animal models

(Lifespan) A new study from Rhode Island Hospital researchers suggests that controlling cholesterol may be important for heart health in patients who are taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as naproxen.

The findings are based on a study on the safety of NSAID medications in clinically relevant animal models when high cholesterol is a factor.

The study is published in the current issue of the journal Surgery.

(Washington University in St. Louis) Two recent research studies have found differences between the distribution of potassium-ion-channel variants in the mouse heart and in the human heart.

In the mouse, the ion channels in the atria are different from those in the ventricles. In people there is no such chamber specificity.

The difference is crucially important for the development of safe and effective cardiovascular drugs.

(Buck Institute for Age Research) Venture philanthropist Douglas Rosenberg is betting at least $3.5 million that Buck faculty Dale Bredesen, M.D., has the correct take on how to thwart Alzheimer's disease.

The two have formed a unique partnership aimed at developing treatments based on the results of small molecule screenings that show promise in cell culture and animal models of the disease.

Rosenberg's goal is to raise at least $10 million to get the new drug candidates into early clinical trials.

(Duke University) Duke University bioengineers have developed a simple and inexpensive method for loading cancer drug payloads into nano-scale delivery vehicles and demonstrated in animal models that this new nanoformulation can eliminate tumors after a single treatment.

(Thomas Jefferson University) A recent United States Army study found that excessive bone growth, also known as heterotopic ossificiation (HO), affects up to 70 percent of soldiers who are severely wounded during combat.

The excessive bone forms within muscles and other tissues causing severe pain, reduced mobility and even local paralysis if untreated.

A new study by Thomas Jefferson University researchers found a way to prevent HO in animal models by shutting the process off in its early stages.

(Cell Press) New research describes a molecular tool that shows great promise as a therapeutic for human acute myeloid leukemia, a notoriously treatment-resistant blood cancer.

The study, published by Cell Press in the July 2 issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, describes exciting preclinical studies in which a new therapeutic approach selectively attacks human cancer cells grown in the lab and in animal models of leukemia.