EU-AIMS - paving the way for new diagnostics and treatments in autism
IMI's EU-AIMS (European Autism Interventions - A Multicentre Study for Developing New Medications) project is making breakthroughs in research into autism spectrum disorder (ASD), that are set to make a real difference to the lives of people with autism and their families. ASD affects around one in a hundred children, but still has no effective drug treatments. ASD symptoms include problems with social interactions, behaviour, co-ordination, language and communication. These range from mild to severe, and vary with age. Until recently, ASD was considered an untreatable condition.
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Study opens new prospects for developing new targeted therapies for breast cancer
A study led by prominent breast cancer experts from Europe and the US has revealed a number of potentially important prospects for targeted therapies, and brings opportunities of truly personalised therapy for breast cancer a step closer, researchers said at the 5th IMPAKT Breast Cancer Conference in Brussels, Belgium. The IMPAKT meeting presents cutting edge, 'translational' breast cancer research that is beginning to have an impact for patients.
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MyHealthAvatar to Reshape the Future of Healthcare
Research to set up an online system enabling doctors to access patient's health records from all across the European Union, has been launched. The University of Bedfordshire is leading the European Commission project, MyHealthAvatar, which is designed to give people more knowledge and control of their health via their computers and mobile phones. The programme will keep archives of each user's electronic health records, as well as store data about daily activities and family history. These combined factors, which may influence general health, would then be collated to predict and prevent potential diseases such as various forms of cancer.
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Mapping of cancer cell fuel pumps paves the way for new drugs
For the first time, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have managed to obtain detailed images of the way in which the transport protein GLUT transports sugars into cells. Since tumours are highly dependent on the transportation of nutrients in order to be able to grow rapidly, the researchers are hoping that the study published in the scientific magazine Nature Structural & Molecular Biology will form the basis for new strategies to fight cancer cells. In order to be able to fuel their rapid growth, cancer tumours depend on transporter proteins to work at high speed to introduce sugars and other nutrients that are required for the cell's metabolism.
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ESC guide on new oral anticoagulant drugs
A practical guide on the use of the new oral anticoagulants (NOACs) has been produced by the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). A guide was needed to summarise existing information on different drugs, to answer clinical questions that fall outside what drug companies can legally answer, and to make distinctions between the different drugs. ESC guidelines on atrial fibrillation recommend the NOACs as preferable to vitamin K antagonists for stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation.(1) Companies provide a Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) for their drug but the content is bound by legal restrictions and the information in SmPCs for different NOACs overlaps.
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Commonly used drug can limit radiation damage to lungs and heart for cancer patients
Unavoidable damage caused to the heart and lungs by radiotherapy treatment of tumours in the chest region can be limited by the administration of an ACE inhibitor, a drug commonly used in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, a group of Dutch researchers have found.[1] Common cancers such as breast, oesophagus, lung, and Hodgkin's lymphoma are frequently treated with radiotherapy, but the radiation dose that can be given safely is limited by the sensitivity of the health lung tissue which is also irradiated.
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Mitochondrial toxicity - an underestimated risk for late-stage failure
Recent comprehensive reviews revealed: Medical researchers are worried about hidden mitochondrial toxicity of their drug candidates causing attrition in late-stage. Searching in PubMed database on 'drug-induced mitochondrial toxicity' leads to more than 7,000 hits. Quite often drug-induced mitochondrial toxicity can't be detected by conventional cancer cell-based in vitro toxicity assays. Most highly proliferable cells used for in vitro cytotoxicity assays rely on glycolysis for energy production and avoid the oxidative pathway that involves mitochondria ("Cabtree" effect, see Marroquin, L.Y. et al., Toxicological Sciences, 97:539, 2007).
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