Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Lots of Goodies
There's a lot of good science out there this morning, and also lots of paperwork on my desk. So, I would love to hear what others know about these things...
A study of rosuvastatin (Crestor) suggests that high doses of the drug may not only slow the process of arterial deterioration, but could reverse it as well. Crestor has serious side effects, even at normal doses - so much so that some experts say it oughtn't be on the market at all - but the concept is intriguing.
It seems that infants who are treated with antibiotics are more likely to develop asthma later on. I am fully in support of doctors being more cautious about prescribing antibiotics, especially in kids, but I also worry about this becoming the latest parental craze, wherein people ignore doctors' advice (fail to give their kid prescribed treatments) and/or start suing.
Nanofibre scaffolding has been successful in partially regrowing the optic nerve (restoring vision) in blinded hamsters. Cool!
A small, retrospective study suggests that long-term marijuana use may damage cognitive ability. Not great data, and pretty poorly controlled, but worth taking note.
Coffee continues to be good for you. Researchers have discovered how caffeine acts to protect against pancratitis: it closes calcium channels inside the cells, preventing the CAM-Kinase cascade leading to cell death. Yay coffee!
A study of rosuvastatin (Crestor) suggests that high doses of the drug may not only slow the process of arterial deterioration, but could reverse it as well. Crestor has serious side effects, even at normal doses - so much so that some experts say it oughtn't be on the market at all - but the concept is intriguing.
It seems that infants who are treated with antibiotics are more likely to develop asthma later on. I am fully in support of doctors being more cautious about prescribing antibiotics, especially in kids, but I also worry about this becoming the latest parental craze, wherein people ignore doctors' advice (fail to give their kid prescribed treatments) and/or start suing.
Nanofibre scaffolding has been successful in partially regrowing the optic nerve (restoring vision) in blinded hamsters. Cool!
A small, retrospective study suggests that long-term marijuana use may damage cognitive ability. Not great data, and pretty poorly controlled, but worth taking note.
Coffee continues to be good for you. Researchers have discovered how caffeine acts to protect against pancratitis: it closes calcium channels inside the cells, preventing the CAM-Kinase cascade leading to cell death. Yay coffee!
