Popular Articles

A Simpler Definition For Major Depressive Disorder
Researchers from Rhode Island Hospital"s department of psychiatry propose that the definition for major depressive disorder (MDD) should be shortened to include only the mood and cognitive symptoms that have been part of the definition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) for the past 35 years. Their recommendation would exclude those symptoms that are currently part of the definition that may be associated with medical illness rather than depression. The proposal is based on a study that appears in the July 23 online first edition of the journal Psychological Medicine.
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Study Links Drop In Teen Contraception Use To Abstinence-Only Policies, NYT Editorial States
A recent study from Columbia University"s Mailman School of Public Health shows that since 2003, there has been a 10% decrease in contraception use among teenagers, while their level of sexual activity has not changed, a New York Times editorial states. From 1991 to 2003, increased use of contraceptives among teens was a significant factor in declining rates of teenage pregnancy, the editorial says. According to the study"s authors, the decrease in contraception use since 2003 is consistent with recent increases in teen birth rates. According to the editorial, the study"s authors suggest a "link between the shift in use of contraception and one of former President George W. Bush"s great social-policy follies: highly restrictive abstinence-only sex education programs that deny young people information about sexually transmitted diseases, contraceptives and pregnancy." The editorial adds, "To the extent that these programs even mention condoms, typically it is to disparage their effectiveness." In response to "mounting evidence of the program"s danger as a public health strategy," many states have forgone federal abstinence-only funds, the editorial says. As part of his budget proposal, President Obama has called for redirecting some abstinence-only funds and additional money to a new teen pregnancy prevention initiative that stresses comprehensive sex education. The editorial concludes that this "science-based effort to protect the health of young people" and reduce the number of unintended pregnancies "should win support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle -- and both sides of the abortion divide" (New York Times, 6/18).
News of the day
Metals That Dissolve In Water Successfully Extracted, Transferred Into Layer Of Organic Solvent That Floats On Water
Nanostructured materials have garnered great interest worldwide due to their unique size-dependent properties for chemical, electronic, structural, medical and consumer applications.
Diagnostics

The Lives Of Pancreatic Cancer Patients Prolonged By New Drug Candidate

Every year, 42,000 Americans are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Few live very long, and less than 5% are still alive five years after diagnosis. There"s new hope, though, from the lab of Prof. Yoel Kloog, dean of TAU"s Faculty of Life Sciences. His drug compound Salirasib has shown positive results against pancreatic cancer and recently passed Phase I/II clinical trials. The drug, given in combination with gemcitabine, the standard drug used to combat pancreatic cancer, almost doubled the life expectancy of those who received it. "In our study, the mean survival of pancreatic cancer patients was 10.8 months - better by far than the 6.2 months with gemcitabine alone," says Prof. Kloog, who recently presented the results to a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. His basic research offers the promise of a weapon to attack a broader range of mankind"s most prevalent diseases, including lung, prostate and breast cancers as well as diabetes. Blocking the Ras protein Salirasib works by inhibiting a protein called Ras, which is known to be abnormally activated in one-third of human cancers. In cancer of the pancreas, mutant forms of Ras are found in up to 90% of all tumors. Salirasib"s basic component, FTS, works to block the formation of cancer-promoting Ras nanoclusters, thus blocking a cascade of biochemical signals known as the "Ras signaling pathway" that allow Ras to wreak havoc on the body. Early in the 1990s, many drug developers chased after a mechanism to inhibit Ras by targeting enzymes that modify it, but they were unsuccessful. "The major developers gave up, claiming Ras is not targetable," says Prof. Kloog, "but our concept takes a different approach. Now that we"ve shown it works in human subjects, I am definitely excited - no doubt about it." Prof. Kloog developed the Ras antagonist more than 15 years ago. No toxic side effects In the latest study, researchers tested for both toxicity and effectiveness. They gave 19 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer daily doses of salirasib along with a standard gemcitabine regimen. Salirasib was well tolerated by the patients, and they surpassed on average the number of months they would have lived on gentamiacine alone. There were no toxic side effects, such as heart or lung ailments. Tumor biopsies showed a significant reduction in Ras levels, suggesting that the drug is inhibiting the action of Ras in the tumor itself. For this study, Salirasib was licensed by Concordia Pharmaceuticals, which collaborated with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and other institutes in the United States. If Phase II/III trials are successful, Prof. Kloog"s drug will be the first successful Ras antagonist known to medical science. Salirabib could be medically available in as little as two years. George Hunka American Friends of Tel Aviv University


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