There is no valid evidence that direct-acting antiviral drugs cure hepatitis C The drug was hailed as a ‘miracle’ after it was able to rid the blood of the virus A report claims despite the $40,000 drug the disease can still linger in the body The virus is now the United States’ most common blood-borne infection...
Category: <span>Miscellaneous</span>
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Drug coupons are costing us billions: Lawmakers seek end to slimy scheme
When Mylan’s CEO, Heather Bresch, appeared before lawmakers last September to explain the skyscraping price of life-saving EpiPens, she touted coupons that would cut out-of-pocket costs for customers rather than plans to lower prices. Executives for Turing Pharmaceuticals, Valeant, Marathon, Kaléo, and many others used the same strategy amid price-gouging claims. But the wallet-friendly deals are deceptive, lawmakers and advocates argue. They...
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Battle to stay alive: Young soldier and father with aggressive blood cancer issues urgent appeal for life-saving stem cell donors
Private Myles Brown, 27, has rare type of leukaemia which progresses fast It’s possibly spread to his brain and his only hope is a stem cell transplant Without it, he would have two years of chemo which could ravage his health Mr Brown, from Lincolnshire, wants to live for his 18-month-old daughter Lilian He has...
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A FIFTH of university professors take the same ‘smart drugs’ as students to keep up with workload, claims academic
Professors are using so-called ‘study drugs’ to boost their cognitive performance Cambridge academic claims one in 10 students take them to improve memory The drugs are meant to be for Alzheimer’s, narcolepsy and ADHD treatment Long-term effects of some substances include heart problems and psychosis One in five university professors have admitted to using so-called ‘brain...
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This map will help biologists learn more about the human body than ever before
Squint your eyes so tight that they’re almost shut. Now keep them that way as you look at the world. You can’t see its beauty in detail. Leaves on the trees, constellations in the night sky, the words on this screen — they’re all a blur. In a sense, biologists have spent the last century...
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Failure to warn: Hundreds died while taking an arthritis drug, but nobody alerted patients
When a new remedy for rheumatoid arthritis arrived, ads called it a “unique” breakthrough that would “transform expectations” for patients and doctors. “If I knew then what I know now about rheumatoid arthritis, I would have been more proactive,” said one young woman, pictured happily kayaking. Treatments for the disabling disease afflicting about 1.5 million...
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‘FDA approved’ medical devices don’t actually have to do what they promise
‘FDA approval’ has a certain glow of authority to it. In most people’s minds to be FDA approved is to be safe, effective, and proven. Or at least, it technically is. Technically, FDA approval is a stringent process that requires a degree of proof. You might like to think that you couldn’t get away with claiming something went through that...
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Alan Alda’s Experiment: Helping Scientists Learn To Talk To The Rest Of Us
Alan Alda’s father wanted him to become a doctor, but it wasn’t meant to be. “I failed chemistry really disastrously … ” Alda says. “I really didn’t want to be a doctor; I wanted to be a writer and an actor.” Which is exactly what happened, but Alda didn’t leave science behind entirely. His new...
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The Making Of Emotions, From Pleasurable Fear To Bittersweet Relief
Emotions, the classic thinking goes, are innate, basic parts of our humanity. We are born with them, and when things happen to us, our emotions wash over us. “They happen to us, almost,” says Lisa Feldman Barrett, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University and a researcher at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital. She’s also...
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Specific long-term therapy may not prevent fractures in older women
Osteoporosis is a disease that causes thinning of the bones, loss of bone density, and increasingly fragile bones. This puts people at higher risk for bone fractures. Risk for the disease increases as we age. In fact, 50% of women over the age of 50 will experience a bone facture due to osteoporosis. By 2020,...