tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77268302008-08-18T09:01:15.650-05:00Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comBlogger445125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-10488624183871980272008-08-18T08:46:00.003-05:002008-08-18T09:01:15.705-05:00

Believe it or not, a couple of the drugs you see advertised on television for asthma are actually being used in combination with other drugs as a deterrent against the slow but deadly progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). My mother had this difficult disease, and we watched as it progressed over the years into emphysema. The industry-sponsored study refers to positive

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-29575005330354701232008-08-07T08:18:00.002-05:002008-08-07T08:41:20.268-05:00

One-third of uninsured Americans have at least one chronic disease, according to a new report from the Annals of Internal Medicine, including asthma/COPD, diabetes, heart disease, and previous cancer. It refutes suggestions that the uninsured are mainly healthy people not much in need healthcare. Latest stats are that 43 million Americans are without insurance. The nearly 11 and a half million

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-45448381933938425442008-07-19T05:51:00.010-05:002008-07-19T09:49:24.315-05:00

Watched a Chicago angel investors' group at work this past week. Sword Diagnostics presented the business plan and revenue projections for its new super-sensitive biomarker testing technology. The quote in their presentation is from the CEO of GE, Jeff Immelt: "Over the next decade, $250 billion in healthcare spending will shift from disease treatment to diagnosis." Sword uses its own version of

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-75997740050188534232008-07-03T09:07:00.003-05:002008-07-03T09:27:45.028-05:00

If you were a bookworm or otherwise inclined to stay inside when you were a kid, your mom may have yelled at you to get outside and play. Turns out she was right--that being outside is literally good for your health. Vitamin D, that elusive nutrient that's only available from sunshine and from vitamin supplements, seems to play a significant role in death rates. A study shows people tend to die

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-8215791867452482222008-06-27T07:43:00.004-05:002008-06-27T08:08:36.971-05:00

I've had a long busy couple of weeks, but today I read this and simply had to take the time to share it. New studies in neuroscience are proving that RNA is directly moderated by environmental influences and it, in turn, moderates the expression--or non-expression--of genetic coding in our DNA. Integrative biologist Daniela Kaufer found, "Under stress, molecules outside the genome change the RNA

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-86846397628200651962008-06-08T16:15:00.000-05:002008-06-10T16:16:27.624-05:00

One of our favorite multi-use substances, nitric oxide, is doing it again. This time it's being released to work its healing magic by a new substance called iroxanadine (now being put into the works to get approved for Phase II clinical trials). A report about the study appeared recently in a financial news source online. Given that most treatments have focused on simply preventing infection

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-47634430945506863602008-05-30T07:18:00.001-05:002008-05-30T07:19:54.647-05:00

Like our hot topic nitric oxide, which behaves either favorably to the body and or not depending on circumstances, amount, etc., scientists have now discovered among the 1000 other bacteria species living in the human stomach a molecule that can both promote and protect from inflammation in the gut. Some researchers suspect that an upset in the fine-tuned balance of the stomach's ecosystem may

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-39519758119226979172008-05-25T13:05:00.007-05:002008-05-25T15:53:19.273-05:00

The first attempts at creating artificial blood were disastrous for the most part. Patients suffered high rates of heart attacks and damage to kidneys, pancreas, liver and so on. The applications for a successful substitute for human blood are endless; the path to creating one fraught with medical--and human--challenges. In this article about 2nd generation blood substitutes, some pharma

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-86807295305248618642008-05-20T10:54:00.004-05:002008-05-25T15:56:53.463-05:00

Like leaving simple but extremely attractive food out for mice to eat and lacing it with disguised poison, the NeoPharm company's NeoLipid® technology entices tumor cells to consume lots of fats (lipids) that are secretly loaded with drugs. The liposomal product--a microscopic spherical particle with an outside fat layer that encloses a compartment you can put liquids in--feeds the hungry tumor

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-18537021179315747232008-05-15T10:42:00.002-05:002008-05-25T13:41:12.538-05:00

An inexpensive NSAID drug called salsalate is already being used to safely and effectively treat arthritis. Now it's been discovered this anti-inflammatory drug reduces blood sugar in addition to lowering inflammation. Type 2 diabetes patients may get big benefits from these effects. Ironically, this blood-sugar-lowering side effect of salicylates was discovered 150 years ago--and no one thought

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-88768860159177427212008-05-10T09:57:00.000-05:002008-05-25T10:11:17.033-05:00

Once again nitric oxide (NO) shows itself as a multitalented and multitasking substance. In a new study researchers have found that it's not just how much or how little of it your cells have, but how much nitric oxide is being added or taken away from proteins by the body's enzymes--the removal process itself (dynitrosylation) seems to trigger apoptosis (cell death) in the cells it's being

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-59342135788398033512008-05-04T09:56:00.008-05:002008-05-25T14:05:12.566-05:00

Scientists are more worried about the potential dangers of inappropriate use of nanotechnologies than the public is. And that's mainly because most of the public has little or no idea what nanotechnology really is and what it can do. In their recent telephone survey of American households and nanotech scientists and engineers, two university professors who did the study say this reaction is

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-17179678569339205102008-04-25T05:08:00.001-05:002008-04-25T05:10:56.601-05:00

Not having it both ways in the cost-savings game. Big Pharma goes and runs clinical trials with the Chinese poor at a fraction of the cost of running them in the US. US companies save tons of money, and Chinese medical staff appreciate the training they end up receiving during such trials. But the other side of the coin is that saving money can introduce risks. Chinese doctors are often so

