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Scientists have succeeded in growing empty particles derived from a plant virus and have made them carry useful chemicals. The external surface of these nano containers could be decorated with molecules that guide them to where they are needed in the body, before the chemical load is discharged to exert its effect on diseased cells. The containers are particles of the Cowpea mosaic virus, which is ideally suited for designing biomaterial at the nanoscale.

Many women live with breast cancer that does not respond to standard medical treatment, a condition that researchers want to change by aggressively targeting specific genes.

New findings shed light on how genetic damage to muscle cell proteins can lead to the development of the rare muscle-wasting disease, nemaline myopathy.

More 12 year olds have used potentially lethal inhalants than have used marijuana, cocaine and hallucinogens combined, according to new data.

To grow larger, solid tumors require a network of blood vessels to nourish them. Chemotherapy exploits these vessels to deliver toxic drugs, but is inefficient if the drugs cannot pass quickly enough from the bloodstream into the tumor. A new study describes a way of transiently making the tumor blood vessels leakier, allowing more efficient drug uptake. This work may ultimately enhance delivery of chemotherapies into tumor tissue.

One of the oldest available anti-seizure medications, ethosuximide, is the most effective treatment for childhood absence epilepsy, according to initial outcomes.

A research team has shown how PEGylated polylysine dendrimers, a new type of nano-sized drug delivery system, can be altered to target either the lymphatic system or the bloodstream, which may improve the treatment of particular types of diseases.

Scientists are investigating the cause and effects of Sudden Cardiac Arrest syndrome. This team is hot on the trail of understanding how a multi-gene syndrome, one of the causes for SCA, operates inside the body. Once they figure out how the disorder operates and describe its molecular system in detail, they hope to develop a drug or therapy to stop this condition before it strikes.

Seaweed extract may eventually emerge as a lymphoma treatment, according to laboratory research. Seaweeds containing fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide similar to heparin in chemical structure, have been reported to have anti-tumor activity in mice and some cell lines.

French medical researchers have recently demonstrated the effectiveness of a new molecule in the fight against lice. Faced with the emergence of increasing resistance to conventional treatments by these parasites, this new medication represents a real therapeutic alternative which is effective in 95 percent of cases.

To get life-threatening diseases under control, patients in the intensive care unit usually are administered many medications at the same time. Even for experts, it is difficult to keep track of the variety of possible side effects and interactions. Researchers in Germany has now shown that physicians can reduce serious events resulting from drug interactions by about half with the help of the “AiDKlinik” drug information system.

New research may change neutropenia treatment for all childhood cancer patients. Neutropenia is the dangerous drop in white blood cells that leaves cancer patients at increased risk for infections and can delay chemotherapy.

Women’s responsiveness to the second-line breast cancer drug fulvestrant may depend on whether the cancer cells are expressing two key proteins, scientists report.

It is common for patients 65 and older to receive potentially inappropriate medications when treated in an emergency room. Nearly 19.5 million older patients, or 16.8 percent of eligible emergency visits from 2000-2006, received one or more of these medications.

Researchers have discovered that “microtentacles,” or extensions of the plasma membrane of breast cancer cells, appear to play a key role in how cancers spread to distant locations in the body. Targeting these microtentacles, which are linked to a protein called “tau,” might prove to be a new way to prevent or slow the growth of these secondary cancers, the scientists say.

A clinical research trial of a new treatment to restore brain cells damaged by stroke has passed an important safety stage, according to the neurologist who led the effort.

Discovery of an antibiotic’s capacity to improve cell function in laboratory tests is providing movement disorder researchers with leads to more desirable molecules with potentially similar traits, according to scientists.

New research provides exciting insight into the molecular mechanisms associated with addiction and relapse. The study uncovers a crucial mechanism that facilitates motivation for alcohol after extended abstinence and opens new avenues for potential therapeutic intervention.

People whose “bad” cholesterol and risk of future heart disease stay too high despite cholesterol-lowering statin therapy can safely lower it by adding a drug that mimics the action of thyroid hormone.

An expert calls for change in the way researchers and pharmaceutical companies collect and report adverse symptom information in clinical trials submitted to the Food and Drug Administration, and how the FDA represents this information on drug labels.

Tears in the shoulder’s rotator cuff, a common sports injury, are painful and restricting. New research shows an approved therapy for osteoporosis, Forteo, may speed healing and improve patient outcomes, according to a preliminary study.

Is it time for all community-based doctors to turn to e-prescribing to cut down on the number of medication errors? Electronic prescriptions can dramatically reduce prescribing errors — up to seven-fold, according to a new study of the benefits of e-prescribing in primary care practices.

A professor of biochemistry who was researching protein kinase C gamma in the lens of the human eye found her work taking a fascinating turn when she discovered a correlation between the protein Coonexin46 and hypoxia — a deficiency of oxygen which kills normal tissue cells. The researcher believes the findings will lead to serious advancements in treating retinoblastoma, a cancer that forms in the tissue of the retina.

The experimental drug belatacept can prevent graft rejection in kidney transplant recipients while better preserving kidney function when compared with standard immunosuppressive drugs, data from two international phase III clinical trials show.

