All posts; Tags Include "Pharmacology"
- June 27, 2011
- 03:43 PM
- 737 views
Yellow gold : Turmeric and its promise
by Sarah Stephen in An ecological oratorio
Growing up in Southern India, we cultivated several vegetables and spices in our backyard, one of which was turmeric. Turmeric (Curcuma longa) belongs to the same family as ginger. It is rhizomatous herb and normally pieces of the rhizome are planted in the rainy months of July. In our hands, the plants did not require much care at all. No artificial fertilizers were used nor wwere the plants watered but only left to the mercy of nature. But our part of South India is blessed with rains anyway........ Read more »
Howes MJ, & Perry E. (2011) The role of phytochemicals in the treatment and prevention of dementia. Drugs , 28(6), 439-68. PMID: 21639405
Rajasekaran SA. (2011) Therapeutic potential of curcumin in gastrointestinal diseases. World journal of gastrointestinal pathophysiology, 2(1), 1-14. PMID: 21607160
Wilken R, Veena MS, Wang MB, & Srivatsan ES. (2011) Curcumin: A review of anti-cancer properties and therapeutic activity in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Molecular cancer, 12. PMID: 21299897
Park J, & Conteas CN. (2010) Anti-carcinogenic properties of curcumin on colorectal cancer. World journal of gastrointestinal oncology, 2(4), 169-76. PMID: 21160593
Pocernich CB, Bader Lange ML, Sultana R, & Butterfield DA. (2011) Nutritional Approaches to Modulate Oxidative Stress in Alzheimer's Disease. Current Alzheimer research. PMID: 21605052
Huang J, Plass C, & Gerhäuser C. (2010) Cancer Chemoprevention by Targeting the Epigenome. Current drug targets. PMID: 21158707
- June 14, 2011
- 09:01 AM
- 1,253 views
Mild Cognitive Impairment in the Elderly
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
The presence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in elderly individuals is often a clinical challenge of uncertainly prognostic value. Defined as cognitive function below the normal range but insufficient for a diagnosis of dementia, MCI is receiving increased research attention. This week in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Ronald Petersen, a neurologist from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota highlighted what is known about MCI. His review summarizes some of........ Read more »
Petersen, RC. (2011) Mild Cognitive Impairment. New Engl J Med, 2227-2234. info:/
- June 9, 2011
- 09:35 PM
- 802 views
FDA 'Steps up' for Nanotechnology
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
In a memorandum issued by the White House today (June 9th, 2011) the US government set in place more rigorous standards for the regulation and oversight of nanomaterials. According to the U.S. memorandum, federal agencies must increasingly seek out and develop information about the potential effects of nanomaterials on human health and the environment. ... Read more »
Bawa R. (2011) Regulating Nanomedicine - Can the FDA Handle it?. Current drug delivery, 8(3), 227-34. PMID: 21291376
- June 7, 2011
- 03:35 PM
- 1,443 views
Think twice before diving into a high-fat diet: New research indicates how saturated fatty acids promote the development of Type 2 Diabetes
by Heather in Escaping Anergy: The Immunology Research Blog
How does diet impact immune function? Dr. Jenny Ting’s UNC research group recently published in Nature Immunology compelling data indicating how saturated fats activates a newly identified pathway involved in the development of Type 2 Diabetes. Check out Escaping Anergy for an in-depth analysis and implications of the data presented in this paper! ... Read more »
Wen H, Gris D, Lei Y, Jha S, Zhang L, Huang MT, Brickey WJ, & Ting JP. (2011) Fatty acid-induced NLRP3-ASC inflammasome activation interferes with insulin signaling. Nature immunology, 12(5), 408-15. PMID: 21478880
- June 6, 2011
- 11:58 PM
- 1,079 views
The Downside of Nano: Pregnancy Complications
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
A recent article in Nature Nanotechnology investigates the potential risks of nanomaterials, specifically various sized silica and titanium dioxide nanoparticles, for causing pregnancy complications in mice. With up to 15% of human pregnancies in the United States being affected by poor fetal growth due to defects in or damages to placental tissue, researchers argue that nanomaterials found in many drug formulations as well as several food and women's cosmetic products deserve a careful inv........ Read more »
Yamashita K, Yoshioka Y, Higashisaka K, Mimura K, Morishita Y, Nozaki M, Yoshida T, Ogura T, Nabeshi H, Nagano K.... (2011) Silica and titanium dioxide nanoparticles cause pregnancy complications in mice. Nature nanotechnology, 6(5), 321-8. PMID: 21460826
- June 3, 2011
- 08:45 PM
- 1,154 views
For Smokers, Nowhere to Run and Nowhere to Hide
by Dirk Hanson in Addiction Inbox
(With love and apologies to Martha and the Vandellas.)
That wonderful song goes on to declare:
'Cause I know
You're no good for me
But you’ve become
A part of me.
