New ways to design safer & more effective topical (transdermal) drug delivery announced in the PNAS
Santa Barbara, Calif. March 14, 2005 In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( ), a group of researchers led by Samir Mitragotri, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara, reports the identification of fundamental mechanisms that may facilitate the design of safer and more efficacious topical drug delivery systems. .....NASA awards $9.8 million NSCOR grant to UT Southwestern to study effects of space radiation exposure
DALLAS Feb. 24, 2005 UT Southwestern Medical Center has won a highly competitive, $9.8 million NASA Specialized Center of Research (NSCOR) grant that will allow researchers to study the effects of radiation on astronauts and minimize possible health risks caused by future space travel. ... "This builds on outstanding lung cancer and radiation biology research at UT Southwestern that will now fo...Laser procedure effective in correcting nasal blockages associated with deviated septum
CHICAGO A new laser procedure that requires only local anesthetic is effective in treating nasal passageway obstructions associated with a deviated nasal septum, according to an article in the July-September issue of The Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The procedure uses heat generated by a laser to soften cartilage abnormalities so that they can be flatte...Pitt research shows NASA sleep-wake scheduling guide may need to be changed
PITTSBURGH, Dec. 6 New research from the University of Pittsburgh shows the human body has difficulty adjusting to dramatic time changes such as those experienced by working shifts or traveling across time zones....... The NASA-funded study, detailed in this month's Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, was designed to examine the protocols the space agency uses to assign sleep-wake schedu...U-M professor to test flu shot and nasal spray flu vaccine side by side
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---A University of Michigan influenza expert is beginning a three-year direct comparison of the effectiveness of flu shots versus nasal spray flu vaccine.... ...Flu shots have been around since World War II, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long recommended shots as a way to prevent influenza in the elderly. The approval of a new nasal spray vaccine begs the...Study lays down genetic basis for sinus disease and nasal polyps
In a three-year analysis of more than 10,500 genes, one-third of the human genome, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found a starting point to establishing the genetic basis for sinus disease and the growth of nasal polyps, illnesses not well understood despite their prevalence. The findings, set for publication in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology online Oct. 8, could lead to devel...Endoscopic approach best for repairing bone defect between brain, nasal cavity
The best approach for repairing breaks in the thin bone that separates the brain from the nasal cavity is through the nasal cavity, according to an analysis of 92 patients who had this increasingly common approach to treating a fortunately rare problem.... ... "The intranasal endoscopic approach is the best way to treat a potentially very bad problem," says Dr. Stilianos E. Kountakis, vice chair...Intranasal corticosteroid receives FDA pregnancy Category B rating for allergic rhinitis
Wilmington, DE August 26, 2004 AstraZeneca announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved revised labeling for its anti-inflammatory corticosteroid nasal spray RHINOCORT AQUA (budesonide). The new labeling upgrades RHINOCORT AQUA's pregnancy rating to Category B for the treatment of allergic rhinitis. ... ...The achievement of a Category B rating indicates that...NASA scientists explain Aura satellite mission
Press Conference at Joint Assembly 2004 MeetingNASA researchers will brief the press about the Aura...satellite launch and discuss science goals of the mission....The press event is at 4 p.m. EDT, May 17 in Room 522 A, on...Level 5, of the Palais des Congres, Montreal....... ...The press event is part of the 2004 Joint Assembly, a...partnership of the Canadian Geophysical Union, American...Geophy...Researchers identify leukemia-linked pathway targeted by a new kinase inhibitor
BAR HARBOR, MAINE--Three years ago, using the first of a new class of drugs known as "small molecule kinase inhibitors," medicine slammed shut a door used by cancer. Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory just found another door that kinase inhibitors may close to cancer.... ...The gene BCR-ABL1 causes two types of leukemia: chronic myelogeneous leukemia (CML) and B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukem...Dr. Brenda Milner first foreign associate of the NAS to receive Award in the Neurosciences
Montreal,- January 16, 2004 - Dr. Brenda Milner will receive the 2004 Award in the Neurosciences from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) headquartered in Washington, DC. The $25,000 US prize is awarded every three years in recognition of extraordinary contributions to progress in the fields of neuroscience. Dr. Milner is the Dorothy J. Killam Professor, Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI)...Nasal spray flu vaccine may help prevent influenza in healthy children
CHICAGO An influenza virus vaccine delivered as a nasal spray, appears to be effective in protecting healthy children against certain strains of influenza, according to an article in the January issue of The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals....... Each winter, influenza causes significant illness in all age groups, according to the article. The U.S....Tiny nanotube antennas may yield better signals in cell phones, televisions
In the future, your cell phone calls and television pictures could become a lot clearer thanks to tiny antennas thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair. At least that's the speculation of a University of Southern California researcher who has been investigating nanotube transistors....... The USC scientist, Bart Kosko, Ph.D., a professor in the school's Electrical Engineering De...NASA research propels development of new glass
There's a new glass in town. The glass, developed with the help of a unique NASA levitator facility, is available for numerous commercial applications including lasers and optical communications.... ..."We have patented a family of new glasses and have established processes for making and using them in practical applications," said Dr. Richard (Rick) Weber, director of the Glass Products Division...Sphingosine kinase inhibitors may hold key to halting growth of some tumors
Penn State College of Medicine researchers have identified compounds that could wipe out an enzyme responsible for tumor growth.... "These compounds our team found are the first 'drug-like' agents that have been shown to inhibit an enzyme called sphingosine kinase," said Charles D. Smith, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology, and director of the Drug Discovery Core, Penn State College of Medicine. "...Families cope better after euthanasia than natural death
The bereaved family and friends of cancer patients who die by euthanasia have less grief symptoms and post-traumatic stress reactions than the bereaved of comparable cancer patients who die a natural death, finds a study in this week's BMJ.... ...Researchers from the Netherlands assessed 189 bereaved family members and close friends of terminally ill cancer patients who died by euthanasia and 316...Is legalising euthanasia premature?
