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Swedish and British scientists have shown using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that the hormone oxytocin can inhibit feelings of anxiety in specific individuals. Their discovery might lead to a better understanding and the improved treatment of psychiatric affections in which people feel distressed when meeting others, such as in cases of autism and social phobia.
Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that is secreted by the body during massage, childbirth and breastfeeding to induce a calming, analgesic effect. Animal studies have also shown that oxytocin promotes social interaction, such as during the courting process. The hormone has a direct influence on the amygdala, a brain area that is important for social interaction and for identifying immediate emotional threats. In a new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet and the Welcome Trust Functional Imaging Laboratory in London show that oxytocin has a more targeted effect than simply producing a general feeling of wellbeing.
Subjects were shown pictures of four different faces, two of which were combined with a tiny, harmless but uncomfortable electric shock. As expected, the scientists found that the faces associated with the shock were considered more unpleasant than the others. However, when half of the subjects were then given oxytocin spray and the other half a placebo spray, an interesting change was brought about:
"When we showed the oxytocin group the two faces again that had previously been associated with the shock, they no longer found them disagreeable, while those who had received the placebo still found them so," says Dr Predrag Petrovic from the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet.
Using an fMR scanner, the team also found that subjects who had developed shock-induced feelings of anxiety for certain faces exhibited, when shown these faces, higher levels of activity in two brain areas the amygdale and the ‘fusiform face area that process unpleasant and threatening faces. These activity levels then dropped when they were given oxytocin, but not when given the placebo.
"This suggests that oxytocin can reduce anxiety and increase the chances of social contact for people with certain types of psychiatric disorder", says Dr Petrovic. "There are also previous studies to show that oxytocin can inhibit amygdala activity, which tells us that we should see this as an opportunity for new forms of treatment."
Buy fosamax pills Funding: The study was conducted at the Welcome Trust Functional Imaging Laboratory in London and the data analysed in London and at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. The study was co-financed by the Swedish Research Council.
Publication: ‘Oxytocin Attenuates Affective Evaluations of Conditioned Faces and Amygdala Activity’, Predrag Petrovic, Raffael Kalisch, Tania Singer, and Raymond J Dolan, Journal of Neuroscience online 25 June 2008.
KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET
SE-171 77 Stockholm

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A single antidepressant tablet makes a depressed person see the world in a more positive light just four hours after swallowing it, a new study has shown.
Dr Philip Cowen, professor of pharmacology at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, told delegates at the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Annual Meeting in London that antidepressant medication starts to work far faster than most clinicians assume.
"Generic diflucan pills no prescription Depressed people interpret the world in a negative way," he said. "They become stuck in this state. Negativity causes depression and depression causes negativity and, whatever happens, events will be interpreted in a negative way."
Antidepressants elevate mood, which in turn leads to a depressed person becoming more positive and interpreting things that happen to them in a positive way. Prof Cowen said: "Antidepressants change biases. People who take them begin to see the world in a positive light," said Prof Cowen
But it does not take weeks for this change to happen. Prof Cowen and his colleagues gave 30 depressed people one single 4mg dose of reboxetine - which inhibits the update of both serotonin and noradrenaline in the brain - and compared them with 30 ‘controls’ who were given a placebo or dummy pill.
The researchers asked both groups to carry out a series of simple tasks, including picking out the ‘happy’ facial expression from a line of faces, and recalling positive rather than negative words. They found that the placebo group were poor at spotting happy faces. They also tended to remember the negative words and were slow to categorise positive information.
However, four hours after taking a single dose of reboxetine, the drug group were as capable of remembering the positive words and spotting the happy expression as people who were not depressed.
Prof Cowen said: "People with depression interpret their internal and external worlds in a negative way. The current antidepressant drugs take away the automatic feelings of negativity at the first dose."
Antidepressants affect mood indirectly by abolishing the negative bias in the way that depressed people appraise personal and social experience at a subconscious level.
