Making individual health insurance market work
...ot impose any restriction on premium increases. In regulating the individual insurance market, however, all but four states have followed the textbook definition of guaranteed renewability, which prohibits premium increases based on enrollees' claims history or health status. The article argues that guaranteed ...Brain chemicals can thwart desire to smoke cigarettes
...umans. Dopamine is also believed to play a role in regulating the addictive effects of other stimulant drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines. Researchers monitored the level of nausea in each subject to ensure that smoking levels did not change because of side effects of the drugs. "The results suggest that ...Starzl Institute researchers to develop cell-based strategy for tranplant tolerance
...dritic cells apparently has the opposite effect by regulating the immune response and determining that a frontline attack against the organ by T cells is unwarranted. T cells are the soldiers for the immune system that take their cue from other key cells....Trauma surgeon seeks change in law that discourages counseling of problem drinkers
...L) the association of state lawmakers involved in regulating insurance has voted in favor of repealing the UPPL. And the NAIC, the same organization of state insurance commissioners that drafted the UPPL, unanimously passed a new model law designed by Gentilello. "It's now in the hands of the state legislator...Prostate cancer program at UCLAs Jonsson Cancer Center designated a site of research excellence
...er cells lack PTEN, a gene that acts like a switch regulating access to a cell-signaling pathway. UCLA researchers have discovered that cells lacking PTEN are more sensitive to rapamycin. About 20 percent of men with prostate cancer lack the PTEN gene. The study also seeks to develop and optimize techniques to ...New study shows weight loss decreases ACE enzyme that controls blood pressure
...Harp, "Our goal was to determine if blood pressure regulating enzymes and hormones that are produced in fatty tissue are lowered by modest dietary weight loss." After first conducting studies in rodents, which demonstrated that all the components of the renin-angiotensin system were produced in fat tissue, Harp...New $9.5 million grant to support Male Contraception Research Center
...igned to expedite development of new approaches to regulating fertility. The program supports a wide range of interactive research projects, both basic and applied, with the ultimate goal of developing knowledge that may lead to clinically useful products. Two other centers in the program are located at the Uni...Jefferson scientists find evidence of greater sensitivity to addictive drugs in adolescence
...osB, is a transcription factor and plays a role in regulating gene expression. Earlier research by other scientists had shown increased amounts of Delta FosB in adult brains following chronic exposure to psychostimulants. The team, which includes scientists at the Nathan Kline Institute in Orangeburg, New York,...Cholesterol drug could lead to new therapy for multiple sclerosis
...tedly recognized that statins might play a role in regulating inflammation, when they determined that the statin lovastatin reduced the rejection of hearts and increased survival in cardiac-transplant patients, independent of its ability to regulate LDL cholesterol levels. Subsequent studies in cell culture hav...Cervical cancer vaccine may lose effectiveness during ovulation
...n, suggesting that sex hormones may play a role in regulating antibody concentration at the cervix. Given these findings, the authors say that it will be important to determine whether the vaccine will be as effective at protecting ovulating women from HPV16 infections as it appears to be for women taking ora...Study calls for major reforms in marketing of ephedra
...l Trade Commission (FTC), which is responsible for regulating product advertising, developed advertising guidelines that include substantiating marketing claims and disclosing potential safety issues. However, of the 32 Web sites evaluated in the study, the majority failed to meet the standards set forth by the...Irvine chemist wins national award for new drug techniques
...dustry one wants to have increasing selectivity in regulating a pathway or target," said Overman, an organic chemist at the University of California, Irvine. "That desire drives increasingly complex chemical structures of drugs and places a major challenge on those who design and manufacture them." Giving drug...UCSD researchers decipher function of blood-brain barrier in bacterial meningitis
...unding tissues from the circulating blood, tightly regulating the flow of nutrients and molecules and thereby maintaining the proper biochemical conditions for normal brain function. Bacterial meningitis, a serious brain infection, can develop rapidly into a life-threatening infection even in previously healt...Top-ups of naturally occurring gut hormone could help treat obesity
...eople have lower than average levels of the hunger regulating gut hormone PYY3-36. They think this deficiency could be the key to tackling obesity. According to their research published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, obese people have on average, a level of PYY3-36 that is one third lower than th...... authors point out that the current mechanisms for regulating DTCA in Canada are lacking, and therefore they need to be either strengthened or re-examined in public and political forums. An accompanying editorial states that, while consumers may react to a drug advertisement with healthy skepticism, if such adv...Black cohosh may reduce hot flashes by targeting brain's thermostat
...have shown that these receptors may play a role in regulating hot flashes. Antidepressant medications, which some people believe may help reduce hot flashes, also bind to the same receptors. The current study may help provide an explanation for this effect, Bolton says. Researchers still do not know the specifi...Sphingosine kinase inhibitors may hold key to halting growth of some tumors
...at sphingosine kinase (SK) plays a pivotal role in regulating cell growth. Cell membranes contain sphingomyelin, a precursor of two lipids: ceramide, which causes programmed cell death (apoptosis), and sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), which causes cell proliferation. The balance of ceramide and S1P determine whet...BMPs and bone loss: Get it through your noggin
... the BMP inhibitor noggin, plays a crucial role in regulating bone formation and loss. The overproduction of noggin may ultimately result in the net bone loss associated with conditions such as osteoporosis. The study suggests that recombinant BMP may prove useful in reversing age-related bone loss. Bone morpho...Rejection really hurts, UCLA psychologists find
...rain that register distress," Lieberman said. "The regulating abilities of the prefrontal cortex may be why therapy and expressing painful feelings in poems and diaries is therapeutic." But humans may need a conscious awareness of social exclusion to activate this buffering mechanism, the researchers said. The ......of our knowledge although it could play a role in regulating genes."...