An antidepressant drug delivered through a skin patch is no better than placebo for helping people to quit smoking according to a new study. The drug, Eldepryl (which has the generic name selegiline), is used in pill and patch form to treat Parkinson’s disease, depression, and dementia. Selegiline can help maintain keep levels of brain [...]
Margarine enriched with omega-3 oils make no difference to having a repeat heart attack in patients with a history of heart problems. More than 4,800 patients across a 40-month study showed taking low doses of omega-3 fatty acids in margarine did not significantly reduce rates of serious heart attacks and other cardiovascular events. Previous studies [...]
Liver cells have been created in the laboratory for the first time by scientists using reprogrammed cells from human skin, potentially enabling the way for the development of new treatments for liver diseases that kill thousands each year. Embryonic stem cells are seen as the most powerful type of cells but are controversial due to [...]
A new, longer-lasting “morning-after” pill to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex was approved by the FDA. The prescription drug, called ella, is made by French company HRA Pharma and will be sold in the United States by Watson Pharmaceuticals. Ella has been shown to prevent pregnancy for up to five days and is first emergency [...]
Certain proteins measured in spinal fluid can help to diagnose Alzheimer’s accurately and predict which patients suffering memory problems will go onto develop the fatal disease, according to researchers in Belgium. The team based at the Archives of Neurology also said it may also be possible to help identify the early signs of the disease [...]
New ways to fix damaged hearts were published on Thursday, one from transforming structural heart cells into beating cells and the second by restoring a primordial ability to regenerate lost tissue. The two approaches represent huge strides forward in the field of regenerative medicine but both require a lot more investigation before they can be [...]
A new study suggests that pregnant women who have a history of pregnancy-related diabetes are likely to develop the condition again. The research suggested the risk of developing gestational diabetes in a future pregnancy increases with each previously affected one – up to 57 percent after two pregnancies from 41 percent after one complicated by [...]
Rabbits that had artificial bones implanted were able to grow their own joints, complete with cartilage, according to a report on Thursday. The team, based in Columbia University in New York, the University of Missouri and Clemson University in South Carolina reported the rabbits required only a single compound, known as a “growth factor” to [...]
Drinking one cup of coffee per day during pregnancy is unlikely to increase a womain’s risk of premature birth or miscarriage, according to research from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Recent studies have conflicted in their conclusions regarding complications in pregnancy due to moderate caffeine consumption. “I think it’s time to comfortably say [...]
Thursday doctors said that, despite the recent bad news surrounding the diabetes drug Avandia, patients should stick to taking the medication since the consequences of discontinuing the drug could be worse than the drug’s side effects. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been investigating allegations that GlaxoSmithKline’s diabetes drug Avandia, sold generically as rosiglitazone, [...]