Popular Articles

Pharmacists Have Solutions To Help Address Recommendations In The Leaders' Project Health Care Reform Report
The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) applauds the recommendations regarding chronic disease in the report by the Bipartisan Policy Center"s (BPC) Leaders" Project, entitled "Crossing Our Lines: Working Together to Reform the U.S. Health System." The report outlines key health care reform policy recommendations from a bipartisan perspective to ensure that all Americans have quality, affordable health care.

Results From Neurotech's NT-501 Phase 2 Retinitis Pigmentosa Studies Demonstrate Consistent Biological Effect On Photoreceptors
Neurotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the Company"s product candidate, NT-501, demonstrated a strong biologic effect in two Phase 2 clinical trials for retinitis pigmentosa (RP). RP is a slowly developing condition that causes the progressive degeneration of rod & cone photoreceptor cells in the retina that over time diminishes night and peripheral vision and eventually leads to blindness. RP is an orphan-designated indication for which there are currently no approved treatments.
News of the day
Varying Reductions In Breast Cancer Suggest Hormone Therapy To Blame
The recent decline in invasive breast cancer in the US was significantly less pronounced in the poor and those who live in rural areas. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Medicine suggest this may be due to varying reductions in the numbers of women taking hormone therapy (HT).
Diagnostics

Teasing Apart T Helper Cells

The cytokine IL-9 promotes a multiple sclerosis-like disease in mice, according to a new study by Nowak et al. published online in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. In a related Commentary, Richard Locksley discusses the molecular and genetic regulation of cytokine production by CD4+ T helper (Th) cells and the plasticity among different Th subsets. The Commentary was published online in the Journal of Experimental Medicine on Monday, July 27th. Since the late 1980s, when the concept of Th1 and -2 were first introduced, several new subsets have arisen, including Th17 cells and regulatory T (T reg) cells. Recent attention has focused on a putative new Th cell subset with the propensity to secrete IL-9. But whether these "Th9" cells are truly a unique subset or whether many Th cell subsets can produce IL-9 under the right circumstances has been a matter of debate. Nowak and colleagues now show that a Th17-driven CNS disease was blunted in mice lacking IL-9. In vitro studies showed that IL-9 was produced primarily by Th17 and T reg cells - subsets that depend on TGF-beta for their differentiation. Thus IL-9 production may go hand-in-hand with the presence of TGF-beta rather than with a defined Th cell subset. Locksley, R.M., et al. 2009. J. Exp. Med. doi:10.1084/jem.20091442 Nowak, E.C., et al. 2009. J. Exp. Med. doi:10.1084/jem.20090246 Rita Sullivan Rockefeller University Press


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