has been discovered for this very aggressive and practically always deadly type of cancer. Proof of the importance and potential of the Dutch life sciences & health sector," says Willem de Laat, managing director of the Life Sciences & Health Innovation Program. The most common and aggressive type of brain tumor is glioblastoma multiforme...

Read more »

Posted in: Enzyme Responsible For Brain Tumors Discovered

Next Generation Antibiotics Under Development In Israel

Next generation antibiotics in order to take on the drug-resistant superbugs.Dr. Micha Fridman of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Chemistry says the key is in the bacteria itself. Israeli researchers are trying to develop the next generation antibiotics in order to take on the drug-resistant superbugs.Dr. Micha Fridman of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Chemistry says the key is in the bacteria itself. “We took the mechanism of bacterial resistance and used this mechanism itself to generate antibiotics,” explains Dr. Fridman.  “It’s thanks to these bacteria that we can develop a better medication.” Conducted in collaboration with Prof. Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Dr. Fridman’s research...

Read more »

Posted in: Next Generation Antibiotics Under Development In Israel

Heart Problems Triggered Off by 'Distressed' Personality

Heart patients with the 'distressed' personality type are more prone to a higher risk of further heart problems Heart patients with the 'distressed' personality type are more prone to a higher risk of further heart problems, discovered a new study. The findings are based on an analysis of previous reports involving more than 6,000 patients.The personality classification system that identified "Type A" decades ago more recently defined Type D as a personality marked by chronic negative emotions, pessimism and social inhibition. Researchers noted a three-fold increase for Type D heart patients in risk of future cardiovascular issues such as peripheral artery disease, angioplasty or bypass procedures, heart failure, heart transplantation,...

Read more »

Posted in: Heart Problems Triggered Off by 'Distressed' Personality

New test gives one-hour TB diagnosis

New Test Which Can Diagnose Tuberculosis In One Hour Scientists have developed a new test which can diagnose tuberculosis in one hour, potentially helping to curb the spread of the disease, a British health agency said in a study Wednesday.The "ultra-rapid" test is far quicker than traditional methods, which can take up to eight weeks and mean that patients, who are often from transient populations, move on untreated, said the Health Protection Agency (HPA). "We?re excited to have developed this new test because it means we can potentially diagnose someone at a TB clinic within an hour and start them immediately on the treatment they need," said Cath Arnold of the HPA, who led the study."This new test could really have an impact where it...

Read more »

Posted in: New test gives one-hour TB diagnosis

Researchers Report That Lung Cancer Culprit Could Offer Target For Therapy

lung cancer A tiny molecule that spurs the progression of non-small-cell lung cancer could become a player in fighting the disease, say researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center, who published a study on how the molecule behaves in mice in the Sept. 14 issue of Cancer Cell. Scientists have known that the molecule microRNA-21, or miR-21, is present in overabundant quantities in human tumors, including non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Until now, however, it was unclear whether miR-21 contributed to the development of lung cancer, or whether it was simply an indicator of the presence of the disease. To find out, lead study author Dr. Mark Hatley, an instructor of pediatric hematology/oncology, and UT Southwestern colleagues used...

Read more »

Posted in: Researchers Report That Lung Cancer Culprit Could Offer Target For Therapy

New drug-resistant superbugs found in 3 states

Serious public health risks due to a lack of new antibiotics at a time of rising antibiotic-resistant … BOSTON – An infectious-disease nightmare is unfolding:  Bacteria that have been made resistant to nearly all antibiotics by an alarming new gene have sickened people in three states and are popping up all over the world, health officials reported Monday.The U.S. cases and two others in Canada all involve people who had recently received medical care in India, where the problem is widespread. A British medical journal revealed the risk last month in an article describing dozens of cases in Britain> in people who had gone to India for medical procedures. How many deaths the gene may have caused is unknown; there is no central...

Read more »

Posted in: New drug-resistant superbugs found in 3 states

Study: Whites with muscular dystrophy live up to 12 years longer than blacks

Whites with muscular dystrophy Whites with muscular dystrophy live up to 12 years longer than their African American counterparts, according to a study published Monday in Neurology.Although medical advancements a period of 20 years increased the life span of patients with the debilitating muscle disease, those improvements haven’t been equal among different groups.White women with muscular dystrophy had a median death age of 63, versus 51 for African American women. For men, their median age at death was 33, versus 23 for African American males. Muscular dystrophy is a group of inherited muscle diseases in which the muscle fibers are unusually susceptible to damage and progressively weaken. The condition can lead to early death due to respiratory...