While there might be little change in overall conscious mood, Prof Cowen concluded: "Over time, and with a fair wind, this can lead to feeling better and improve the changes of recovery."
Reference
The Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Imperial College, London,
1 - 4 July 2008
The Royal College of Psychiatrists
www.rcpsych.ac.uk
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St. Jude Medical, Inc. (Buy cipro pills NYSE:STJ) announced the first patient implants in a clinical study that is investigating whether deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy will help people who suffer from major depressive disorder, a severe form of depression. The patients, a 59-year-old woman and a 42-year-old man, were implanted at Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital in Chicago, with the St. Jude Medical Libra® Deep Brain Stimulation System, an investigational device.
The study, called BROADEN™ (BROdmann Area 25 DEep brain Neuromodulation), is a controlled, multi-site, blinded study that is evaluating the safety and effectiveness of DBS in patients with depression for whom currently available treatments are not effective.
"We are excited to be part of the first double-blind study of Deep Brain Stimulation for depression and remain hopeful that this therapy may prove beneficial for this seriously ill patient population," said Anthony D’Agostino, M.D., medical director of Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital and the principal investigator at the study site. "The study is an important contribution to the advancement of treatment options for severely depressed patients."
This study is researching a specific area in the brain called Brodmann Area 25 that is thought to be involved in depression. The first research of DBS for depression was conducted in Toronto, Canada, by neurologist Helen S. Mayberg, M.D., and neurosurgeon Andres Lozano, M.D., in 2003. They published their findings in Neuron in March 2005, reporting that brain imaging studies indicate that Brodmann Area 25 appears to be overactive in profoundly sad and depressed people.
St. Jude Medical owns the intellectual property rights, and has various patents issued and pending, for the use of neurostimulation at Brodmann Area 25. The Libra Deep Brain Stimulation System provides mild pulses of current from a device implanted near the collarbone and connected to small electrical leads placed at specific targets in the brain.
"This depression study represents a continuation of our commitment to provide solutions for those who are suffering and in need of additional therapy options," said Chris Chavez, president of the St. Jude Medical ANS Division. "The Brodmann Area 25 study is an important step in bringing physicians and their patients a neuromodulation therapy that, if successful, will treat this debilitating form of depression."
The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that more than 21 million U.S. adults suffer from some kind of depressive disorder. Current therapies are effective for about 80 percent of this patient population according to the National Advisory Mental Health Council. That means approximately 4 million adult Americans live with depression that doesn’t respond to medications, psychotherapy or electroconvulsive therapy.
To be eligible for this study, participants must:
- Currently be diagnosed with major depressive disorder
- Be between 21 and 70 years old, with onset of first episode before age 45
- Have tried at least four treatments in their current episode, such as different medications, various combinations of medications or electroconvulsive therapy
- Have been depressed for at least one year
For more information about this study, call toll-free at 866-787-4332, visit
Sponsored by St. Jude Medical, the BROADEN study is being conducted under a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigational device exemption (IDE). Initial study centers are located in Chicago, Dallas and New York City. This clinical study was preceded by a smaller pilot study of 20 patients at three sites in Canada which found that six months after the procedure, 56 percent of the patients experienced at least a 40 percent decrease in depressive symptoms. At last follow-up, 78 percent of the patients were responders, and eight of the patients have re-engaged in life activities such as work, school, travel and relationships, and three of the study patients are considered to be in remission. Patients’ symptoms were measured using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression.
About St. Jude Medical
St. Jude Medical develops medical technology and services that focus on putting more control into the hands of those who treat cardiac, neurological and chronic pain patients worldwide. The company is dedicated to advancing the practice of medicine by reducing risk wherever possible and contributing to successful outcomes for every patient. Headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., St. Jude Medical employs more than 12,000 people worldwide and has five major focus areas that include: cardiac rhythm management, atrial fibrillation, cardiac surgery, cardiology and neuromodulation. For more information, please visit
About the ANS Division of St. Jude Medical
The ANS Division (Advanced Neuromodulation Systems) became a part of St. Jude Medical in 2005. The ANS Division is an innovative technology leader dedicated to the design, development, manufacturing and marketing of implantable neuromodulation systems to improve the quality of life for people suffering from disabling chronic pain and other nervous system disorders ().
