Pharmacology

Alzheimer’s disease is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease and the most common form of dementia. Symptoms include irritability, confusion, mood swings, language difficulties and memory loss. Cognitive dysfunction becomes more pronounced as the disease progresses, leading to the loss of bodily functions and eventually death. Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the presence of amyloid plaques in the brain. Soluble beta-amyloid (Abeta) oligomers are thought to underlie the cognitive deficits associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Cognition Therapeutics therapies pharmacologically compete…

Erectile dysfunction is common among older men with cardiovascular risk factors where cholesterol-lowering statins are frequently prescribed. Matching curves have suggested a negative association between statin therapy and testosterone levels, leading to concerns about the effects of these medications on the quality of erection. Not so, according to a meta-analysis of previous studies on erectile dysfunction and statins. Instead, the authors find that statins are associated with a significant improvement in erectile function, a fact researchers hope will encourage men who need statins…

The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that a Pennsylvania-based company is voluntarily recalling several products marketed as dietary supplements for “male enhancement” after the agency says it found they contained active drugs. Nova Products, Inc., an adult products wholesaler, will recall packs of African Black Ant, Black Ant, XZen Gold, ZXen Platinum, XZen 1200, XZone Gold, and XZone 1200, according to an FDA press release. Laboratory analysis of  the supplements showed they contained the drugs sildenafil and tadalafil,both of which are active ingredients in popular…

Patients with terminal forms of leukemia and lymphoma who have run out of treatment options could still aid science -  a Phase 1 trial into a new class of BTK (Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase) inhibiting drugs at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. If it works, the new drug will improve a patients' life expectancy and quality of life by putting an end to chemotherapy with no side effects.  Professor Simon Rule, Consultant Hematologist at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust and researcher at Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, has observed significant improvements in his…

People who smoke high-potency cannabis end up getting higher doses of THC even if they might reduce the amount they puff and inhale to compensate for the higher strength Result: they still take in more THC than smokers of lower potency cannabis. The idea that high strength cannabis leads to higher doses of THC and therefore poses a greater risk of dependency and other effects has been dismissed by advocates as the 'potent pot myth'. Advocates instead argue that smokers of strong cannabis adjust their drug intake to compensate for the potency, usually by inhaling less smoke or rolling weaker…

Between 2001 and 2010, there were dramatic increases in Emergency Room prescriptions of opioid analgesics, such as Percocet, Vicodin, oxycodone and Dilaudid. No surprise there, America is increasingly over-medicated, be it on supplements, homeopathy or legitimate treatments. And it's going to get worse. If current trends under the Affordable Care Act persist, fewer and fewer doctors will accept government plans, and that means even more people will go to the ER, at far higher cost. ER doctors have to treat a lot of people and 'pain' is an entirely subjective claim, one of the last…

While there's no genetic basis for anorexia nervosa, psychiatrists say there may be a chemical treatment - oxytocin, the 'love hormone'.   Anorexia nervosa affects up to 1 in 150 teenage girls, primarily middle class and white, in the UK. Though often a phase, it can cause mental health related deaths due to physical complications and sometimes suicide.  People with anorexia often have social difficulties, including anxiety and hypersensitivity to negative emotions.  Oxytocin is a hormone released naturally during bonding, including sex, childbirth and breastfeeding. As a…

A team of researchers led by Mayland Chang and Shahriar Mobashery have discovered a new class of antibiotics to fight bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other drug-resistant bacteria that threaten public health.  The new class of antibiotics, called oxadiazoles, was discovered in silico and has shown promise in the treatment of MRSA in mouse models of infection. The researchers who screened 1.2 million compounds found that the oxadiazole inhibits a penicillin-binding protein, PBP2a, and the biosynthesis of the cell wall that enables MRSA to resist…

Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant adult brain tumor and, despite treatment advances in recent years, the average survival of patients enrolled in clinical trials is less than 16 months. Few patients live beyond five years. Glioblastoma tumors are characterized by angiogenesis — the formation of new blood vessels that support tumor growth stimulated by the GBM-produced vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A). Bevacizumab is a monoclonal antibody that targets VEGF-A production to block the growth of tumor-derived blood vessels. "Clinical trials evaluating the addition…

On face value, if you read Anita Clayton's Huffington Post piece entitled “The FDA, Sexual Dysfunction and Gender Inequality,” you could not come to any conclusion other that the FDA is overtly sexist. Dr. Clayton, a Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, is not subtle about her premise. Her essay begins: “Throughout our society,gender inequality is evident -- in politics, employment, pay, attitudes and drug approvals, specifically medications for female sexual dysfunction (FSD).While sexual dysfunction is more common in women…