Popular Post

People with high cholesterol are at risk of heart attack and stroke because atherosclerotic plaques within their arteries can rupture triggering the formation of a blood clot called an occlusive thrombus that cuts off the blood supply to their heart or brain.

People with high cholesterol are at risk of heart attack and strokeFor years, scientists have studied the cause of this abnormal clotting. Now, a study led by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, has identified a molecular pathway that leads to this abnormal blood clotting and turned it off using a popular class of cholesterol-lowering drugs, statins.

The research was performed using humans, monkeys and mice with highly elevated blood lipid levels. It indicated that elevated levels of oxidized low density lipoprotein (LDL) induces a molecule called “tissue factor” that triggers clotting. The study appears online in the January 3, 2012 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Continue reading

Hugely popular non-steroidal anti-inflammation drugs like aspirin, naproxen and ibuprofen all work by inhibiting or killing an enzyme called cyclooxygenase – a key catalyst in production of hormone-like lipid compounds called prostaglandins that are linked to a variety of ailments, from headaches and arthritis to menstrual cramps and wound sepsis.

In a new paper, published this week in the online early edition of PNAS, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine conclude that aspirin has a second effect: Not only does it kill cyclooxygenase, thus preventing production of the prostaglandins that cause inflammation and pain, it also prompts the enzyme to generate another compound that hastens the end of inflammation, returning the affected cells to homeostatic health.

Continue reading

The medical organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) today    released new evidence at the 6th South African AIDS Conference in  Durban on early success using the high-strength antibiotic, linezolid  as part of a treatment regimen for patients with extensively drug-  resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). This is some of the first clinical data  from both an African and primary care context suggesting that  linezolid is safe and effective for treating patients with XDR-TB,  including those co-infected with HIV.

Despite growing rates of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB), and mounting global evidence on the effectiveness of linezolid in treating the disease, access to the drug in South Africa is limited due to high prices. However, as more quality-assured generics become available, South Africa has the chance to seek alternatives to the single supplier currently on the domestic market.

Continue reading

The 2014 Ebola outbreak is one of the largest Ebola outbreaks in history and the first in West Africa. It is affecting four countries in West Africa: Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, but does not pose a significant risk to the U.S. public. CDC is working with other U.S. government agencies, the World Health Organization, and other domestic and international partners in an international response to the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa. CDC has activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to help coordinate technical assistance and control activities with partners. CDC has deployed several teams of public health experts to the West Africa region and plans to send additional public health experts to the affected countries to expand current response activities.

Continue reading