Genetic link to diabetes found in South Asians
[Date: 2011-08-30]
Six new genetic variants associated with type 2 diabetes in South Asians have been identified by a team of international researchers.
Writing in the journal Nature Genetics, the team explains how their findings advance the search for diagnostic markers and drug targets, and in turn the global battle to prevent and treat this major disease which often leads on to serious heart disease or stroke.…
Cancer drugs kill malaria-causing parasite
[Date: 2011-03-24]
EU-funded researchers have discovered that a class of chemotherapy drugs originally designed to inhibit key signaling pathways in cancer cells also kills the parasite that causes malaria. They believe this discovery could quickly open up a new strategy for combating this deadly disease, which infects 250 million and kills between one and three million people worldwide every year.…
Molecular switch affects panic disorder
[Date: 2011-04-14]
Panic disorder sufferers will tell you the attacks are some of the most sudden, frightening and uncomfortable experiences ever. But what makes some people susceptible to these attacks and others not? Studies of twins point to hereditary factors playing a key role in 40% of cases.…
How anti-depressants work: new discoveries could improve depression treatment
[Date: 2011-04-13]
EU-funded researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London in the UK, have discovered for the first time in a human model how anti-depressants make new brain cells, meaning that researchers can now develop better and more efficient drugs to combat depression.…
Fight against tropical parasitic diseases moves forward
European researchers have discovered new compounds that may help fight a series of killer tropical parasitic diseases.
Current drug treatments for diseases caused by trypanosomatid parasites such as African Sleeping Sickness, Chagas disease and Leishmaniasis are often inadequate due to drug toxicity and resistance, but new findings from the pan-European team from Belgium, Germany and Italy could move forward treatment development for these diseases.…
