A multicenter study of a pill that combines two drugs for hypertension shows significant benefit for people with hard-to-control high blood pressure. The study, conducted at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and 118 other sites, was focused on bringing down systolic blood pressure, the top number in a blood pressure reading, which is the more difficult number to bring down.
New data from two leading clinical studies show Lucentis is first therapy to improve vision in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is leading cause of blindness for people over age 50.
In conditions with elevated concentrations of LDL particles, especially small LDL particles, cholesterol promotes atheroma plaque deposits in the walls of arteries, a condition known as atherosclerosis, which is a major contributor to coronary heart disease and other forms of cardiovascular disease.
White adolescent and African-American girls assimilate salt and calcium differently, say researchers, claiming this may explain why races have different rates of high blood pressure and osteoporosis.
While the low-carb fad wanes, new research suggests the higher the carbohydrate intake, the greater the risk an elder woman will develop cataracts.
Grapefruit seed extract appears to help treat stomach ulcers, according to Polish researchers.
Experiments in mice show that an antiviral drug currently used against annual influenza strains also can suppress the deadly influenza virus that has spread from birds to humans, killing dozens of people in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand since early 2004. This study, the first published report conducted on oseltamivir against the H5N1 influenza strain circulating in Vietnam, found that the drug, sold commercially as Tamiflu, dramatically boosted the survival rate of infected mice.
Interleukin-2 (IL-2), an immune-boosting drug used experimentally in HIV therapy, greatly increases the lifespan of certain subsets of immune system T cells in some HIV-positive people who respond to this therapy, discovered researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH. A report describing the study, led by the Clinical Center?s Joseph A. Kovacs, M.D., appears online today in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Overactive bladder is a relatively new term which includes symptoms of urge urinary incontinence (sudden/involuntary loss of bladder control), urgency (urgent need to urinate) and frequency (frequent urination).
Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health, have discovered a genetically controlled brain mechanism responsible for social behavior in humans – one of the most important but least understood aspects of human nature. The findings are reported in Nature Neuroscience, published online on July 10, 2005.