Pharmacology

What's the one thing that could make anti-science progressives dislike genetic modifications and medicine even more than they do now?  Putting them both together. Scientists at the Vienna University of Technology have perfected a process to introduce bacterial genes into the fungus Trichoderma and make it produce N-Acetylneuraminic acid - Neu5Ac or NANA - which is a natural carbohydrate involved in biological functions like toxin neutralization, cellular adhesion and glycoprotein lytic protection. NANA is important for treating viral infections. The raw material used by the fungus…

It may turn out that coffee is bad for you. The World Health Organization already lists it as a possible carcinogen, despite any evidence, but they do the same thing about cell phones, in contrast to any evidence - perhaps Big Tea donates a lot to WHO. Until a group more scientifically valid than WHO finds a problem with coffee, Science 2.0 will continue to push articles extolling it - the bolder the better, like us.  Even decaffeinated coffee may be terrific. Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered that decaffeinated coffee may improve brain energy metabolism…

It's often the case that when something claims to cure everything, a little skepticism is warranted.  We have dozens of articles here on Resveratrol but over time the titles began to reflect growing disbelief it could be that perfect.  By the time it received gushing endorsements from Dr. Oz. and the other Four Horsemen of the Alternative (Gupta, etc.) we were crafting titles like Resveratrol - 2009's Miracle Compound Du Jour. Sites like QuackWatch were also cautionary. In the spring of 2010 Science 2.0 put the hammer down.  Journalist Greg Critser called out both the compound…

An international clinical trial shows that treating ovarian cancer with the drug bevacizumab ("Avastin") delays the disease and may also improve survival.  The findings in the New England Journal of Medicine report that the drug halted the cancer's return for two months overall but for women with the highest risk disease, the delay was five to six months and the findings also indicate a strong trend to improved overall survival, which is being analyzed until 2013.  The seven-year study began in 2004 and enrolled 1,528 women with ovarian cancer at 263 centres, including 20 in Canada…

Researchers have pinpointed the cancer-fighting potential in the bat plant, or Tacca chantrieri. Susan Mooberry, Ph.D., leader of the Experimental Development Therapeutics Program at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, has been working to isolate substances in the plant in hopes of finding a new plant-derived cancer drug with the potential of Taxol. Taxol, the first microtubule stabilizer derived from the Yew family, has been an effective chemotherapy drug, but patients eventually develop problems with resistance over time and toxicity at higher doses. Researchers…

THOUSAND OAKS, California, November 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Amgen today announced that the European Commission (EC) has approved a variation to the marketing authorization for Vectibix(R) (panitumumab) to include indications for the treatment of patients with wild-type KRAS metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) in first-line in combination with FOLFOX and in second-line in combination with FOLFIRI in patients who have received first-line fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy (excluding irinotecan). This approval of Vectibix applies to all 27 European Union (EU) member states. Prior to this…

Rats exposed to the antidepressant citalopram, a serotonin-selective reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), just before and after birth showed substantial brain abnormalities and behaviors, according to a new study. The long-distance connections between the two hemispheres of the brain showed stunted growth and degeneration and the animals also became excessively fearful when faced with new situations and failed to play normally with peers – behaviors reminiscent of novelty avoidance and social impairments seen in autism. The abnormalities were more pronounced in male than female rats, just as…

Once a product starts to get credit for doing everything, there is a chance you may be in the crackpot zone.  If so, look for the downfall of green tea in 2012 because a new study says the Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) in green tea prevents weight gain.  Add that on to claims that EGCG prevents arthritis, Alzheimer's, diabetes and breast cancer and even slows AIDS. But if it works, it works.  Obese mice that were fed a compound found in green tea along with a high-fat diet gained weight significantly more slowly than a control group of mice that did not receive the…

It took years of mismanagement, printing Monopoly money by the federal government, and runaway unemployment to get groups claiming to represent 99% of Americans protesting progressive fiscal policy on Wall Street and in other cities. You may disagree on the purity of that movement, since the Teamsters and the education unions are funding this stuff and are not exactly friends of the little guy (try to get a job in NYC without being in their union) but one thing no one will disagree with; if you take away coffee, 100% of Americans will riot. A new study seeks to undermine one of the few…

Women who increase consumption of caffeinated coffee have lower risk of depression, according to a report in Archives of Internal Medicine. Caffeine is the most frequently used central nervous system stimulant in the world, and approximately 80 percent of caffeine consumption is in the form of coffee, the researchers state. Previous research suggested an association between coffee consumption and depression risk but because depression is a chronic condition and affects twice as many women as men, including approximately one of every five U.S. women during their lifetime, "identification of…