Your brain is armored. It lives in a box made of bones with a security system of vessels. These vessels protect the brain and central nervous system from harmful chemicals circulating in the blood. Yet this protection system—known as the blood-brain barrier—also prevents delivery of drugs that could help treat patients with brain cancers and...
Category: <span>Pharmaceutical Updates</span>
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Review: Insomnia medication may wake up some patients from vegetative state
In a new systematic review in JAMA Neurology, Michigan Medicine researchers found reason to further explore the surprising effects of zolpidem that have been observed outside the scope of its primary Food and Drug Administration approval. “We saw a dramatic effect in a small amount of patients with a variety of conditions,” says Martin “Nick” Bomalaski,...
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Scientists find evidence that ALS and SMA could be treated with a common drug
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers have identified a compound that helps protect the cells destroyed by spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the most frequent fatal genetic disease in children under 2 years of age. SMA is a neurodegenerative disease targeting motor neurons, the long nerve cells that relay messages from the brain to the muscles...
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Research suggests seal oil could help people with Type 1 diabetes
A research team at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre in Toronto has published a paper that suggests seal oil has the potential to help promote nerve regeneration in patients with Type 1 diabetes. The study found that patients who ingested an omega-3 supplement derived from seal oil twice a day over a 12-month period reported an...
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Pill for diabetes that costs just £1.30 a day also cuts the risk of heart and kidney disease by 14%
Drug Canagliflozin is designed to lower blood sugar levels and keep weight off New study reveals it also has an impact on cardiovascular and kidney problems But more work is needed to find out why users more likley to need amputations A cheap anti-diabetes drug slashes the risk of heart attacks and kidney disease, a...
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New treatment reduces E. coli, may offer alternative to antibiotics
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infections, and they tend to come back again and again, even when treated. Most UTIs are caused by E. coli that live in the gut and spread to the urinary tract. A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that a molecular...
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New effective treatments for psoriatic arthritis patients
New agents working on different inflammatory aspects of PsA are needed in the treatment of PsA patients living with this chronic immune-mediated disease, which involves both joint and skin symptoms. In the first study, in patients with active PsA who had not previously been prescribed an anti-TNF treatment, tofacitinib (an oral Janus kinase inhibitor under...
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New antibiotic effective against drug-resistant bacteria
First selective nucleoside-analog inhibitor of bacterial RNA polymerase Structure of bacterial RNA polymerase, showing the binding sites for the new antibiotic pseudouridimycin (PUM) and the current antibacterial drug rifampin (Rif). PUM has a lower resistance rate and a smaller resistance target than Rif — just 2 to 4 positions where alterations that result in PUM-resistance...
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A new drug that ‘switches off’ food cravings is on the horizon after scientists discover the way in which our brains govern hunger
Researchers used a tiny periscope to access part of brain not accessed before Allowed them to gain deeper understanding of how we react to food cues Certain hunger-promoting neurons can be artificially turned on even when full Hopes that these same neurons can be turned off to reduce food cravings Could help obese people with a’faulty’ hard...
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The chili painkiller can that could banish knee pain: Injection could offer six month of relief
Uses a man-made version of chili plant extract trans-capsaicin The drug is designed to be injected at the site of pain Relieved knee pain among osteoarthritis patients for up to six months A synthetic version of a medicine traditionally extracted from chili plant relieved knee pain among osteoarthritis patients for up to six months, data...