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-76988601315832033072008-04-21T09:51:00.005-05:002008-04-22T07:48:23.905-05:00

Interesting to learn that during a certain period (1997 to 2000), many hospitals were giving at least some of the accepted treatment options for brain tumor cancers (gliomas). But according to a 2005 report on the National Cancer Institue's site, many of them either didn't know about the rest or were simply not delivering them. Communication in today's world is so easy. But it still requires

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-54878765215812415752008-04-20T06:31:00.002-05:002008-04-21T11:44:07.172-05:00

When the government speaks, people listen. Well, even though they may not necessarily do everything it says, they--including many family doctors--do take the principles to heart. So the flip-flop of that ubiquitious "National Dietary Guidlines" triangle from top-heavy with meat and protein back when baby-boomers were flooding the world, to today's somewhat inverted version stressing healthy carbs

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-68685666492263251672008-04-20T05:20:00.002-05:002008-04-20T05:27:07.303-05:00

Patients with moderate to severe mitral stenosis (calcifiation of the mitral valve generally precipitated by an earlier case of rheumatic fever) experience varying levels of inhibition in their breathing and exercise abilities. But sometimes patients exhibit symptoms that are more severe than the level of stenosis indicated by a regular echocardiogram would warrant. In this study, researchers

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-78885916543601883222008-04-07T08:57:00.001-05:002008-04-07T09:01:41.435-05:00

I couldn't resist this one. Seems a recent study has show incontrovertibly that the mere anticipation of having a laugh reduces stress hormones. In their earlier work, the same researchers had found that just thinking of laughing increased health-protecting hormones like endorphins (that alleviate depression) and human growth hormone (that boosts immunity). So now you know when a trainer comes

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-5704353834795700462008-03-30T10:22:00.004-05:002008-03-30T10:39:51.768-05:00

Angioplasty and coronary bypass pay well. And many patients are convinced these are the answers when they're having clogged-arteries issues. But recent news says angioplasty is no more effective than medication in a very large percentage of heart patients. And in a recent editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, Cardiologist David Hillis, MD. says neither of these procedures really fixes

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-45802864871009542802008-03-17T11:22:00.005-05:002008-03-17T11:43:11.749-05:00

Scientists are getting more creative in finding ways to treat cancer cells without destroying surrounding tissue. A Chicago-based company NEOPHARM is working on a protein with one part that targets tumors (IL13) and the other that kills the cancer cell (PE38). Here's how it works:The two-part recombinant protein is CINTREDEKIN BESUDOTOX (IL13-PE38QQR). Malignant glioma cells carry IL13 receptors

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-40533161650740528932008-03-17T10:07:00.002-05:002008-03-17T10:08:05.528-05:00

It's St. Patrick's day, and though I haven't been out partaking of the early-am parties, I do feel like sharing a light-hearted notation about good old nitric oxide. Seems some company has invented a fake lightning bug--or at least come up with a way to imitate the effect they produce in our temperate-zone backyards on warm spring nights. These fake fireflies use electronic energy to light up,

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-62148197442958276552008-02-22T09:11:00.000-06:002008-02-22T15:36:21.864-06:00

Yes, the question remains--as Groucho Marx used to ask--Who do you trust? Seems some medical experts support continue to support their conclusions with data from studies that have long been invalidated in clinical trials. This report says they've proven this so far for at least Vitamin E, estrogen, and beta carotene. Here are the facts on estrogen: "For estrogen, 61.7% of 47 articles published in

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-64720024729835107032008-02-11T08:14:00.000-06:002008-02-11T18:51:28.940-06:00

Of course, with the evolution of stem cell science, we've all just been waiting with bated breath to hear about using them for replacing pieces of the heart (well, I have anyway). And now, here's the first piece of research that's not just "dreaming big" but is actually approved by the FDA. Scientists have found a way to strip a human heart valve (from a cadaver) of the cells and debris a

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-55898059856626534602008-02-06T07:00:00.000-06:002008-02-06T07:03:05.909-06:00

One of those cases of a great theory gone sour. Stats indicate that those with herpes simplex II (genital herpes) run a doubly higher risk of acquiring HIV (the AIDS virus). Scientists ran a study in both Peru and Africa wherein they used acyclovir to suppress the occurrences of HSV-2 in sexually active adults in the hope of finding a concurrent reduction in the number of those who developed HIV.

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-39416899276485819362008-01-28T10:39:00.000-06:002008-01-28T10:41:15.821-06:00

Nano looks like it may provide a newly precise way of aiming only at cancer cells and avoiding inflammation, thus leaving healthy cells in their natural state. Nanoengineers Mine Tiny Diamonds For Drug Delivery. Fascinating to learn that these "diamonds," which are structurally not unlike their namesake minerals, are welcomed by cells because they are so carefully organized. When cells welcome a

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7726830.post-70661041456124247882008-01-21T09:02:00.000-06:002008-01-21T12:39:13.846-06:00

The power of stem cells has been among the most rewarding discoveries of our time. Now scientists are beginning learn how to truly harness and direct that power. In a study with mice, they've been able to harvest stem cells that specifically relate to muscle formation and use them to regrow muscles mice lost as a result of a shortage of a substance such as humans are missing with Muscular

Barbara Paynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15202170809747136337noreply@blogger.com