Pharmacology

An analysis of routine insurance data from the Barmer GEK statutory health insurance company shows that during the years 2005 to 2012, antipsychotic prescriptions for kids in Germany increased a lot.  The percentage of children and adolescents receiving a prescription for an antipsychotic drug over the course of one calendar year rose from by nearly 50 percent, from 0.23% to 0.32%. The increase was nearly double among 10- to 14-year-olds (from 0.24% to 0.43%) and over 60 percent among 15- to 19-year-olds (from 0.34% to 0.54%). In particular, there was an increase in prescriptions for…

Marijuana use has been involved in a sharp increase in fatal motor vehicle crashes, with rates nearly tripling since 1999.  The prevalence of non-alcohol drugs detected in fatally injured drivers in the U.S. has been steadily rising and tripled from 1999 to 2010. Marijuana is the most commonly detected non-alcohol drug involved.  Toxicological testing data from six U.S. states that routinely performed toxicological testing on drivers involved in fatal car crashes (California, Hawaii, Illinois, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and West Virginia) for the National Highway Traffic Safety…

A new study has found that concentrations of arsenic, selenium, and mercury in bighead and silver carp from the lower Illinois River aren't a health concern. Importantly, inorganic arsenic concentrations were undetectable and concentrations of selenium in carp fillets were well below the 1.5 mg/kg threshold for restricting the number of meals, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. The distinction between naturally occurring arsenic and arsenic from the external environment has been a problem for popular media outlets like The Dr. Oz Show, which fail to note natural sources.…

Children suffer from the consequences of maternal drug exposure during pregnancy and Cannabis is one of the most frequently used substances. A new study was done using mice and human brain tissue to decipher the molecular basis of how the major psychoactive component from Cannabis called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC affects brain development of the unborn fetus.  The study highlights that consuming Cannabis during pregnancy clearly results in defective development of nerve cells of the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that orchestrates higher cognitive functions and drives…

Cocaine users display worse memory performance, concentration difficulties, and attentional deficits. They have difficulties understanding the perspective of others, show less emotional empathy, find it more difficult to recognize emotions from voices, behave in a less prosocial manner in social interactions and report fewer social contacts. So why is it the second most popular drug in Europe, after marijuana?  Scholars at the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich say the worse emotional empathy was correlated with a smaller social network and the social cognitive…

Scholars say they are closing in on how ecstasy, 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA), produces feelings of euphoria in users and in a new paper say that it might be useful in the treatment of anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.  A small study using MDMA as an adjunct to psychotherapy reported positive preliminary results. The limitation of the new paper; these were brain images and done for a television show a year and a half before it was in a journal. Due to its nature as a stimulant that can produce hallucinations, Ecstasy has been a popular recreational drug since the…

A double-blind trial has determined that tea and coffee aren't just morning pick-me-ups, they are also a memory enhancer. That goes for carbonated drinks containing caffeine also. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 90 percent of people worldwide consume caffeine in one form or another. In the United States, 80 percent of adults consume caffeine every day. The average adult has an intake of about 200 milligrams, roughly one strong cup of coffee or two small cups of coffee per day.  Michael Yassa, assistant professor of psychology at Johns Hopkins University, and…

With increased regulations on pharmaceutical companies, billion-dollar research that will fail 95 percent of the time and a short window to sell successful products before genetic versions and lawsuits take the revenue away, the future might be the past: it's a lot smarter to find new uses for old drugs than risk developing new ones. A group of researchers recently did just that, discovering   in zebrafish show that a 50-year-old antipsychotic medication called perphenazine can actively combat the cells of a difficult-to-treat form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a fast-…

Inhibitors of both JAK and Src kinases represent promising targets for cancer therapeutics because of the central importance of these kinases in tumor cell proliferation and survival. In addition, in cancer cells activation of JAK has been reported as a compensatory effect in response to Src inhibitor exposure. This implies simultaneous inhibition of both kinases could have a synergy of anti-cancer effects compared to an agent that inhibits one or the other kinases.   A new research article by Liu et al describes MLS-2384 which is a synthetic derivative of amarine natural product, 6-…

An antioxidant called MitoQ, which was designed to try and fight damage within human cells about a dozen years ago, significantly helps symptoms in mice that have a multiple sclerosis-like disease. Multiple sclerosis affects more than 2.3 million people worldwide and occurs when the body's immune system attacks the myelin, or the protective sheath, surrounding nerve fibers of the central nervous system. Some underlying nerve fibers are destroyed. Resulting symptoms can include blurred vision and blindness, loss of balance, slurred speech, tremors, numbness and problems with memory and…