Research News

In a small study looking at pain assessments in adults with sickle cell disease, researchers at Johns Hopkins says overall, those treated long-term with opioids often fared worse in measures of pain, fatigue and curtailed daily activities than those not on long-term opioids.

Most clinical research is not useful to clinicians. This could change.Many billions of dollars are spent on clinical research every year, yet much of the knowledge produced is not useful for guiding clinical decision making. Because many of the features that make clinical research reliable as a basis for clinical practice can be identified, more useful clinical research could easily be produced at the same or even at massively reduced cost, according to John Ioannidis from Stanford University, US, in an Essay published in PLOS Medicine.

SORLA is a protein that influences the balance of metabolic processes in adipose tissue, a particular form of fat. Too much of it makes fat cells overly sensitive to insulin, which leads them to break down less fat. SORLA was previously known for its protective role in Alzheimer's disease.

Scientists from the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) have successfully inhibited the growth of colon tumors in mice with mismatch repair deficiency. The research team, headed by the Center's director MYUNG Kyungjae, made the announcement in a manuscript published in the American Association for Cancer Research on June 6th. It is a significant breakthrough for the future treatment of colon cancer patients; specifically for those with DNA mismatch repair (MMR) deficient tumors.

Scientists potentially have found a way to disrupt Zika and similar viruses from spreading in the body.A team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has identified a single gene pathway that is vital for Zika and other flaviviruses to spread infection between cells. Further, they showed that shutting down a single gene in this pathway in both human and insect cells does not negatively affect the cells themselves and renders flaviviruses unable to leave the infected cell, curbing the spread of infection.

In the 1950s, thalidomide (Contergan) was prescribed as a sedative drug to pregnant women, resulting in a great number of infants with serious malformations. Up to now, the reasons for these disastrous birth defects have remained unclear. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have at last identified the molecular mechanism of thalidomide. Their findings are highly relevant to current cancer therapies, as related substances are essential components of modern cancer treatment regimens.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in Pennsylvania and China, report that not only are there distinct differences in key cellular processes and molecular signatures between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) but, more surprisingly, there are joint-specific differences in RA. The findings help explain, in part, why drugs treating RA vary in effect  why, for example, a treatment that might work in arthritic knees isn't effective in an arthritic hip and provide a potential new template for precisely targeting treatment for each and every ailing joint.

Hyderabad, India and Princeton, NJ, USA Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd.(BSE: 500124, NSE:DRREDDY, NYSE: RDY) today announced the acquisition of an  eminent portfolio of over the counter (OTC) brands in the cough and cold, pain, and dermatology categories. The company acquired six OTC brands from Ducere Pharma, including DOAN’S®, BUFFERIN®, NUPERCAINAL® Ointment, CRUEX ® Nail  Gel, COMTREX ® , and MYOFLEX ®.

After Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease (PD) is the leading neurodegenerative disorder, affecting close to a million Americans, with 50,000 new cases diagnosed every year. A progressive disorder of the nervous system affecting movement, PD typically strikes adults in mid-life. In many cases, the spread of the disease to other brain areas leads to Parkinson's disease dementia, characterized by deterioration of memory, reason, attention and planning.