BreakThrough Digest Medical News

Recent Posts

• Over 100 Medicines and Vaccines Now in Development for HIV/AIDS
• New Stapling Treatment May Help Reverse Childhood Scoliosis
• Heart disease halted in mice - human trials a few years away
• Combining targeted therapy drugs may treat previously resistant tumors
• Scientists find key to keeping killer T cells in prime shape for fighting infection, cancer
• Study supports value of advanced CT scans to check for clogged arteries
• Experimental TB drug explodes bacteria from the inside out
• A novel target for therapeutics against Staph infection

Over 100 Medicines and Vaccines Now in Development for HIV/AIDS

America’s pharmaceutical research companies are testing 109 medicines and vaccines to treat or prevent HIV/AIDS and related conditions, according to a report released today by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). December 1 marks the 20th anniversary of “World AIDS Day” - a global awareness campaign that originated at the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention. Read the story

New Stapling Treatment May Help Reverse Childhood Scoliosis

New Treatment Alternative at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital Frees Children With Scoliosis From Restrictive Back Braces

Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian is one of only a few hospitals in the country to offer spinal stapling, a new treatment alternative for young people with scoliosis, an abnormal curvature of the spine that is painful and can restrict breathing. The Center for Early Onset Scoliosis, led by Dr Michael Vitale, sees about 400 patients per year under the age of 5 with the condition. Spinal stapling is one of a number of new techniques that promise improved outcomes.

Read the story

Heart disease halted in mice - human trials a few years away

A promising treatment has reportedly allowed scientists to halt the advance of heart disease in mice - and even reversed some of its effects. they used a chemical on the mice which blocked microRNA-21, and found that not only that this pathway was interrupted, but that cardiac function in the animals improved. This, they wrote, proved its potential as a new target for drugs in heart diseased humans.

Read the story

Combining targeted therapy drugs may treat previously resistant tumors

Blocking 2 cell signalling pathways leads to dramatic shrinkage of K-Ras-mutated tumors in animal model

A team of cancer researchers from several Boston academic medical centers has discovered a potential treatment for a group of tumors that have resisted previous targeted therapy approaches. In their Nature Medicine report, which is receiving early online release, investigators from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Cancer Center report that combining two different kinase inhibitors drugs that interfere with specific cell-growth pathways led to significant tumor shrinkage in mice with lung cancer driven by mutations in the K-Ras gene. In addition to their association with nearly 30 percent of cases of non-small-cell lung cancer the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. K-Ras mutations are involved in many cases of colon cancer and most pancreatic cancers, which are extremely resistant to treatment.

Read the story

Scientists find key to keeping killer T cells in prime shape for fighting infection, cancer

Like tuning a violin to produce strong, elegant notes, researchers at The Wistar Institute have found multiple receptors on the outside of the body’s killer immune system cells which they believe can be selectively targeted to keep the cells in superb infection- and disease-fighting condition.

Read the story

Study supports value of advanced CT scans to check for clogged arteries

Catheterization still gold standard, but 64-row scanners now shown equally useful in diagnosis
In a development that researchers say is likely to quell concerns about the value of costly computed tomography (CT) scans to diagnose coronary artery blockages, an international team led by researchers at Johns Hopkins reports solid evidence that the newer, more powerful 64-CT scans can easily and correctly identify people with major blood vessel disease and is nearly as accurate as invasive coronary angiography.

Read the story