Legalising euthanasia is premature when we still do not know why patients want it and whether better end of life care would change their views, argue researchers in this week's BMJ.... ...Euthanasia debates have focused on suffering, respect for patient autonomy, and dignified death, but little evidence is available from patients who desire euthanasia. ... ...A few studies have shown that patient...Nasal spray flu vaccine developed at U-M needs no additional clinical trials, says FDA
ANN ARBOR---The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked for additional information, but no additional clinical trials, as it considers approval of FluMist, an influenza vaccine delivered as a nasal spray. ...... FluMist was invented by Hunein "John" Maassab after more than four decades of research at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Gaithersburg, Md.-based MedImmune has lic...Magnetic fluids offer hope for damaged retinas
ORLANDO, Fla., April 10 Researchers at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg are developing injectable magnetic fluids to repair torn or detached retinas a technique they believe could help prevent blindness in thousands....... Their work was reported today at the 223rd national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the worlds largest scientific society....... Silicone fluid is currently used to pu...Marijuanas impact on intelligence
Peter Fried and colleagues report that light and former use of marijuana does not appear to have a long-term effect on intelligence, while heavy use appears to be detrimental.... Fried and colleagues followed 70 subjects in the Ottawa Prenatal Prospective Study, and compared intelligence quotient (IQ) scores of subjects at 912 years of age (before initiation of marijuana use) with their scores a...Steroid nasal spray more effective against hay fever
Researchers from the University of Chicago have found that the corticosteroid nasal spray fluticasone propionate (Flonase) is slightly more effective at controlling seasonal allergies than a combination of two popular anti-allergy drugs: loratidine (Claritin) and montelukast (Singulair). ... ...The study was presented March 4 at the 58th annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma a.... .A Johns Hopkins neurologist, inspired by the plight of a young patient, has established a nationwide consortium of Centers of Excellence for research and treatment of the often-paralytic neurological disease transverse myelitis (TM). . .When Cody Unser visited Hopkins' Transverse Myelitis Center two years ago, following a sudden onset of complete lower-body paralysis, she formed a fast f...Missouri scientist takes 'rocky' road to NASA
. Dr. Doug Rickman's journey to the frontiers of science started because he wanted his big brother's merit badge.. . Rickman remembers as a young boy studying a photo of his Eagle Scout brother. "He had his merit badge sash on, and there was a badge there that was absolutely gorgeous," Rickman recalls. It was the merit badge for geology. "I said, 'I like that. I want to do that.'". . Some 35 yea...New nasal obstruction procedure offers cheaper, pain-free alternative to surgery
. CHAPEL HILL -- An ear, nose and throat doctor at the University of North.Carolina-Chapel Hill is using a new technology that has already proven.successful in treating snoring to provide a less expensive, relatively pain-free.alternative to traditional nasal obstruction surgery.. "This nonsurgical procedure, called somnoplasty, could change how we're.doing things," said Dr. Wende...NASA Uses EAI Software In Groundbreaking Medical Application
. EAI's World2WorldO Software Virtually Links Physicians at Five Separate.Viewing Stations-Allowing Real-Time Collaborative Analysis of Patient.Anatomy . .AMES, Iowa-May 3, 1999-Engineering Animation, Inc. (Nasdaq: EAII) today.announced that its World2World software will play an integral role in a.new.telemedicine application developed by NASA researchers. EAI's software.will.enable medical exp....A recently completed study shows that calcitonin-salmon nasal spray reduced by.36 percent the incidence of new spinal fractures in postmenopausal women with.osteoporosis. . Dr. Charles Chesnut, professor of radiology and medicine at the.University of Washington in Seattle, presented results of the study at the.European Congress on Osteoporosis in Berlin on Sept. 14. . Calcitonin-salmon is cur.... Study Suggests That Drug Could Leave Certain Men At Higher Risk. .LOS ANGELES, Calif., Aug. 1, 1998 -- A new study by USC/Norris Cancer Center scientists.raises serious questions about the potential use of the drug finasteride to.prevent prostate cancer. .Scientists have theorized that finasteride, sold under the brand name Proscar.and commonly used to treat benign prostate disease, might offe....This research involved 3,040 men with symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia.(BPH), or enlarged prostate, who enrolled in a four-year, double-blind,.placebo-controlled protocol. The investigators were studying the use of a drug,.finasteride, in BPH to lower the incidence of either acute urinary retention or.a surgical procedure over the four-year period. According to the researchers,.patien....Hunein F. Maassab, the University of Michigan researcher who developed the nasal.spray influenza vaccine now under study by the vaccine manufacturer, said that.recent reports of the vaccine's protection against otitis media carry even more.good news for children.. .Otitis media, an ear infection common in children, can be an extremely painful.illness for children. It is also associated with fe...A nasal spray influenza vaccine pioneered by Hunein F. Maassab, professor.of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, has.proved 93 percent effective in a major study of 1,600 children across the.country. The vaccine triggers an early, local antibody response in the nasal.passages---a powerful first line of defense and a key element in the prevention.of influenza. Sch...