Pharmacology

Disparities In Pain Management To Racial Bias

A new survey has documented that black Americans are systematically under-treated for pain relative to white Americans, and the authors allege it is due to the over-prescription and over-use of pain medications among white patients and the under-prescript ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 5 2016 - 6:30am

Treat Sugar Like A Drug?

Type II diabetes is booming in the developed world and obviously obesity is the primary driver. A new paper contends sugar is a primary driver of that obesity, rather than consuming too many calories and not exercising, and so sugar addiction should be tr ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 7 2016 - 10:15am

Why LSD Is So Groovy, Man

When people take the psychedelic drug LSD, they sometimes feel as though the boundary that separates them from the rest of the world has dissolved. Now, the first functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI) of people's brains while on LSD help to exp ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 17 2016 - 11:30am

Debunked: Claims That Chantix And Zyban Smoking Cessation Drugs Boost Risk Of Psychiatric Side Effects

The smoking cessation aids varenicline (Chantix) and bupropion (Zyban) do not show a significant increase in neuropsychiatric adverse events compared to the nicotine patch and a placebo, according to data published in The Lancet. After reports claiming va ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 24 2016 - 9:39am

Accutane: Despite Birth Defects Risk, 50 Percent Of Canadian Women Don't Comply With Requirements

Isotretinoin (popularly marketed as Accutane) is used to treat severe acne and has been approved in Canada since 1983. The average age of isotretinoin users in Canada is estimated to be 24 years, and half of all prescriptions are written for females, a co ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 25 2016 - 3:51pm

Too Much Folate In Pregnant Women Linked To Autism

Supplements gone awry. Pregnant women are told they need folate to ensure proper neurodevelopment of their babies, but new research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests there could be serious risks in having too much of it. ...

Article - News Staff - May 12 2016 - 5:49am

Alternative Medicine: What The Public Needs Is Responsible, Critical Assessments

As I am new here, it might be a good idea to briefly introduce myself. I am a physician, trained in Germany, whose very first post as a freshly-backed doctor happened to be in Germany’s only homeopathic hospital. At the time (mid 1970s), I had no idea tha ...

Article - Edzard Ernst - May 12 2016 - 7:10am

Pregabalin Pain And Anxiety Drug May Be Linked To Birth Defects

MINNEAPOLIS- A drug commonly used to treat pain, epilepsy, anxiety and other brain health disorders may be associated with an increased risk of major birth defects, according to a study in Neurology.  The drug pregabalin is approved by the FDA to treat ep ...

Article - News Staff - May 19 2016 - 12:34pm

Supplement Claims To Shut Off Cravings For High-Calorie Foods

Eating a powdered food supplement based on a molecule produced by bacteria in the gut, reduces cravings for high-calorie foods such as chocolate, cake and pizza, according to a small pilot study which asked 20 volunteers to consume a milkshake that either ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 2 2016 - 7:30am

Sigesbeckia Chinese Herbal Medicine Given UK Approval

Last week, a press release reached me announcing that a Chinese herbal medicine called "Phynova Joint and Muscle Relief Tablets" and containing the active ingredient Sigesbeckia is now on sale in the UK for the first time, in Boots The Chemist:  ...

Article - Edzard Ernst - Jul 21 2016 - 6:06am