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements include the expectations, plans and prospects for the Company, including potential clinical successes, anticipated regulatory approvals and future product launches, and projected revenues, margins, earnings, and market shares. The statements made by the Company are based upon management’s current expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include market conditions and other factors beyond the Company’s control and the risk factors and other cautionary statements described in the Company’s filings with the SEC, including those described in the Risk Factors and Cautionary Statements sections of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 27, 2008. The Company does not intend to update these statements and undertakes no duty to any person to provide any such update under any circumstance.
ANS Division of St. Jude Medical
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Boehringer Ingelheim announced that the European Commission has granted marketing authorisation of the new powerful strength of their fixed dose combination antihypertensive drug MicardisPlus® 80/25 in all 27 EU member states. It will be launched in Germany and Denmark in the coming weeks, followed soon by Ireland, the United Kingdom and the rest of EU, and when approved also in other countries around the world.
The product is licensed for the treatment of essential hypertension in patients whose blood pressure is not adequately controlled on MicardisPlus® 80/12.5 (80 mg telmisartan/12.5 mg hydrochlorothiazide) or patients who have been previously stabilized on telmisartan and hydrochlorothiazide separately at the same dosages. 1,2
The new strength will be marketed by Boehringer Ingelheim in all 27 countries of the European Union under the brand name MicardisPlus® 80/25. It’s co-marketing partners will market the new drug in selected countries under their own brands.
"The approval of MicardisPlus® 80/25 provides physicians with a powerful new drug for patients with difficult to treat essential hypertension", said Dr Andreas Barner, Member of the Board of Boehringer Ingelheim and responsible for Research, Development and Medicine.
European approval of MicardisPlus® 80/25 follows the submission of efficacy and safety data from 12 clinical trials performed in patients with mild to moderate hypertension. The core clinical development programme consisted of two consecutive trials designed to demonstrate the superiority of the fixed dose combination 80 mg telmisartan/25 mg hydrochlorothiazide (T80/H25) versus 80 mg telmisartan/12.5 mg hydrochlorothiazide (T80/H12.5).2 971 patients, who were inadequately controlled for their blood pressure (BP) on existing antihypertensive treatment, were enrolled in the programme. Treatment with T80/H25 provided superior diastolic and systolic blood pressure lowering power after 8 weeks of treatment1 compared to T80/H12.5. In the consecutive follow up trial 639 patients (633 patients evaluated for efficacy) were treated with the T80/H25 for further 6 months. At the end of this treatment interval the proportion of patients achieving DBP control had increased from 52.4% to 71.4%.2
No clinically meaningful differences in the adverse event profiles of T80/H25 and T80/H12.5 were detected. No specific increased incidence was identified for all adverse events. No additional specific safety issues have been identified1,2. Other studies considered by the EMEA showed clearly superior clinical benefits for a T80/H25-based treatment compared with 160 mg valsartan /25 mg hydrochlorothiazide, the market leading ARB??s high strength combination. 3
Landmark trial ONTARGET® proves cardio & vascular protective effects of telmisartan
Boehringer Ingelheim continues to explore new strategies to improve cardiovascular therapy: The results of ONTARGET® (The ONgoing Telmisartan Alone and in Combination with Ramipril Global Endpoint Trial) with 25,620 patients have recently proven that telmisartan is as protective as the current gold standard, ramipril, in reducing the risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke and hospitalisation for congestive heart failure in a broad cross section of high-risk cardiovascular patients. With 25,620 high-risk patients followed up for up to 6 years ONTARGET® was the largest ARB outcome trial ever. "The ONTARGET®results have important implications for the management of patients with cardiovascular diseases. We now have a new treatment option for high-risk patients which is effective and better tolerated," comments Salim Yusuf, lead investigator of the ONTARGET® Trial Programme and Director of the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
Evidence for renal protective effects of telmisartan
Further evidence of the exceptional properties of telmisartan has already been seen in previous trials. In 2007, the AMADEO® trial showed that telmisartan achieved significantly greater reduction in proteinuria compared with the ARB losartan beyond blood pressure reduction effects, demonstrating the potential for renal protection with telmisartan in diabetic patients.5
Proven powerful antihypertensive efficacy
In addition, in 2006 the PRISMATM trials in hypertensive patients demonstrated that telmisartan achieved more powerful blood pressure reductions over the full 24hour period compared with the ACE-inhibitor ramipril. 6,7
Please be advised
This release is from Boehringer Ingelheim Corporate Headquarters in Germany. Please be aware that there may be national differences between countries regarding specific medical information, including licensed uses. Please take account of this when referring to the information provided in this document. This press release is not intended for distribution within the U.S.A.
