Pharmacology
rwalsh |
have to warn everyone that there is going to be a little math at the start, but not much, only one easy equation that you need to have a sense of if you are going to understand what drugs that inhibit enzymes do.
This equation is universal and can be easily expanded to describe most molecular interactions. Actually the most basic form of it is the IC50 equation which has been used as a crutch for describing drug interactions for years. So if nothing else you might get a sense of what researchers are referring to when they get excited about IC50 values.
Okay, so…
rwalsh |
All right to start this post I have to warn everyone that there is going to be a little math at the start, but not much, only one easy equation that you need to have a sense of if you are going to understand what drugs that inhibit enzymes do. This equation is universal and can be easily expanded to describe most molecular interactions. Actually the most basic form of it is the IC50 equation which has been used as a crutch for describing drug interactions for years. So if nothing else you might get a sense of what researchers are referring to when they get excited about IC50…
Good news for Christmas party season: A new compound has been shown to reduce the harmful side-effects of ‘binge drinking’. It also has the potential for new ways to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases that damage the brain but showing that would take $1 billion in clinical trials and 10 years of approval and then some generic company would just poach it a few years later anyway. If they simply go the alternative medicine route, the inventors could save themselves the double-blind clinical trials and get right to selling it.
The compound is named ethane-beta-sultam and it is a…
People know that antibiotics won't help viruses. So why ask doctors for antibiotics? Subbotina Anna/Shuttstock
By David Broniatowski, George Washington University; Eili Klein, Johns Hopkins University, and Valerie Reyna, Cornell University
Antibiotic resistance is a major threat to public health. Resistance makes it harder for physicians to treat infections and can increase the chance patients will die from an infection. What is more, the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections poses a huge cost to health-care systems. Patients have to stay in the hospital for longer and doctors have to…
Results presented at the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Symposium in Barcelona show "extremely promising" early phase 1 clinical trial results for the investigational drug AG-120 against the subset of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) harboring mutations in the gene IDH1.
The finding builds on phase 1 results of a related drug, AG-221, against IDH2 mutations, presented at the most recent meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Results at this stage are preliminary, based on 17 patients.
The IDH1 mutation is found in 15-20 percent of all…
It's a story as old as medicine. When it comes to treatments, people don't always obey the written word. When it comes to antibiotics, for example, people may stop taking them when they feel better so they can save them for another incident.
Prescription medication guidelines are written specifically, to help people get the effect. So why do only 50 patient of patients take prescription medication as they should, 160 years after medicine became a proper field?
The problem is deeper than blaming the patients. Even many studies that examine why patients don't take medication have too…
rwalsh |
While
working on my latest post, I became quite distracted. I’m a fan of the website retraction watch
(everyone loves to gawk at the car accident), although in my opinion they
really only skim the problems that permeate the sciences, and while following
one of their links I came across one of the most dismaying publications I've
seen in a while.
So to
clarify this paper was not featured on retraction watch, and I don’t imagine it
ever will end up there, the link I was following just dumped me out in the PubMed
commons website, a website devoted to allowing researchers to comment on…
Hank |
Men are becoming more effeminate. That is not news. If you watched the ESA's Rosetta mission arrive at Comet P67 you saw a tattoo-covered fellow talk about engineering and he looked manly, but two days later he was crying during a press conference because his bowling shirt had offended women on Twitter.
The signs of feminization are not just present in large, bearded men crying because online bullies don't like their clothes. They are also present in decreased anogenital distance - the distance from the anus to the penis, in men, according to recent research. Yes, the distance between the…
Diarrhea and candidiasis can result from taking the common antibiotic treatments, amoxicillin and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, although harms may be underreported, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Amoxicillin is the most commonly prescribed antibiotic for respiratory infections and is often prescribed in combination with clavulanic acid. The benefits of antibiotics for respiratory infections are often minor, so it is important for physicians and patients to weigh the benefits and harms of taking such medications, especially as antibiotic…
Pfizer's evergreening tactics have made it the target of protests. Michael Fleshman/Flickr, CC BY-SA
By Hazel Moir, Australian National University and Deborah Gleeson, La Trobe University
Efforts by pharmaceutical companies to extend their patents cost taxpayers millions of dollars each year. In some cases they also mean people are subjected to unnecessary clinical trials.
"Big Pharma" makes big profits. Their useful new drugs are patented, protecting them from competition and allowing them to charge high prices. When the patent ends, other companies are allowed to supply the previously…