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| Some Drug Studies More Likely To Show Bias In Favor Of Funding Body Than Others |
Previous work has shown that, when a drug study was funded by the company that made that drug, the results might be biased in favour of that drug because the methods or analyses were manipulated.
New research shows that, for blood pressure drugs, studies are now much less likely to have biased results but still tend to have overly positive conclusions favouring the company's products.
The authors call on editors and peer reviewers to scrutinise the conclusions of these studies to ensure that they contain an unbiased interpretation of the results.
Meta-analyses represent the highest level of research evidence in the hierarchy of study types. They pool data from multiple studies to provide summary statistics on the effectiveness of a given treatment. They have a great deal of influence on patient care and healthcare policy and drug companies have started to reference meta-analyses in their advertisements.
Previous studies have shown that randomised controlled trials with financial ties to single drug companies are more likely to have results and conclusions that favour the sponsor's products, and a recent study suggests that the same holds true for meta-analyses.
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| Citrus Juice, Vitamin C Give Staying Power To Green Tea Antioxidants |
To get more out of your next cup of tea, just add juice.
A study found that citrus juices enable more of green tea's unique antioxidants to remain after simulated digestion, making the pairing even healthier than previously thought.
The study compared the effect of various beverage additives on catechins, naturally occurring antioxidants found in tea. Results suggest that complementing green tea with either citrus juices or vitamin C likely increases the amount of catechins available for the body to absorb.
"Although these results are preliminary, I think it's encouraging that a big part of the puzzle comes down to simple chemistry," said Mario Ferruzzi, assistant professor of food science at Purdue University and the study's lead author.
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| Researchers Identify Molecules with Interesting Anti-clotting Properties |
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have discovered a new mechanism to inhibit key enzymes that play a major role in clotting disorders, which could lead to novel therapies to treat clots in the lungs and those localized deep in the body in areas such as the legs.
Antithrombotic disorders occur when the effect of thrombin, a protein involved in coagulation, is inhibited, rendering blood unable to clot effectively. These disorders are considered common and can be fatal. Additionally, clotting disorders arise due to complications from other diseases like cancer. Although there are a number of anticoagulation drugs available -- heparins and warfarins -- some patients develop adverse reactions to the therapy and must be closely monitored.
In a study published in the Nov. 2 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Umesh R. Desai, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the VCU School of Pharmacy, lead investigator on the study, reported on the design of three highly complex molecules with unique anticoagulant properties that were prepared in the laboratory. According Desai, these molecules, known as sulfated DHPs, are completely different from anticoagulants used in the clinic today including heparins, coumarins and hirudins.
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| Antidepressants, Exercise, Age, Even Food Intake, Affect Generation Of New Brain Cells |
Recent research shows that the production of new brain cells may be crucial for antidepressants to be effective and that the medication's effectiveness is strongly influenced by age. What's more, meal frequency, type of food, and physical exercise affect the brain's ability to manufacture these new cells.
For the first time in nonhuman primate models, scientists have documented the cause-and-effect relationship between antidepressant drugs and neurogenesis. The researchers found that the antidepressant drug fluoxetine improved the behavior of macaque monkeys with depression-like symptoms.
They also discovered that administering the drugs to normally behaving monkeys did not influence their behavior but did alter their brains by boosting neurogenesis in the hippocampus, an area involved in memory and learning.
In one study with macaque monkeys, the stimulation of neurogenesis appeared to be necessary for the treatment of depression, says Tarique Perera, MD, of Columbia University.
"Given the parallels between the monkey behavior model and human clinical depression, and the structural similarities between the macaque and human brains, we expect neurogenesis to play an equally important role in antidepressant mechanisms in humans," he says.
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Mayo Clinic Researchers: Common Insulin-boosting Medication Does Not Impair Patients' Ability to Survive Heart Attack
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Mayo Clinic researchers helped clarify a growing concern about the link between diabetes mellitus treatments and heart attack with the first large, population-based study showing that a group of common medications does not reduce diabetic patients' heart attack survival rates. These results were presented today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2007 in Orlando, Fla.
The drugs studied are called sulfonylureas and include several commonly used pills to increase insulin release to lower blood sugar. Second-generation sulfonylureas - known collectively as SU2 - include glimepiride (Amaryl), glipizide (Glucotrol, Glucotrol XL), and glyburide (DiaBeta, Micronase, Glynase).
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| Antibiotic That Appears To Control Phobias May Also Be Useful In Treating Addiction |
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory provide further evidence that a drug known as D-cycloserine could play a role in helping to extinguish the craving behaviors associated with drug addiction. Their study found that mice treated with D-cycloserine were less likely to spend time in an environment where they had previously been trained to expect cocaine than mice treated with a placebo.
Photo of Bermeo and Thanos
"Since the association between drugs and the places where they are used can trigger craving and/or relapse in humans, a medication that could aid in the reduction or even extinction of such responses could be a powerful tool in the treatment of addiction," said Carlos Bermeo, a Stony Brook University graduate student working under the direction of Brookhaven Lab neuroscientist Panayotis (Peter) Thanos. Bermeo will present these results in a talk at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego on Tuesday, November 6, 2007, at 11 a.m.
D-cycloserine was originally developed as an antibiotic. But it has also been shown to extinguish conditioned fear in pre-clinical (animal) studies, and has been successfully tested in human clinical trials for the treatment of acrophobia (fear of heights). This finding led several researchers to wonder whether D-cycloserine could extinguish drug-seeking behaviors as well.
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| Compounds In Cranberries May Be Antibacterial Agents |
Cranberry sauce is not the star of the traditional Thanksgiving Day meal, but when it comes to health benefits, the lowly condiment takes center stage. In fact, researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) have found that compounds in cranberries are able to alter E. coli bacteria, which are responsible for a host of human illnesses (from kidney infections to gastroenteritis to tooth decay), in ways that render them unable to initiate an infection.
The findings are the result of research by Terri Camesano, associate professor of chemical engineering at WPI, and a team that includes graduate students Yatao Liu and Paola Pinzon-Arango. Funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation and the Cranberry Institute and Wisconsin Cranberry Board, the work has been reported in a number of publications and presentations, including FAV Health 2007 (The 2nd Annual Symposium on Human Health Effects of Fruits and Vegetables), the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in September 2006, and the January/February 2007 issue of the Italian publication AgroFOOD industry hi-tech.
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Believe it or not
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Spider bite no excuse for rape, court says
An Australian man who kidnapped and raped a woman blamed his actions on a spider, local media reported on Thursday.
Philip Spiers pleaded guilty to the kidnap and rape, but told a court that the poison from a funnel-web spider bite had left him with a viral illness which led to his actions.
But a toxicologist told the New South Wales state District Court there was no medical evidence to suggest a spider bite could be responsible for anger and hatred.
Spiers, who kidnapped and raped the woman in 1997, was sentenced on Wednesday to eight years in jail.
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News From MedWatch |
| Keep up-to-date on all of the recent
MedWatch reports that gives you timely safety information on the drugs and other
medical products regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by CLICKING HERE
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Recently Approved Drugs/Indications |
| Keep up-to-date on all of the recently approved drugs and/or approved new indications on already FDA approved drugs by CLICKING HERE
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FDA Recalls and Safety Alerts in the Past 60 Days: |
| To see a list of all FDA Recalls and product safety alerts for the last 60 days CLICK HERE
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Drug Shortages: |
| As many of you are aware, many drugs in the US are either unavailable or in short supply. To view a list of these drugs CLICK HERE
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