Uncontrolled patients with type 2 diabetes treated with metformin, one of the most prescribed oral medicines for this disease, were four times more likely to achieve recommended blood sugar control levels by adding Galvus® (vildagliptin) to their treatment compared to those who added a placebo, according to new clinical data[1].
Results of the first-ever clinical study in patients with osteoporosis who suffered a hip fracture show that a once-yearly infusion of Aclasta®/Reclast® (zoledronic acid 5 mg)[*] reduced the risk of subsequent fractures by 35% compared to patients treated with placebo.
People with a certain gene mutation are more likely to get Parkinson’s disease before the age of 50 compared to those without the gene abnormality, according to a study published in the September 18, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared for marketing a new genetic test that will help physicians assess whether a patient may be especially sensitive to the blood-thinning drug warfarin (Coumadin), which is used to prevent potentially fatal clots in blood vessels.
A review of six publicly available hospital comparison Web sites suggests that they display inconsistent results and use inappropriate or incomplete standards to measure quality, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Patients who have a tonsillectomy using an “intracapsular” technique — which removes at least 90 percent of tonsil tissue, but spares the tonsil capsule — appear to have less postoperative heavy bleeding and pain compared with those who undergo traditional tonsil removal surgery, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Nasal surgery appears to effectively create feminine facial profiles in patients undergoing male-to-female gender reassignment, according to a report in the September/October issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Scientists have discovered how the gene mutation responsible for fragile X syndrome — the most common inherited form of mental retardation — alters the way brain cells communicate. In neurons cultured from laboratory rats, the scientists also were able to reverse the effects of the mutation using a drug targeted to the specific site in an upstream pathway of the defect. The finding could lead to the development of human therapies for this previously untreatable condition.
New research from Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute uncovers a new pathway that regulates caspase activity in Drosophila sperm, a finding that may provide new opportunities to develop drugs that can alter cell death for therapeutic purposes.
RNA interference, a natural mechanism that inhibits the gene expression of individual genes in eukaryotic cells, is a major topic in modern biology. However, their potential was usable to only a limited extent in mammals because the mechanism for the uptake of small RNAs was unknown up to now. ETH Zurich biologists have now clarified this, which also opens the door for therapies based on this mechanism.