GOOD NEWS

New drug therapy

University of Rochester researchers believe that they have found a way to change the action of 60 per cent of currently available medications, in some cases making them many times more effective, according to an article published in the journal Science. The discovery has the potential to improve treatments for diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression and arthritis. The study describes a new way to manipulate perhaps the most important signalling mechanism in human cells: G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). Human cells must be able to send signals that switch life processes on and off as they react to the nutrients, toxins, hormones and even the light particles they are exposed to. The researchers, however, point out that the new drugs are still not ready to be used in the clinic.

Reducing tumours

The inhibition of heme oxygenase-1, an enzyme involved in iron metabolism and expressed in spleen and liver, reduces Kaposi sarcoma tumour growth, according to a report in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Kaposi sarcoma is the most frequent tumour in AIDS patients and is caused by infection of the patients with the Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpes virus, the report said. Researchers at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid said that this discovery could result in the production of new drugs to treat Kaposi sarcoma and other viral cancers.

BAD NEWS

Diabetes danger

People don’t seem to take diabetes seriously despite it being one of the widest spread diseases, the head of the Johns Hopkins Diabetes Center, US, writes in a strongly-worded review published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. He urges doctors and patients to better use the blood-testing tools at hand so as to manage the disease and prevent most of its dire impacts on the heart, kidneys, nerves and vision. The author feels that self-monitoring goes a long way in curing and controlling diabetes, but unfortunately people are too complacent.

Alcohol and suicide

Compared to the general population, individuals with alcohol-use disorders (AUDs) have a significantly greater risk of suicide attempts, according to a study in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Up to 40 per cent of treatment-seeking patients with AUDs report having attempted suicide, which is six to 10 times greater than suicide attempts among the general population.