Drugs and Medicines

Acid Flashbacks

If you have reflux, you know how it feels when food returns to hauntyou. Dr John Brififa suggests several strategies for taming heartburn at night While a good evening meal can send us to bed in a contented state, our last supper may also make its presence felt later in the form of acid indigestion and heartburn.

Important Drugs for Glaucoma., Cancer, Diabetes

Jack M. Rosenberg, PharmD, PhD, professor of clinical pharmacy and pharmacology at Long Island University (LIU), and director of the International Drug Information Center, both in Brooklyn, NY. Also participating in the interview were Lorraine Cicero, a research fellow at the Center, and Saryapal Pareddy, adjunct assistant professor of drug information at LIU. Several years ago, the Food and Drug Admin-istration approved a number of drugs for the treatment of diabetes and glaucoma ...plus a drug that boosts the effectiveness of cancer chemotherapy. Cancer

Important Lessons from The

For medicines that were meant to relieve pain, Vioxx and its relatives a new generation of anti-inflammatory drugs called the cox a inhibitors are causing spasms all round. Since Vioxx was withdrawn from sale late last year by Merck, its maker, because of its association with an increased risk of nasty cardiovascular side effects, sharp questions have been asked about how big drug firms communicate risks to the wider world, how they market their wares and how effective government regulators are in policing the industry.

Food Vaccines Show Promise Now Forget about Them

The lack of refrigeration remains a vexing problem in vaccinating the world's poor, because drugs often lose their efficacy in the heat. One solution 200 years ago was to propagate the vaccine in orphan children. "It was a really fascinating idea," remarks Charles Arntzen, founder of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University but not one to be implemented today. Instead Arntzen has hopes for vaccines that exist inside crops and could just be eaten.

Guide for Improving Adherence to Drug Therapies

Since 1996, the standard treatment for HIV infection has moved from single and double drug therapies to therapies containing three or more anti HIV drugs, also known as Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, or HAART. One of the main concerns of antiretroviral programs is to motivate clients to follow their complex drug regimen exactly as prescribed. Unless the therapy is adhered to at least 95 percent correctly, levels of HIV in the blood will rise, resulting in AIDS related complications.

SOMATOM Sensation 64: The world's Fastest CT Scanner

The SOMATOM Sensation 64 is the world's fastest and most accurate computer tomography (CT) scanner. The machine makes use of the newly developed z-Sharp technology, which combines the rapid movement of the X-ray source in the Straton tube with a 64-channel Ultra Fast Ceramic (UFC) detector design. This enables the scanning of twice as many "slices" per rotation and substantially improves the spatial quality and image resolution to less than 0.4 millimeters, which means that even very small tissue structures can be displayed in super-fine detail.

Football Shirt Goes High-Tech

Footballers around the world could soon benefit from a new high-tech shirt that alerts managers to a player's heart rate and hydration levels. The invention is particularly relevant now that, following the advent of multi-national leagues and the increasing number of international competitions, many teams have to play in semi-tropical or tropical conditions on a regular basis.

Dangerous Drug Interactions

Joseph Graedon, one of the country's foremost experts on drug interactions. He has served as a consultant to the Federal Trade commission on nonprescription durg advertising and as a member of the advisory board of the University of California (San Francisco), Drug Studies Unit. He is co-author, with Teresa Graedon. PhD, of many books on health topics, including The People's Guide to deadly drug interactions and The People's Pharmacy Completely New and Revised, St. Martin's Press.

A New Therapy for Tuberculosis

It is often tempting to abandon old ways for glamorous new ones. Such is certainly the case for antibiotic development. However, a recent study by Andries and colleagues1 shows that established methods, enhanced by modern techniques, can be used to generate exciting results.

Plants, Minerals, and Molds Combat Disease Highlights in The History of Pharmacy

Plants were probably man's first source of medicine. The Chinese were said to have compiled a catalogue of medicinal herbs as early as 3000 B.c. Egyptian apothecaries, in 1500 B.C., knew how to compound herbs, mineral salts, and animal substances into salves, gargles, powders and purgatives.

Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate

Composition Tablet: Each film coated tablet contains Glucosamine Sulfate 250 mg as Glucosamine Sulfate Potassium Chloride USP & Chondroitin Sulfate 200 mg as Chondroitin Sulfate Sodium USP. Pharmacology

Physical Medicine and Physiotherapy

Physical medicine is the branch of healing arts that serves in the rehabilitation of people with injuries or diseases affecting muscles, joints, nerves and bones. Physical medicine utilises physical procedures such as heat, cold; massage or mechanical devises to diagnose disease or to treat disabled and help rehabilitation.

Information about Avandia (Rosiglitaaone Maleate)

What is Avandia? Avandia is one product in a class of prescription drugs called thiazolidinediones (thigh-a-zol-a-deen-die-owns) or TZDs. It is used to treat Type 2 diabetes by helping the body use the insulin that it is already making. Avandia, comes as pills that can be taken either once a day or twice a day to help improve blood sugar levels. How does Avandia Treat Type 2 Diabetes?

Chicken Pox can be Prevented

Doctors in a seminar opined in favour of getting jab of Chicken Pox vaccine to avoid this infectious disease for those who are not yet exposed to the virus. This vaccine (one dose for below 12 years but above 9 months and 2 doses for above 13 years 6-8 weeks apart) can effectively prevent the disease and might avoid an attack even after exposure if it is given within 72 hours.

Medicinal Uses of Bananas

Banana (Musa sapientum L.) one of the major tropical fruits, is commercially important in world trade. Banana is the cheapest as well as one of the most nutritious fruits. The banana bas become a very popular fruit in modern westernized diets for its flavour, texture and for its convenience value being easy to peel off and eat. Banana can make an useful contribution to the Vitamin A, C and B6 content of the diet and is an important and immediate source of energy. It is often eaten by sportsmen and women during competition.

The Doctor’s Medicinal Garden

Many of the trees and plants in the garden, surrounding the restored Doctor’s home, served as a "natural pharmacy" from which the nineteenth century doctor could prepare remedies and cures for the villagers. This authentic garden was developed and maintained by the Southern Ontario Unit of the Herb Society of America. The following perennial herbs are typical of those commonly used to stock a storehouse of remedies. Comfrey Symphytum officinale Old time remedy herb used for compresses applied to injuries. Elecampane

Safe Water, Basic Sanitation And Waste Management In Health-Care Settings

The month of October every year is observed as the sanitation month by the government of Bangladesh. The ministry of LGRD and Cooperatives along with the Department of Public Health Engineering, UNICEF and WHO undertakes a number of programmes to review the progress of works concerning safe water supply, arsenic mitigation, waste management and installation of sanitary latrines throughout the country in order to reach the target of sanitation for all by 2010 Health-Care Facilities Require:

Oral Insulin Could Replace Injections

Scientists believe that they have found a way to make insulin for diabetics available in pills instead of daily shots. This breakthrough could prove to be a boon for diabetics as these pills could eliminate the daily injections of insulin. Injections under the skin allow insulin to be absorbed slowly enough to control blood sugar levels. Previously efforts to control diabetes with insulin pills had failed because the body digests oral insulin much too quickly.

Lisinopril In Migraine

There is light at the end of the tunnel for people suffering from migraine according to a study carried out by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Sweden. Lisinopril is presently used for the treatment of high blood pressure. It was tried on 60 patients suffering from migraine and ranging between the ages of 19-59 years. The treatment extended over a period of two weeks starting with one 10mg Lisinopril tablet once daily for one week followed by two 10mg tablets once daily for 11 weeks.