Genetic Test for Opioid Addiction Risk Should Be Withdrawn, Experts Tell FDA
A group of 31 physicians and researchers called on the FDA to reverse its decision about AvertD, a test that uses DNA to identify whether adults may have an elevated risk of developing opioid use disorder (OUD). In a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, experts in genetics, addiction, psychiatry, public health, and device […]
High-Dose Leptin Reversed Severe Genetic Obesity in Two Patients
Personalized recombinant leptin treatment helped reverse severe, early-onset obesity in two children carrying rare antagonistic leptin genetic variants, a study showed. In the double case report, two unrelated children — a 14-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl — presented with what appeared to be leptin dysfunction, marked by intense hyperphagia, lack of satiety, and severe […]
Benefits of Parathyroidectomy Run Far Deeper Than PTH Normalization
SEATTLE — Parathyroidectomy helped reverse disrupted levels of inflammatory cytokines and vitamin D metabolites in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT), a researcher suggested here. After 50 patients, newly diagnosed with PHPT, underwent parathyroidectomy, serum intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels returned to the normal range within 3 months (115.6±38.9 to 42.6±24.5 pg/mL, P<0.001), said Xiangbing Wang […]
Research reveals structure of a human endogenous reverse transcriptase
The crystal structure of a human endogenous reverse transcriptase has similarities to HIV reverse transcriptase, a well-known tractable drug target, which will help design drugs to treat cancer and other diseases, according to a study co-authored by a Rutgers researcher. The study, published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), describes the […]