The song is not about cigarette addiction, but it could be. Full Disclosure: I smoked cigarettes myself for almost 25 years. And then, after several failed attempts, I quit. I out myself on this subject because a paper from the May 25 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) decries what the authors call the “denorma........ Read more »
Colgrove J, Bayer R, & Bachynski KE. (2011) Nowhere Left to Hide? The Banishment of Smoking from Public Spaces. The New England journal of medicine. PMID: 21612464
- May 23, 2011
- 02:53 AM
- 1,212 views
Blue Lights Shown to Give a Brain Boost! But is a Better than Coffee?
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
It’s 6 am and the alarm sounds. Mornings aren’t a friendly place until you’ve had a coffee. Loathed by some but loved by many more, caffienated drinks are the world’s most popular drug. Effective as a stimulant, a mood-booster and an learning-enhancer, caffeine is an indispensable part of modern-day living for 90% of Westerners. Coffee … Continue reading »... Read more »
Viola AU, James LM, Schlangen LJ, & Dijk DJ. (2008) Blue-enriched white light in the workplace improves self-reported alertness, performance and sleep quality. Scandinavian journal of work, environment , 34(4), 297-306. PMID: 18815716
Vandewalle, G., Maquet, P., & Dijk, D. (2009) Light as a modulator of cognitive brain function. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(10), 429-438. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2009.07.004
Lehrl, S., Gerstmeyer, K., Jacob, J., Frieling, H., Henkel, A., Meyrer, R., Wiltfang, J., Kornhuber, J., & Bleich, S. (2007) Blue light improves cognitive performance. Journal of Neural Transmission, 114(4), 457-460. DOI: 10.1007/s00702-006-0621-4
Smith, A. (2002) Effects of caffeine on human behavior. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 40(9), 1243-1255. DOI: 10.1016/S0278-6915(02)00096-0
Ursing C, Wikner J, Brismar K, & Röjdmark S. (2003) Caffeine raises the serum melatonin level in healthy subjects: an indication of melatonin metabolism by cytochrome P450(CYP)1A2. Journal of endocrinological investigation, 26(5), 403-6. PMID: 12906366
- May 20, 2011
- 05:00 PM
- 1,712 views
Prophylactic Adrenaline for Anti Snake Venom Induced Anaphylaxis
by Pranab Chatterjee in Scepticemia
A discussion of a peer reviewed publication in PLoS Medicine regarding the use of Prophylactic Adrenaline for prevention of Anti snake venom indiced anaphylaxis.... Read more »
de Silva, H., Pathmeswaran, A., Ranasinha, C., Jayamanne, S., Samarakoon, S., Hittharage, A., Kalupahana, R., Ratnatilaka, G., Uluwatthage, W., Aronson, J.... (2011) Low-Dose Adrenaline, Promethazine, and Hydrocortisone in the Prevention of Acute Adverse Reactions to Antivenom following Snakebite: A Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. PLoS Medicine, 8(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000435
- May 13, 2011
- 02:49 PM
- 1,099 views
Hold the Carrots! Vitamin A May Exacerbate Celiac Disease Symptoms-New study reveals how retinoic acid and IL-15 cooperatively promote gut inflammation
by Heather in Escaping Anergy: The Immunology Research Blog
New findings reveal how retinoic acid promotes disease pathology in Celiac Disease patients in which IL-15 levels in the gut are exceptionally increased. Find out more details regarding the experimental approach and implications with Escaping Anergy!... Read more »
DePaolo RW, Abadie V, Tang F, Fehlner-Peach H, Hall JA, Wang W, Marietta EV, Kasarda DD, Waldmann TA, Murray JA.... (2011) Co-adjuvant effects of retinoic acid and IL-15 induce inflammatory immunity to dietary antigens. Nature, 471(7337), 220-4. PMID: 21307853
- May 13, 2011
- 10:02 AM
- 1,329 views
Fungus yields new prescription drug for multiple sclerosis
by David J Kroll in Science-Based Medicine
The following post appeared earlier this week at my Chemical & Engineering News CENtral Science blog, Terra Sigillata. For some odd reason - perhaps this week’s frantic academic schedule of commencement activities - it was not highly read there. I thought that our Science-Based Medicine readers would appreciate it because this new prescription drug is [...]... Read more »
Strader, C., Pearce, C., & Oberlies, N. (2011) Fingolimod (FTY720): A Recently Approved Multiple Sclerosis Drug Based on a Fungal Secondary Metabolite. Journal of Natural Products, 74(4), 900-907. DOI: 10.1021/np2000528
- May 12, 2011
- 08:09 AM
- 1,375 views
Ecstasy Designer Drug 2C-E and a Death in Oklahoma
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
Chemical Structure 2C-EIf you are a parent of a teenager I hope you took chemistry in high school or college because you are going to need it. The reason you are going to need it is the emergence of designer drugs of abuse. Designer drugs typically have a parent compound that is chemically modified. There are two key reasons to modify existing illegal compounds: 1.) the new compound may not be illegal until state and federals laws can be modified and 2.) the new compound may ha........ Read more »
