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International Collaboration By Scientists Culminates In Novel Ion Channels Database
An important re consolidating understanding of the roles played by Ion channels in drug action is now available for scientists and students.
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IOM Panel's Comparative Effectiveness Report Includes Pregnancy Prevention Measures
The U.S. should conduct research to compare the effectiveness of innovative programs aimed at preventing unintended pregnancy, according to a report issued Tuesday by a congressionally convened Institute of Medicine panel, the New York Times reports (Meier, New York Times, 7/1). The recommendations state that these strategies should include "over-the-counter access to oral contraceptives or other hormonal methods, expanding access to long-acting methods for young women, [and] providing free contraceptive methods at public clinics, pharmacies or other locations" (List of Priorities, IOM, 6/26). The report lists 100 health topics that should be prioritized as the Obama administration seeks to increase cost-effectiveness in medicine. The federal stimulus package passed earlier this year allotted $1.1 billion for comparative effectiveness research into different ways of treating certain conditions and addressing various health care issues. According to the Times, the report is a first step in an expansive effort by the administration and health experts to direct medical practice toward scientifically proven treatments, rather than a provider"s personal opinion or a medical product company"s promotional claims. Harold Sox, co-chair of the IOM panel that wrote the report and the editor of the Annals of Internal Medicine, said that based on public comments, the panel decided it was important to include pregnancy prevention and other public health issues in its recommendations (Meier, New York Times, 7/1). The report also recommends that researchers compare different comprehensive care coordination programs, such as the medical home model and chronic disease management, especially in communities known to have health disparities (Simmons, HealthLeaders Media, 6/30).
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AlphaRx Reports Positive Preclinical Data On GAI-122 Against Liver Disease
AlphaRx Inc. (OTCBB: ALRX) reported positive preclinical results on GAI-122 injectable nano-emulsion in multiple models of acute hepatitis, an inflammatory liver disease.
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How Resveratrol In Red Wine Works As An Effective Therapy For Life-Threatening Inflammation

Scientists from Scotland and Singapore have unraveled a mystery that has perplexed scientists since red wine was first discovered to have health benefits: how does resveratrol control inflammation? New research published in the August 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal, not only explains resveratrol"s one-two punch on inflammation, but also show how it - or a derivative - can be used to treat potentially deadly inflammatory disease, such as appendicitis, peritonitis, and systemic sepsis. "Strong acute inflammatory diseases such as sepsis are very difficult to treat and many die every day due to lack of treatment," said Alirio Melendez, senior lecturer on the faculty of medicine at Glasgow Biomedical Research Centre in Scotland and one of the researchers involved in the work. "Moreover, many survivors of sepsis develop a very low quality of life due to the damage that inflammation causes to several internal organs. The ultimate goal of our study was to identify a potential novel therapy to help in the treatment of strong acute inflammatory diseases." In this study, researchers administered an inflammatory agent to two groups of mice. One group was pretreated with resveratrol and the other group was not. The mice that were not pretreated with resveratrol experienced a strong inflammatory response, simulating disease in humans, while the group pretreated with resveratrol was protected from the inflammation. The scientists then examined the tissues of the mice to determine exactly how resveratrol was able to protect the mice from inflammation. They found that resveratrol used a one-two punch to stop inflammation in the mice by preventing the body from creating two different molecules known to trigger inflammation, sphingosine kinase and phospholipase D. This finding suggests that resveratrol may be harnessable as a treatment for inflammatory diseases and may also lead to entirely new resveratrol-based drugs that are even more effective. "The therapeutic potential of red wine has been bottled up for thousands of years," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, "and now that scientists have uncorked its secrets, they find that studies of how resveratrol works can lead to new treatments for life-threatening inflammation." Cody Mooneyhan Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology


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