WASHINGTON (MedPage Today) — The Food and Drug Administration named members to its new Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee, which will have its first meeting at the end of the month to discuss menthol in cigarettes.

NEUROBIOLOGY: Common mechanism for more than 50% of cases of hereditary spastic paraplegia Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) is the name given to a group of inherited neurological disorders characterized by progressive stiffness or tightness of the muscles (spasticity) in the lower limbs. Although mutations at over 40 genetic sites have been shown to cause HSP, more than 50% of HSP cases are caused by mutations in one of just three genes: SPG3A, which makes the protein atlastin-1; SPG31, which makes the protein REEP1; and SPG4, which makes the protein spastin…

Results released today from the Pharmacy Manpower Project’s 2009 National Pharmacist Workforce Survey indicate shifts in the pharmacy profession toward more patient care. This 2009 report also provides insight into how the nation’s current economic situation has influenced the dynamics of the U.S. pharmacy workforce as nearly a quarter of pharmacists are practicing part-time and more are working past retirement age. This study is the third in a series of surveys commissioned by the Pharmacy Manpower Project, Inc. (PMP) since 2000 and has been highly anticipated throughout the industry…

NEW ORLEANS (MedPage Today) — Maternal smoking in pregnancy may be a more powerful influence on asthma development in children than when infants inhale secondhand smoke or are breastfed by smoking moms, researchers said here.

A new PET scan neuroimaging technique measured drug-related reductions in the size of brain plaques thought to be responsible for the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study found.