Researchers are currently testing a new drug, flibanserin, which was developed as an antidepressant and affects neurotransmitters in the brain, to treat women with low sexual desire. However, experts are concerned about the side effects of this possible treatment. Now, a researcher has found evidence that a low-cost, risk-free psychological treatment is effective and may be a better alternative to drugs that have adverse side effects.

The king cobra continues to weave its charm with researchers identifying a protein in its venom with the potential for new drug discovery and to advance understanding of disease mechanisms.

Researchers are releasing results of a study this week that they say will help refocus the search for new drug targets aimed at preventing or reversing the devastating tissue inflammation that results after heart attack and stroke.

New findings may soon lead to an expansion of the drug arsenal used to fight HIV.

A single session of heat therapy using the ThermoMed device appears to be as effective as a 10-day intravenous course of sodium stibogluconate for the treatment of Leishmania major skin lesions, according to a new study. The randomized treatment trial involved 56 military personnel who contracted L. major while serving in Iraq.

Antiviral drugs have reduced AIDS to more of chronic disease rather than a death sentence, but why is the disease so hard to cure? New research shows that bone marrow, previously thought to be resistant to the virus, can contain latent forms of the infection. Targeting these reservoirs of latent cells may open the door to new treatments.

A new method of growing arteries could lead to a “biological bypass” — or a noninvasive way to treat coronary artery disease.

In a commentary in JAMA, hospitalist Alec B. O’Connor calls for more stringent Federal guidelines governing the approval of potential new drugs. He says the FDA should require studies comparing the effectiveness and safety of a new drug to an established first-line drug when considering a drug for approval.

For more than half a century, products containing ion exchange resins have been used in patients with dangerously high levels of potassium. However, there is no convincing evidence that these products are actually effective, according to a new study.

For decades, the traditional practice in animal testing has been standardization, but a new study has shown that adding as few as two controlled environmental variables to preclinical mice tests can greatly reduce costly false positives, the number of animals needed for testing and the cost of pharmaceutical trials.

The sooner people with diabetes start taking metformin, the longer the drug remains effective, according to a new study.

Scientists in Germany have applied a new strategy to identify and characterize genes involved in endocytosis. From their findings the scientists also hope to derive significant information about how infections could be prevented and diseases treated in future.

A new study offers the first evidence that the drug rapamycin — a bacterial product first isolated in soil from Easter Island — is able to reverse Alzheimer’s disease-like deficits in an animal model.

Acne and rosacea are two seemingly different skin conditions that have one important thing in common: both are chronic and extremely common skin conditions. However, dermatologists recommend that with proper diagnosis, treatment and a healthy dose of good, old-fashioned skin care, acne and rosacea can be less of a nuisance for patients.

Electromagnetic pulses significantly decrease pain and inflammation associated with osteoarthritis of the knee, according to new research. In the double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled study, 34 patients used a portable battery-operated device that emits a low-intensity pulsating electromagnetic frequency and experienced more than 40 percent pain relief on their first day.

Can a drug that has been used to treat malaria for years possibly be used to treat breast cancer before it becomes invasive? That’s what researchers are now trying to prove.

One function of thyroid hormones is to control energy availability and expenditure. Some individuals have mutations in their thyroid hormone receptor-beta (THRB) gene and are resistant to the effects of thyroid hormones. This causes their levels of circulating thyroid hormones to become elevated, but the effects of this have not been completely determined. However, researchers now determined that adults and children with THRB mutations have markedly increased resting energy expenditure.

Use of medications injected directly into the eye appears to be an increasingly common treatment for age-related macular degeneration in one region of Canada, but only a small proportion of ophthalmologists perform the procedure, according to a new study.

Immune cells ensnare dangerous cells that are on the run with a bungee-like nanotube, according to new research. The study shows that natural killer cells use this bungee to destroy cells that could otherwise escape them.

The ‘race gap’ in the commission of violent crime has narrowed substantially yet persists, with murder arrest rates for African Americans out-distancing those for whites — concludes a new 80-city study. While the gap was cut more than half in the 1970s, it re-grew in the ’80s. The researchers find it most pronounced in communities with higher divorce, unemployment and drugs rates.

The use of a physician-pharmacist collaborative care plan to manage lipid control in patients with high cholesterol does not have significant clinical impact, found a new article.

Researchers have developed a rapid, multiplexed genotyping method to identify the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that affect warfarin dose.

A comprehensive drug development strategy that starts with extensive screening of potential targeting peptides to identify prototype small-molecule drugs has produced two that target the EGFR and VEGFR pathways in novel ways.

The rapidly growing field of nanotechnology and its future use in cosmetic products holds both enormous potential and potential concern for consumers. Currently, major cosmetic manufacturers have imposed a voluntary ban on the use of nanoparticles in products while they await a ruling from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the safety of this technology. However, these manufacturers know that when ingredients in products such as sunscreens and anti-aging products are converted into nano-sized particles, the end product displays unique properties that can benefit the skin in ways that otherwise could not be achieved using larger-sized particles.