A synthetic strategy has been developed that provides easy access to structurally diverse analogues of naturally occurring antibiotics, providing a fresh means of attack in the war against drug-resistant bacteria. See Article p.338
Nature 533 326 doi: 10.1038/533326a
(credit: Alan Rockefeller)
Psilocybin, the psychedelic compound in ‘magic’ mushrooms, may be an effective way to treat depression in patients that have seen no benefit from other, standard forms of treatment, early results suggest.
In a pilot study involving just 12 people with treatment-resistant depression, two doses of the mushroom compound cleared symptoms in eight participants—67 percent—after...
Seattle-based biotech startup Kineta today announced that it won a $ 7.2 million award to develop an antiviral drug therapy for treating Lassa haemorrhagic fever.
The money comes from The Wellcome Trust, a London-based...
(credit: Ptigarstheone)
On Friday, Apple formally responded to the government’s demand that the company help unlock a seized iPhone in New York, which pre-dates the debacle that played out earlier this year in San Bernardino.
As Ars reported last month, federal prosecutors have asked a more senior judge, known as a district judge, to countermand a...
(credit: Eric Hunsaker)
Trips to the pharmacy are getting more and more expensive. From 2006 to 2013, the average retail cost of a year’s supply of 622 common prescriptions doubled—from about $ 5,500 to more than $ 11,000—according to a new report from AARP, a senior citizen advocacy group.
The rising costs are likely to...
The enteric nervous system (ENS) is the largest component of the autonomic nervous system, with neuron numbers surpassing those present in the spinal cord. The ENS has been called the ‘second brain’ given its autonomy, remarkable neurotransmitter diversity and complex cytoarchitecture. Defects in ENS development are responsible for many human disorders including Hirschsprung disease (HSCR). HSCR is caused by the developmental failure of ENS progenitors...
Turing Pharmaceutical’s dramatic and rage-inducing decision to jack up the price of a life-saving drug, Daraprim, by more than 5,000 percent is now under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, according to a lawyer for the pharmaceutical company’s now former CEO, Martin Shkreli.
Shkreli’s lawyer, Baruch Weiss, disclosed the FTC investigation in a letter to the US House...
Inhibitors of the BET bromodomain proteins are promising cancer therapeutics, but tumour cells are likely to become resistant to these drugs. Anticipated mechanisms of resistance have now been described.
Nature doi: 10.1038/nature16863
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A plague of drug violence in Mexico stands to undo gains in life expectancy from the last century, according to new research published in Health Affairs.
Life expectancy crept upward during most of the 20th century, largely thanks to improved access to health care and quality of life. But from 2005 to 2010, the...
(credit: Adam Jones, Ph.D.)
A Massachusetts man who bought methylone (also known as "molly") online from China was sentenced Monday to eight years and four months in prison.
Harold Bates pleaded guilty in September 2015 to importing methylone and one count of possession by an inmate in prison of a prohibited object. Curiously, the man was busted...