Meyer MR, & Maurer HH. (2010) Metabolism of designer drugs of abuse: an updated review. Current drug metabolism, 11(5), 468-82. PMID: 20540700
- May 11, 2011
- 08:02 AM
- 1,008 views
Fingolimod (Gilenya; Novartis) for Multiple Sclerosis
by David J Kroll in Terra Sigillata
A very well-written review of an orally-active drug for multiple sclerosis has just appeared in the April 25th issue of the Journal of Natural Products, a publication of ACS in conjunction with the American Society of Pharmacognosy. The review, Fingolimod (FTY720): A Recently Approved Multiple Sclerosis Drug Based on a Fungal Secondary Metabolite, is co-authored [...]... Read more »
Strader, C., Pearce, C., & Oberlies, N. (2011) Fingolimod (FTY720): A Recently Approved Multiple Sclerosis Drug Based on a Fungal Secondary Metabolite. Journal of Natural Products, 74(4), 900-907. DOI: 10.1021/np2000528
- May 9, 2011
- 03:44 PM
- 862 views
Antibiotics affecting ribosome's protein composition
by Vasili Hauryliuk in stringent response
Antibiotics kill bugs; and about a half of them are doing so by messing up translation. That usually means that the ribosome is stalled at a certain step, be it initiation or elongation or ribosomal recycling.But it is not always just that. Sometimes antibiotics also mess up the ribosome itself and affect its composition.Exhibit A: kasugamycin, an antibiotic that inhibits translation initiation in bacteria by interfering with binding of the the initiator ........ Read more »
Wilson DN. (2009) The A-Z of bacterial translation inhibitors. Critical reviews in biochemistry and molecular biology, 44(6), 393-433. PMID: 19929179
Schluenzen F, Takemoto C, Wilson DN, Kaminishi T, Harms JM, Hanawa-Suetsugu K, Szaflarski W, Kawazoe M, Shirouzu M, Nierhaus KH.... (2006) The antibiotic kasugamycin mimics mRNA nucleotides to destabilize tRNA binding and inhibit canonical translation initiation. Nature structural , 13(10), 871-8. PMID: 16998488
Schuwirth BS, Day JM, Hau CW, Janssen GR, Dahlberg AE, Cate JH, & Vila-Sanjurjo A. (2006) Structural analysis of kasugamycin inhibition of translation. Nature structural , 13(10), 879-86. PMID: 16998486
Kaberdina AC, Szaflarski W, Nierhaus KH, & Moll I. (2009) An unexpected type of ribosomes induced by kasugamycin: a look into ancestral times of protein synthesis?. Molecular cell, 33(2), 227-36. PMID: 19187763
Siibak T, Peil L, Dönhöfer A, Tats A, Remm M, Wilson DN, Tenson T, & Remme J. (2011) Antibiotic-induced ribosomal assembly defects result from changes in the synthesis of ribosomal proteins. Molecular microbiology, 80(1), 54-67. PMID: 21320180
Nevo-Dinur K, Nussbaum-Shochat A, Ben-Yehuda S, & Amster-Choder O. (2011) Translation-independent localization of mRNA in E. coli. Science (New York, N.Y.), 331(6020), 1081-4. PMID: 21350180
Tzareva NV, Makhno VI, & Boni IV. (1994) Ribosome-messenger recognition in the absence of the Shine-Dalgarno interactions. FEBS letters, 337(2), 189-94. PMID: 8287975
Andreev DE, Terenin IM, Dunaevsky YE, Dmitriev SE, & Shatsky IN. (2006) A leaderless mRNA can bind to mammalian 80S ribosomes and direct polypeptide synthesis in the absence of translation initiation factors. Molecular and cellular biology, 26(8), 3164-9. PMID: 16581790
Montero Llopis P, Jackson AF, Sliusarenko O, Surovtsev I, Heinritz J, Emonet T, & Jacobs-Wagner C. (2010) Spatial organization of the flow of genetic information in bacteria. Nature, 466(7302), 77-81. PMID: 20562858
- May 5, 2011
- 08:57 AM
- 1,067 views
Ether and the Discovery of Anesthesia
by Dan Bailey in Smells Like Science
There is an unusual, and mostly forgotten monument in a shaded area at the edge of the Boston Public Garden in downtown Boston. It was completed in 1868, and, like many other monuments built during the 19th century, it features classical statuary, granite columns, and biblical inscriptions. But unlike any other monument in the world, it memorializes a drug. The inscription on the front face of the monument reads: “To commemorate that the inhaling of ether causes insensibility to pain. Firs........ Read more »
Lewis JH. (1931) Contribution of an Unknown Negro to Anesthesia. Journal of the National Medical Association, 23(1), 23-4. PMID: 20892436
- April 29, 2011
- 02:53 PM
- 1,272 views
On discovering new medicines
by DrugMonkey in DrugMonkey
A link from writedit pointed me to a review of drugs that were approved in the US with an eye to how they were identified. Swinney and Anthony (2011) identified 259 agents that were approved by the US FDA between 1999 and 2008. They then identified 75 which were "first in class", i.e., not just [...]... Read more »
Swinney, D., & Anthony, J. (2011) How were new medicines discovered?. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 10(7), 507-519. DOI: 10.1038/nrd3480
- April 22, 2011
- 04:24 PM
- 518 views
Let’s Get Cellular: Meth Metabolism
by Dirk Hanson in Addiction Inbox
Speedy fruit flies metabolize glucose differently.
