Tag Archives: drugs
New function for the well-known lipids
Angiogenesis is the new blood vessels formation in adult tissues which share some similarities to growth of blood vessels during development called vasculogenesis. It is estimated that growth of any tissue to the sizes above 2-3 mm3
How fat is a cell?
Cells have characteristic sizes in different tissues from big cells like muscle cells to small cells like platelets. How is the size of a cell programmed? The answer is we don’t know. But we do know something
The future of clinical research: developing new drugs faster using electronic health records
Innovative medicines can prevent, cure, slow or alter the evolution of diseases, and bring real value to patients. Despite increased investments in research and development, fewer medicines are being brought to market due to the increasing complexity
Microfluidic live-cell microarrays
In recent years, the development of new drugs and therapies has decelerated despite the application of combinatorial biochemistry and new therapeutic strategies, such as nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems. Although the numbers of newly developed compounds have steadily
A formula for better asthma, cold and heart medications
Imagine that you had found a way to drop the dose of your asthma medication ten-fold, increase its duration of activity from a couple of hours to all day, and still get the same relief as before.
An important new tool to assess chemotherapy response in cancer patients
Although chemotherapy agents are widely used in the treatment of cancer, it is not widely known that for many patients with solid tumours, only a fraction receive a survival benefit from chemotherapy. This is particularly the case
The infusion of haematopoietic stem cells in patients with liver insufficiency
Cirrhosis, the end result of long-term liver damage, and its related morbidity represnt a significant burden on health care worldwide. Liver transplantation is the only definitive therapeutic option for those patients. However, the paucity of donors, the incidence
3D environment enhance cellular capacities
Although we live under the 3D (three-dimensional) environment, drug testing is carried out usually by using isolated cells cultured under the 2D (two-dimensional) environment. Liver is a very important organ which metabolizes glucose, alcohol, lipids (e.g. cholesterol)
Receptors as drug targets
According to the latest count, human body has 37.2 trillion cells. They all have the same genetic material, half deriving from a sperm cell, the other half from an egg cell. Consequently, all the cells are in
The binding of mGluR4 targeting drugs could help the finding novel treatments for PD
One of the key features of drugs is an ability to find the corresponding target molecule (eg. protein) from the body. The target protein has unique structural sites that could be loaded with specific chemicals (drugs). The
Renal risk associated with sodium phosphate medication
Sodium phosphate drugs (solutions, tablets or enemas) are used since 1990s as laxatives for bowel cleansing before endoscopy and radiology examination, or occasionally for treatment of severe constipation. Sodium phosphate drugs are low-volume osmotic purgatives, their administration
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs attenuate lung carcinogenesis in smoking female mice
Chronic inflammation plays a crucial role in the development of cancer in general and of cigarette smoke (CS) – related lung cancer in particular. Accordingly, anti-inflammatory drugs, among which the extensively used nonsteroidal anti – inflammatory drugs
New effective treatments for Alzheimer and Parkinson’s disease
Alzheimer and Parkinson’s disease are the most common neurodegenerative disorders. As people are getting older than in previous generations, the number of people who are affected has increased. Unfortunately, there is no cure for these diseases. The
A genetic switch for your health
We all have heard that reducing your caloric intake improves your health and may even extend your life. A fascinating aspect of calorie restriction is that it has similar beneficial effects in virtually all animal species tested.
Using cheminformatics to aid in the discovery of new drugs
Finding new medicines is a difficult and expensive endeavor and grows more difficult and expensive with every passing year. Thus, new ways to streamline the process are desperately needed by the pharmaceutical industry. Once upon a time,
Antimicrobial resistance – what’s needed but how to get the resources to the innovators?
Antibiotic resistance is at a crisis point, nay a “tipping point”. There are several major programs which offer what sound like large sums of money to make new antibiotics, but to get these monies takes a lot
High blood pressure is controlled more effectively by two drugs in one pill
Hypertension, or high blood pressure (BP), is a major global public health problem, both because of how common it is and its correlation with cardiovascular disease. It has been identified as one of the major risk factors
A new understanding of the mechanism of action of insulin sensitizing drugs provides insight into treating metabolic disease
It has been known for some time that there is a connection between diabetes and other diseases that increase with age, including important neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Interestingly, all of these diseases are
Nanoformulations for cancer therapy
Cancer is a major disease responsible for death in human beings. A lot of research has been performed to develop improved diagnostic tools as well as drugs to treat cancer. Effectiveness of therapeutics in cancerous malignancy is
The quest for targeted therapy in fragile X syndrome
For many years we believed that most hereditary diseases were untreatable. However, hopes for a cure were raised following the discovery of genetic causes and better understanding of disease mechanisms. This elucidated new targets for therapy. The