About telmisartan (Micardis®/Kinzal®/Pritor®)
Telmisartan is a modern member of the Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker (ARB) class and is being investigated in the most ambitious and far-reaching research programme conducted with an ARB. In the clinical trial programmes ONTARGET®, PROTECTION® and PRoFESS®, over 58,000 patients have been enrolled to investigate the cardiovascular protective effects of telmisartan (for more information please visit ).
Telmisartan was discovered and developed by Boehringer Ingelheim. Under the trademarks MICARDIS® and MICARDISPLUS® (combination with hydrochlorothiazide) the company markets telmisartan in 84 countries around the world, including the USA, Japan and European countries. Telmisartan is marketed in cooperation with Astellas Pharma Inc. in Japan, Bayer HealthCare in Europe and GlaxoSmithKline in selected markets.
Astellas Pharma Inc. co-promotes telmisartan under the trademark MICARDIS®, Bayer HealthCare promotes telmisartan under the brand names Kinzalmono®, Kinzalkomb® (combination with hydrochlorothiazide), and Pritor® and PritorPlus® (combination with hydrochlorothiazide) in markets across Europe. Pritor® and PritorPlus® is also marketed by GlaxoSmithKline in selected markets.
About ONTARGET®
The ONTARGET® Trial Programme consists of two randomised, double-blind, multicentre international trials: the principle trial, ONTARGET® which reports its results today, and a parallel trial TRANSCEND® (Telmisartan Randomized AssessmeNt Study in ACE-I INtolerant subjects with cardiovascular Disease), which is planned to be reported later in the year.3
The treatment arms for the ONTARGET® Trial were telmisartan 80mg, ramipril 10mg, and combination therapy with telmisartan 80mg and ramipril 10mg. In the TRANSCEND® trial the treatment arms are telmisartan 80mg or placebo both on top of standard blood pressure care, not including an ACE or another ARB.3
Patients enrolled in The ONTARGET®
Trial Programme were aged ?

Right now, about half of all people who take medicine for an anxiety disorder don’t get much help from it. And doctors have no definitive way to predict who will, and who won’t, benefit from each anti anxiety prescription they write.
But a University of Michigan Medical School researcher and his team are working to bring more certainty to how doctors and patients choose anxiety treatments, by probing the connection between brain activity, genetics and medication.
In a paper last month in the Journal of Neuroscience, K. Luan Phan, M.D., and his former University of Chicago colleagues reported intriguing findings from a brain imaging study in occasional, non-dependent, marijuana users.
In a placebo controlled design, they made the findings after giving the volunteers delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, and exposing them to photographs of emotional faces, which served as signals of social communication. The study results, which showed that THC reduces the response to threat in a brain region called the amygdala, allowed the researchers to zero in on an area of the brain that might serve as a good target for new anti-anxiety drugs.
Now, with a new clinical trial that is currently seeking participants, Phan is searching for more clues as to how anxiety treatment could be tailored to the individual patient, to give the best chance that a treatment will work for him or her.
