Our very good friend and colleague, Dr. Scott Mellis, Vice President, Early Clinical Development and Experimental Sciences, Rare Diseases at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, took an adventurous trip to Africa and came back with some extraordinary photos.
The FDA has requested that Endo Pharmaceuticals remove its opioid pain medication, reformulated Opana ER (oxymorphone hydrochloride), from the market. After careful consideration, the agency is seeking removal based on its concern that the benefits of the drug may no longer outweigh its risks. This is the first time the agency has taken steps to remove a currently marketed opioid pain medication from sale due to the public health consequences of abuse.
The French philosopher and mathematician Rene Descartes (1596-1650) gave a high priority to medicine and dedicated a great deal of his life to medical studies. Nevertheless, his relation to medicine has always been debated. A number of recent works have contributed to reassessing the earlier critique which nearly wrote him out from medical history. The recent biographical dismissal of a number of earlier allegations and the recent interpretations of the medical contents of his collected writings ought to result in Descartes' reinstatement in medical history.
Physiology is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical processes of living organisms function as a whole. Physiology is also the study the interaction of how, for example, the nervous, immune, endocrine, respiratory, and circulatory systems, function and interplay. The study of these systems is shared with such medically oriented disciplines as neurology and immunology. The theme of structure to function is central to biology. Physiological studies have traditionally been divided into plant physiology and animal physiology, but some principles of physiology are universal, no matter what particular organism is being studied. For example, what is learned about the physiology of yeast cells can also apply to human cells. The field of animal physiology extends the tools and methods of human physiology to non-human species. Plant physiology borrows techniques from both research fields.
We hope to see you in Chicago and join us on our couches.
Giant cell arteritis is a form of vasculitis, a group of disorders that results in inflammation of blood vessels. This inflammation causes the arteries to narrow or become irregular, impeding adequate blood flow. In giant cell arteritis, the vessels most involved are those of the head, especially the temporal arteries (located on each side of the head). For this reason, the disorder is sometimes called temporal arteritis. However, other blood vessels, including large ones like the aorta, can become inflamed in giant cell arteritis. Standard treatment involves high doses of corticosteroids that are tapered over time.
