Researchers have uncovered a remarkable property of the contractile ring, a structure required for cell division. Understanding how the contractile ring works to divide the cell may facilitate development of therapies to prevent uncontrolled cell division in cancer.
Researchers investigating how the brain becomes drug dependent have now implicated a naturally occurring protein, a dose of which allowed them to get rats hooked with no drugs at all. The finding could suggest ways to medically counteract the effects of drug addiction.
Athletes could be putting their lives at risk by doping themselves with powerful prescription drugs, an academic has warned. Researchers cautioned sportsmen and women against trying to improve their performance by taking drugs known as nitrites without clinical supervision. Researchers have warned that athletes could suffer a range of side effects from convulsions to coma, and could even kill themselves.
Restricting carbohydrates, regardless of weight loss, appears to slow the growth of prostate tumors, according to a new animal study.
Imagine being able to detect in just a few minutes whether someone is infected with a virus. This has now become a reality, thanks to a new ultra-sensitive detector. The first prototype has just been completed and researchers expect to be able to introduce the first version of the detector onto the market in late 2010. Not only does the detector carry out measurements many times faster than do standard techniques, it is also portable, so it can be used anywhere.
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (MedPage Today) — If a formal risk reduction plan for opioid painkillers increases the regulatory burden on physicians, they may simply stop prescribing such drugs, to the detriment of patients in severe pain, the FDA was told Thursday.
SAN FRANCISCO (MedPage Today) — Long-term, low-dose aspirin provides no clear net value for primary prevention of cardiovascular events in apparently healthy adults, according to a meta-analysis of patient-level data.
Type 1 diabetes is caused by immune system–mediated destruction of insulin-producing beta-cells in the pancreas. It is known that infection with a virus can induce an immune response that damages beta-cells or a response that protects an individual from type 1 diabetes.
LITTLE FALLS, N.J. (MedPage Today) — Far fewer Americans are engaging in healthy lifestyles than there were just two decades ago, researchers say.
LITTLE FALLS, N.J. (MedPage Today) — Intravenous clot-busting therapy with tissue plasminogen activator should be given up to 4.5 hours from stroke onset in eligible patients, according to a science advisory from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.