The new study will test a generic form of the drug Zoloft (sertraline), a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for social anxiety disorder and other anxiety disorders. Both people with social anxiety disorder and a comparison group of people without anxiety are needed for brain scanning and genetic testing.
Buy generic clomid The idea is to see whether variations in the genes for certain brain receptors and transporters are linked with variations in how a person’s brain reacts to pictures of emotional faces, and variations in how they respond to the anti-anxiety drug. This information could lead to an individualized or personalized approach to medical care.
"These two studies are trying to get to the same goal: to find better treatments for anxiety disorders that affect millions of Americans and seriously interfere with their functioning," says Phan, an assistant professor of psychiatry at U-M and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. "The cannabis study highlights a new avenue that we need to explore further as we try to develop novel medications, while the sertraline study will try to find out if we can tell which patients might or might not respond well, and by what mechanism, to an already existing medication known to have some efficacy in treating anxiety disorders."
Phan led the cannabis study at the University of Chicago, collaborating with Harriet deWit, Ph.D., the director of the Human Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory in the Department of Psychiatry there. Their results are based on brain scans of 16 recreational marijuana users who agreed to undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI.
The researchers chose fMRI because it allows them to see in real time which areas of the brain are most active while a volunteer is performing a certain task for example, viewing a picture of a human face that is expressing anger or fear, or performing a decision-making exercise.
That same approach will be used in the new sertraline study, with two different scans before and after anxiety patients are prescribed the medication. The healthy volunteers in the study will also have fMRI scans, though they will not receive the drug. All study participants must between 18 and 55 years old, and those with anxiety disorders must not be taking any other medication that could be affecting the brain in order to qualify to enter the study.
The cannabis study used THC, and a placebo caplet that looked exactly like the THC caplet. The researchers found that when the marijuana users received THC, their brain’s response to "threatening" faces was less than it was when they received a placebo.
The difference in response was seen in an area of the brain called the amygdala, which is a hub for the brain’s ability to process signs of danger or warning, and to decide how to respond. But there were no differences between THC and placebo in the areas of the brain that process non-emotional visual signals or govern body movement suggesting that THC had a specific effect on a specific brain region and on a specific task of processing fear. Other researchers have shown this to be a region that’s rich in a receptor called CB1, part of the brain’s "cannabinoid" system.
The human brain produces compounds called endocannabinoids that act on these receptors, and are involved in anxiety and fear-learning, or the learning of which threats to be afraid of. But little has been known about the effect of THC, an exogenous cannabinoid, on the brain’s own system.
For ethical reasons, the researchers did not give THC to non-marijuana users, and the study was small. But the findings in the study volunteers suggest that THC and other compounds that act on the CB1 receptors in the amygdala could be fruitful targets for new anti-anxiety medicines. Phan notes that rimonabant, a smoking-cessation and weight-loss drug not yet available in the United States for clinical use, also acts on the CB1 receptor.
Understanding how drugs such as marijuana affect the brain may also help reveal more about why people become addicted to illicit drugs or abuse certain prescription drugs, Phan notes. Some individuals may be using illicit drugs and misusing prescribed drugs to alleviate their anxiety. He hopes to investigate this issue further by studying people who have used prescription pain drugs recreationally (such as oxycodone), using new funding from the National Institutes of Health.
The THC study links three key domains of human behavior: a specific region of the brain, the function of that area, and a neurochemical agent (THC) that appears to act on them. The new sertraline study will take it one step further, by looking at genetics too. Specifically, Phan and his colleagues will look for variations ("functional polymorphisms") among several genes in individual subjects. Key among them is the gene (5-HTTLPR) that encodes the serotonin transporter protein that transports the neurotransmitter serotonin in and out of brain cells. Serotonin has long been known to be involved in depression and anxiety, and indeed most modern antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs (such as SSRIs) work on this transporter.
Reference: Journal of Neuroscience, March 5, 2008, Vol. 28, No. 10, 2313-2319
University of Michigan Health System
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Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2435
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