We know from the work of Nora Volkow and others that meth abusers have chronically low levels of dopamine D2 receptors in their brains. But what is going on in the rest of the body when methamphetamine addiction is running full force? A study of meth-crazed fruit flies, just published at PLoS ONE by researchers at the University of Illinois, Purdue, and elsewhere, took a whole-body approach, tracing the meth-induced cascade of chemical reactio........ Read more »
Sun, L., Li, H., Seufferheld, M., Walters, K., Margam, V., Jannasch, A., Diaz, N., Riley, C., Sun, W., Li, Y.... (2011) Systems-Scale Analysis Reveals Pathways Involved in Cellular Response to Methamphetamine. PLoS ONE, 6(4). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018215
- April 18, 2011
- 09:00 AM
- 1,868 views
Gastric Bypass Increases Metformin Bioavailability
by Arya M. Sharma in Dr. Sharma's Obesity Notes
One of the concerns of undergoing gastric bypass surgery is the impact on gut absorption of essential nutrients.
Although, with modern gastric bypass surgery, the length of gut that is bypassed is rather limited (around 80-120 cms) and all known nutritional deficiencies are generally manageable with dietary monitoring and supplementation, the impact of this surgery on [...]... Read more »
Padwal RS, Gabr RQ, Sharma AM, Langkaas LA, Birch DW, Karmali S, & Brocks DR. (2011) Effect of Gastric Bypass Surgery on the Absorption and Bioavailability of Metformin. Diabetes care. PMID: 21478461
- April 14, 2011
- 09:09 AM
- 1,409 views
Nicotine Replacement in Schizophrenia
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
Inpatient psychiatric hospitals increasingly prohibit smoking by patients, staff and family in their units. Although the public health benefits of smoking restrictions are undeniable, there may be some situations where smoking restrictions have unintended consequences. One area is the emergency management of patients with serious psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder.Rates of smoking have been documented to be higher in both schizophrenia and bipo........ Read more »
Allen MH, Debanné M, Lazignac C, Adam E, Dickinson LM, & Damsa C. (2011) Effect of nicotine replacement therapy on agitation in smokers with schizophrenia: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. The American journal of psychiatry, 168(4), 395-9. PMID: 21245085
- April 13, 2011
- 10:44 AM
- 1,210 views
Ecstasy Acute Effects on Social Cognition
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
MDMA (Ecstasy) Chemical StructureAnecdotal reports suggest that some users of ecstasy (3,4-methlenedioxymethamphetamine-MDMA) experience increased feelings of empathy and are more social while under influence of the drug. Such effects may contribute to the timing and frequency of ecstasy use and may also contribute to risk of abuse or dependence. Understanding this phenomenon in more detail might provide clinicians with better strategies to reduce use and the associated complications........ Read more »
Bedi G, Hyman D, & de Wit H. (2010) Is ecstasy an "empathogen"? Effects of ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine on prosocial feelings and identification of emotional states in others. Biological psychiatry, 68(12), 1134-40. PMID: 20947066
- April 12, 2011
- 12:54 PM
- 1,286 views
Phentermine/Topiramate Combo for Obesity
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
Molecular Model of TopiramatePrevious Brain Posts summarized some of the pharmacologic agents in the pipeline for weight loss as well as some drug combinations. A recent research study published in Lancet provides additional data on one of the drug combinations being studied: phentermine and topiramate.This new study is important because it looked at 56 weeks of treatment and target obese individuals with at least two obesity-related medical complications. Subjects were required to h........ Read more »
Kishore M Gadde, David B Allison, Donna H Ryan, Craig A Peterson, Barbara Troupin, Michael L Schwiers, Wesley W Day. (2011) Eff ects of low-dose, controlled-release, phentermine plus topiramate combination on weight and associated comorbidities in overweight and obese adults (CONQUER): a randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. Lancet. info:/10.1016/S0140- 6736(11)60205-5
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