Read more »

Posted in: Whites with muscular dystrophy

BPA In Dental Filling Poses Danger

Dental Filling The Bisphenol A (BPA) in dental filling could pose a danger to your health, US researchers have found. But they are suggesting continued use of dental sealants as their benefits could far outweigh risks. BPA, a man-made chemical, is found in a variety of everyday items - and in most humans, according to a new Canadian study. It is used to stiffen plastic bottles, line cans and make smooth paper receipts. BPA is classified as a so-called endocrine disruptor. While such chemicals may cause a host of health problems, most of the direct evidence regarding BPA comes from animal studies that don't automatically translate to humans.Actually dental sealants and fillings don't contain BPA, but many of them contain compounds that turn...

Read more »

Posted in: BPA In Dental Filling Poses Danger

Study Says IV Drips can be Left in Place

BMC Medicine It has emerged that small intravenous devices (IVDs) commonly used in the hand or arm do not need to be moved routinely every 3 days. A randomized controlled trial comparing regular relocation with relocation on clinical indication, published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, found that rates of complications were the same for both regimens. Claire Rickard, from Griffith University, Australia, worked with a team of researchers to carry out the study with 362 patients at Launceston General Hospital, Tasmania. She said, "Recommended timelines for routine resite have been extended over the past three decades from 24 to 72 hours. Currently, 72- to 96-hour resite is recommended. Even with these extended durations, such...

Read more »

Posted in: Study Says IV Drips can be Left in Place

Scientists Observe Single Ions Moving Through Tiny Carbon-Nanotube Channel

Ions Moving Through Tiny Carbon-Nanotube Channel For the first time, a team of MIT chemical engineers has observed single ions marching through a tiny carbon-nanotube channel. Such channels could be used as extremely sensitive detectors or as part of a new water-desalination system. They could also allow scientists to study chemical reactions at the single-molecule level. Carbon nanotubes -- tiny, hollow cylinders whose walls are lattices of carbon atoms -- are about 10,000 times thinner than a human hair. Since their discovery nearly 20 years ago, researchers have experimented with them as batteries, transistors, sensors and solar cells, among other applications.In the Sept. 10 issue of Science, MIT researchers report that charged molecules,...

Read more »

Posted in: Ions Moving Through Tiny Carbon-Nanotube Channel

Mind Disorders May Be Better Understood With a 'Brain Atlas'

Human Brain Hoping to create a brain atlas, a researcher at Tel Aviv University is building on a previously developed tool to understand how different parts of the human brain "connect". Dr. Yaniv Assaf of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Neurobiology is collaborating with an international team of scientistsBrain reserchers already know that autism and schizophrenia are not localized disorders - there is no one place in the brain they can be found. That’s why a brain atlas will be an invaluable resource for understanding how parts of our brain connect to other parts within, leading to a deeper understanding of these diseases. "It’s currently impossible for clinicians to ’see’ subtle disorders in the brain that might cause a life-threatening,...

Read more »

Posted in: Mind Disorders May Be Better Understood With a 'Brain Atlas'

Lift Stem Cell Funding Ban, US Govt Asks Court

Testing on Lift Stem Cell The US government asked a federal appeals court to lift a court order blocking federal funding for research involving human embryonic stem cells. US District Judge Royce Lamberth's order causes "direct and immediate" harm to federally-funded embryonic stem cell research and "potentially blocks life-saving medical advances," Obama administration lawyers told a federal appeals court in Washington. On Tuesday, Lamberth rejected the White House's request to drop his order to temporarily block federal funding for embryonic stem cell research pending an appeal of the decision. Lamberth first issued his injunction on August 23, ruling in favor of a coalition that included several Christian organizations by saying that stem...

Read more »

Posted in: Lift Stem Cell Funding Ban

Transplant Doctors Protest at Philippine Airline's Refusal to Carry Donated Kidney

Kidney Philippine doctors had to throw away a donated kidney after a local airline refused to fly it, transplant doctors said Thursday. Cebu Pacific Air said it was protecting passengers from possible infection or contamination when it refused to allow the team who harvested the organ to carry the Kidney in the cabin on the flight last month. Benjamin Balmores, president of the Philippine Society of Nephrology (PSN), said the kidney could no longer be used after doctors instead tried to drive it nearly 400 kilometres (250 miles) to its destination. "According to NKTI (the government-run National Kidney and Transplant Institute), this is the first time that the team was not allowed to hand-carry the human organ," Balmores told AFP. Cebu...

Read more »

Posted in: Airline's Refusal to Carry Donated Kidney

New Therapies for Chronic Pain Possible With Novel Discovery

Patient suffering with Chronic Pain A major mechanism underlying the development of tolerance to chronic morphine treatment discovered by Mount Sinai researchers might lead the way for new therapies to treat chronic pain. Developing tolerance towards morphine after chronic administration is a hurdle in pain management, but it also poses other problems, such as addiction and  constipation. Now researchers have identified how they can block this tolerance to treat pain with fewer side effects. Lakshmi Devi and her colleagues found a protein complex that excessively accumulates in areas of the brain that process pain - which may be the cause of the development of morphine tolerance. Their next step would be to develop a drug that prevents...

