Pharmacology News and Research

Latest Pharmacology News and Research

Estrogen, SERMS reduce asthma impact by halting constriction

For years, anecdotal evidence suggested that ovulating or pregnant women or post-menopausal women taking estrogen supplements, experienced fewer asthma attacks and less severe asthma symptoms, strongly suggesting that perhaps estrogen affects airway smooth muscle function by preventing the hyperresponsiveness characteristic of asthma and other chronic lung diseases.

3 Apr 2005

Could NAADP/cholecystokinin-combo attack fat from inside and out?

One traditional approach to pharmaceutical design uses so-called “first messengers” – hormones, other natural facilitators or synthetic products – to initiate various cellular cascades for the desired physiological effect. To date, despite concerted efforts at all levels of research, this approach has failed to develop a truly successful obesity drug to address this major global health problem.

3 Apr 2005

Statins, other cholesterol-depleting agents, may disrupt hypertension from developing

Cholesterol-lowering agents, such as the widely-prescribed statin drugs, and cholesterol-blocking agents may prove to be “novel therapeutic agents to modify cellular calcium that contributes to the development of pulmonary hypertension,” according Hemal H. Patel who lead a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

3 Apr 2005

Simvastatin linked to protection against endothelial dysfunction in diabetic rats

Almost two years ago, the diabetes arm of the Heart Protection Study, the largest-ever study using a cholesterol-lowering medication, found that diabetics who took a daily dose of the statin drug simvastatin over five years reduced the risk of a first nonlethal heart attack by 37 percent and risk of a first nonfatal or fatal stroke by 24 percent, regardless of their cholesterol or glucose levels.

3 Apr 2005

Garlic protects against severe chronic pulmonary hypertension

Small daily doses of allicin, the active metabolic in garlic, proved effective in preventing a severe form of pulmonary hypertension in rats

3 Apr 2005

Discovery could lead to new drug targets for heart disease

Mice with glowing green hearts have yielded the latest clue in the search for molecules involved in structural heart disease. Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators found that blocking the activity of a single protein, called CaM kinase, in the mouse heart protects against the damaging effects of a heart attack.

30 Mar 2005

Genome in gut bacterium key to intestinal health

A bacterium that lives in the human gut adaptively shifts more than a quarter of its genes into high gear when its host's diet changes from sugar to complex carbohydrates.

28 Mar 2005

Study suggests combination therapy could stop spread, halt growth of melanomas

Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine have identified the mechanism by which the most mutated gene in melanoma, called v599EB-Raf, aids melanoma tumor development demonstrating its importance as a therapeutic target.

22 Mar 2005

How and why people become addicted to alcohol

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have identified several genetic changes in the brains of mice caused by ethanol, which may help researchers better understand how and why people become addicted to alcohol.

2 Mar 2005

Nature’s most sophisticated biological weapon

Nature’s most sophisticated biological weapon, snake venom, largely evolved from bits of body parts a Melbourne researcher has found.

1 Mar 2005

Scientific experts discuss the benefits and safety of vitamin E

Scientific experts in pharmacology, toxicology and nutrition gathered at the University of Southern California (USC) on February 26 for a forum to discuss the benefits and safety of vitamin E.

1 Mar 2005

Project targeting the increasing resistance of some viruses to drugs

A new project targeting the increasing resistance of some viruses to drugs is being funded with the help of nine million euros under the Life Sciences, Genomics and Biotechnology for Health area of the EU’s Framework Programme.

28 Feb 2005

Cannabis use may increase risk of stroke

Regular users of cannabis could be putting themselves at risk of stroke, while they are still young, indicates a case report, published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

20 Feb 2005

Link between diabetes and obesity

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis used genetically modified mice to uncover a potentially important link between diabetes and obesity.

15 Feb 2005

Blocking estrogen may be vitally important to improving survival from lung cancer

New and effective treatments for lung cancer may rest on their ability to hinder the action of estrogen in lung cancer cells, according to two studies published in the current issue of Cancer Research.

15 Feb 2005

Ingestion of afterbirth appears to promote maternal behavior in mammals

A behavioral neuroscientist at the University at Buffalo holds that the ingestion of afterbirth by a mother, a feature of pregnancy in nearly all non-human mammals, not only relieves postpartum pain, but optimizes the onset of maternal behavior by mediating the activity of specific opioid activity circuits in the brain.

13 Feb 2005

First evidence of cardiac progenitor cells

The first evidence of cardiac progenitor cells – rare, specialized stem cells located in the newborn heart of rats, mice and humans – has been shown by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. The cells are capable of differentiation into fully mature heart tissue.

10 Feb 2005

Chronic nicotine exposure worsens some Alzheimer’s-related brain abnormalities

UCI researchers have determined that chronic nicotine exposure worsens some Alzheimer’s-related brain abnormalities, contradicting the common belief that nicotine can actually be used to treat the disease.

9 Feb 2005

Nicotine may hold promise in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease

The chemical nicotine--a main ingredient in tobacco--may hold promise in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, give insight into therapeutic interventions for nicotine addiction and possibly complement the diagnosis of certain forms of lung cancer, according to a study in the January issue of the Society of Nuclear Medicine's Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

31 Jan 2005

One of the most exciting developments in clinical research in decades

One of the most exciting developments in clinical research in decades is taking place at the University of Leeds, led by our professor of cancer medicine Peter Selby in collaboration with the Medical Research Council.

27 Jan 2005