Pharmacology

A tuberculosis vaccine developed at McMaster University published phase one clinical study results today.  Tuberculosis is a serious public health threat. One-third of world's population is infected with the organism that causes tuberculosis. The current vaccine used to prevent it is ineffective and high incidence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is also a problem. The new vaccine, based on a genetically modified cold virus, was developed in the lab of Zhou Xing, professor of pathology and molecular medicine and the McMaster Immunology Research Centre, who co-led the phase…

Risky sexual behavior and substance abuse have always orbited HIV but it isn't just shared needles; drugs like cocaine make people engage in lots of other risky behaviors. The epidemiology of how HIV spreads is well know but relatively little research has been done into how drugs impact the body's defenses against the virus. A new paper examines how cocaine affects a unique population of immune cells called quiescent CD4 T cells, which are resistant to the virus that causes AIDS. They found that cocaine makes the cells susceptible to infection with HIV, causing both significant…

Concerns about the negative effects of mercury on fetal development have led to the US National Research Council warning against eating too much fish during pregnancy, but those guidelines may need to be reviewed. New research instead found that fish accounts for only seven percent of mercury levels in the human body. Further, an analysis of 103 food and drink items consumed by 4,484 women during pregnancy found that the 103 items together accounted for less than 17 percent of total mercury levels in the body.  Previous research from the Children of the 90s study at the University of…

A little-used class of FDA-approved antidepressants appears potentially effective in combating a particularly deadly form of lung cancer, according to a new study from researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Since the drugs have already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in humans, the researchers have been able to quickly launch a clinical trial in patients, cutting development time for a new drug from a decade and $1 billion or more to two years and about $100,000, the authors estimate. The NIH says that number is now more like $5 billion and…

Earlier studies have suggested that omega-3 fatty acids,  found in fatty fish such as salmon and in nuts, benefit thinking skills. A new paper in Neurology, based on a study that involved 2,157 women age 65 to 80 who were enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative clinical trials of hormone therapy,  disputes that. The women were given annual tests of thinking and memory skills for an average of six years. Blood tests were taken to measure the amount of omega-3s in the participants' blood before the start of the study. The researchers found no difference between the women with…

Researchers have found reassuring evidence of the H1N1 influenza vaccine's safety during pregnancy.  The national study, which was launched shortly after the pandemic H1N1 influenza outbreak of 2009 and funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), will be summarized in two Vaccine papers. Despite federal health authorities' recommendations that all pregnant women be vaccinated for influenza in order to avoid serious complications of flu infection, it is estimated that fewer than 50 percent of women follow this…

A team reports that they have shown scientifically what many women report anecdotally: that the breast cancer drug tamoxifen is toxic to cells of the brain and central nervous system, producing mental fogginess similar to "chemo brain." Although tamoxifen is relatively benign compared to most cancer treatments, it nonetheless produces troubling side effects in a subset of the large number of people who take it. The good news is they also report they've discovered an existing drug compound that appears to counteract or rescue brain cells from the adverse effects of the breast cancer drug. By…

A team of researchers have published new data that could prove vital for advances in care for women who suffer from recurrent miscarriage. The recurrent loss of pregnancy through miscarriage causes significant distress to couples, often exacerbated by there being so few treatments available to clinicians. The search for an effective treatment has been the cause of significant controversy in the field of medical research, centering on the role of natural killer cells (or NK cells) and the ability of steroids to prevent miscarriage. Scientists have been uncertain about how these NK cells could…

Marijuana went from being a gateway drug or a dangerous hallucinogen (a la "Reefer Madness") to being a 'safe drug' more recently, which is just as inaccurate,  according to a new review.   The researchers reviewed over 120 studies that looked at different aspects of the relationship between cannabis and the adolescent brain, including the biology of the brain, chemical reaction that occurs in the brain when the drug is used, the influence of genetics and environmental factors, in addition to studies into the "gateway drug" phenomenon.  The nature of the teenage brain makes…

A new paper says that a Chinese herbal medicine called Ji-Sui-Kang (JSK), given systemically for three weeks after injury in rats, improved locomotor function, reduced tissue damage, and preserved the structure of neural cells compared to control rats.  Their data also claim that Ji-Sui-Kang may first act to reduce inflammation and cell apoptosis and death, and boost local oxygen supply while, later on, it appears to restore function and promote tissue regeneration. The researchers did the study because while Chinese herbal medicines have been used for a variety of ailments, the…