Health News

Weight Loss Pill Belviq Gets FDA Approval

Date: Jun-28-2012
The US Food and Drug (FDA) announced on Wednesday that it has approved the weight loss pill Belviq, for use in adults who are obese or overweight, as part of chronic weight management that includes a reduced calorie diet and exercise. Belviq (lorcaserin hydrochloride), made by the Swiss pharma company Arena, is the first prescription diet drug to receive US federal approval in over a decade.  It works by activating the serotonin 2C receptor in the brain, an effect that may help the patient feel full after eating smaller amounts of food and thereby eat less...

Sheffield Scientists To Study The Cause Of Medulloblastomas - A Childhood Brain Tumour

Date: Jun-28-2012
SCIENTISTS in Sheffield will investigate the cause of the most common form of childhood brain tumour following a £200,000 award from Yorkshire Cancer Research. The three-year study will concentrate on medulloblastomas, which make up 20 per cent of brain tumour cases in children and mainly affect children aged between three and eight. Medulloblastomas form in the cerebellum, a structure in the brain concerned with co-ordinating movement and maintaining posture and balance...

New Smoking Vaccine Using Gene Therapy Works In Mice

Date: Jun-28-2012
By using gene therapy to create a novel antibody that gobbles up nicotine before it reaches the brain in mice, scientists say they may have found a potential smoking vaccine against cigarette addiction. However, there is still a long way to go before the new therapy can be tested in humans. In a study reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine this week, Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City show how a single dose of the vaccine protected mice, over their lifetime, against nicotine addiction...

Neuronal Stress And Brain Insulin Resistance Linked To Worsening Alzheimer's Disease

Date: Jun-28-2012
Rhode Island Hospital researcher Suzanne de la Monte, M.D., has found a link between brain insulin resistance (diabetes) and two other key mediators of neuronal injury that help Alzheimer's disease (AD) to propagate. The research found that once AD is established, therapeutic efforts must also work to reduce toxin production in the brain. The study, Dysfunctional Pro-Ceramide, ER Stress, and Insulin/IGF Signaling Networks with Progression of Alzheimer's Disease, is published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease...

Future Hearing Loss Therapies May Be Impacted By Stem Cell Transplantation Into Mouse Cochlea

Date: Jun-28-2012
Researchers in Japan who evaluated the risks and efficacy of transplanting two varieties of stem cells into mouse cochlea have concluded that both adult-derived induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells demonstrate similar survival and neural differentiation capabilities. However, there is a risk of tumor growth associated with transplanting iPS cells into mouse cochleae. Given the potential for tumorigenesis, they concluded that the source of iPS cells is a critical issue for iPS cell-based therapy...

Public Ignorance About The Impact Of Lung Disease

Date: Jun-28-2012
New data released by the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) to coincide with World Spirometry Day has revealed a worrying lack of understanding and concern among the public about the world's biggest killer - lung disease, which now claims the lives of almost 4 million people a year. Despite the high incidence of lung disease, research conducted by YouGov across four continents revealed that people are far more worried about cancer, heart disease and stroke ...

Residency Programs Not Consistent In Interpretation Of National Residency Matching Program Rules

Date: Jun-28-2012
Many hospitals offer residency programs for doctors in training, allowing them to complete the education needed to become practicing physicians. Hospitals find those residents using National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) rules, but a new study finds wide variation in the interpretation of those rules. The NRMP rules are intended to minimize pressure on residency candidates, says lead author Diana S. Curran, M.D., F.A.C.O.G., residency program director for the U-M Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology...

Safely Treating Prostate Cancer And Lowering The Risk Of Recurrence

Date: Jun-28-2012
A recent Phase I/II clinical trial has shown that a new combination of radiation therapies developed at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center escalates radiation doses to safely and effectively treat prostate cancer and lower the risk of recurrence with minimal radiation exposure to nearby healthy tissue and organs. Recently published in the journal Brachytherapy, a novel treatment protocol designed by Michael Hagan, M.D., Ph.D...

Epigenetic Memory May Pass RNA Silencing From 1 Generation To The Next

Date: Jun-28-2012
Organisms employ a fascinating array of strategies to identify and restrain invasive pieces of foreign DNA, such as those introduced by viruses. For example, many viruses produce double-stranded (ds)RNA during their life cycle and the RNA interference (RNAi) mechanism is thought to recognize this structural feature to initiate a silencing response...

Trace Levels Of Toxic Vapors In Homes Near Utah Air Force Base Detected By Lab-On-A-Chip

Date: Jun-28-2012
A lab-on-a-chip technology that measures trace amounts of air contaminants in homes was successfully field-tested by researchers at the University of Michigan. Even in the presence of 50 other indoor air contaminants, the U-M-built microsystem found levels of the targeted contaminant so low that it would be analogous to finding a particular silver dollar in a roll stretching from Detroit to Salt Lake City. "This is the first (known) study of its kind," said Ted Zellers, professor in the U-M School of Public Health and the Department of Chemistry, and project director...