Read more »

Posted in: New Therapies for Chronic Pain

Swine Flu Poses No Serious Threat Than Seasonal Flu: Study

Study on Swine Flu Infection rom the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic virus presented a lower risk of serious complications than other recent strains of the flu, according to US research presented Tuesday. Analysis of influenza cases in the midwestern US state of Wisconsin showed infected individuals were younger than in earlier strains, but complications were not as likely as with the H3N1 virus that arose in the 2007-2008 flu season, said researchers at Wisconsin's Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation. "The pandemic 2009 influenza A(H1N1) virus caused widespread transmission in the United States and other countries," noted lead author Edward Belongia and colleagues in the September 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association(JAMA).According...

Read more »

Posted in: Swine Flu Poses No Serious Threat Than Seasonal Flu: Study

Obesity Due to High-fat Diet Hastens Leukemia Risk: Study

Obesity Due to High-Fat Obesity caused due to fatty diet can directly speed up the progression of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to a study at The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.Obesity has been associated with an increased incidence of many cancers, including leukemia, but it has been unknown whether the increase in incidence was a direct effect of obesity or associated with genetic, lifestyle,health, or socio-economic factors. "Given the high prevalence of obesity in our society, we felt it was critical to determine if obesity actually caused the increased incidence of leukemia and not some other associated exposure," explained Dr. Steven D. Mittelman, a pediatric endocrinologist who...

Read more »

Posted in: Obesity Due to High-fat Diet Hastens Leukemia Risk: Study

US Judge Denies to Lift Ban on Stem Cell Fund

Testing Labouratory   A US federal judge denied Tuesday the White House's request to drop his decision to temporarily block federal funding for embryonic stem cell reserch pending an appeal of the decision."In this court's view, a stay would flout the will of Congress," Judge Royce Lamberth wrote in his order."Congress remains perfectly free to amend or revise the statute. This court is not free to do so." Lamberth first issued his injunction on August 23, ruling in favor of a coalition that included several Christian organizations by saying that stem cell research involved the destruction of human embryos.He said the federal funding, which President Barack Obama had authorized, violated the Dickey-Wicker amendment, a federal law...

Read more »

Posted in: US Judge Denies to Lift Ban on Stem Cell Fund

UK regulators want Avandia diabetes pill pulled

Avandia diabetes pill GlaxoSmithKline's controversial diabetes pill Avandia should be pulled from the U.K. market because of concerns that the drug can increase the risk of heart attacks, British drug regulators said Monday.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said an independent panel of experts had advised it that the risks of Avandia outweigh its benefits, and that the drug should no longer be sold in Britain. The body said it had sent a letter to doctors in July advising them to consider alternative treatments. The British Medical Journal also called for the immediate withdrawal of the drug, saying it should never have been licensed in the first place.Avandia was approved by the European Medicines Agency...

Read more »

Posted in: UK regulators want Avandia diabetes pill pulled

Lack of Sleep May Put Young Kids At Risk of Obesity

Childhood Obesity Children under the age of five who don't get enough sleep at night are more likely than kids who do get their 40 winks to become obese at a young age, a study published Monday showed. "We found a robust longitudinal association between duration of night time sleep in early life and subsequent obesity measured at five to nine years," wrote the authors of the study in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, a journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers led by Janice Bell of the University of Washington, Seattle and Frederick Zimmerman of the University of California, Los Angeles, studied two lots of data -- at baseline and five years later -- for 1,930 children in the United States. The kids were separated...

Read more »

Posted in: Lack of Sleep May Put Young Kids At Risk of Obesity

Backstabbing Bacteria Ditch Colleagues and Actually Lessen Infection

Backstabbing Bacteria Backstabbing bacterial cells that act in their own interests and do not cooperate with their infection-causing colleagues can actually reduce the severity of infection. The selfish behaviour of these uncooperative bacteria could be exploited to treat antibiotic-resistant infections, according to research being presented at the Society for General Microbiology's autumn meeting today. Bacteria work together by using a well-studied communication system called Quorum Sensing (QS). During infection, bacteria talk to each other using QS to coordinate the release of toxins. Researchers at the University of Nottingham have discovered that in Staphylococcus aureus infections, bacteria defective in QS can benefit...

Read more »

Posted in: Backstabbing Bacteria Ditch Colleagues and Actually Lessen Infection