News by Subject Medicine & Health

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina have developed a new digital platform called Research Integrated Network of Systems (RINS). This platform enables information about clinical studies to be more easily shared across disparate systems. RINS provides a much-needed means to track clinical studies and measure their success. The decentralized program allows users from different disciplines or administrative offices to utilize the system that works best for them while maintaining a comprehensive reporting mechanism.

The preliminary trial results of a novel radiopharmaceutical for PET imaging of inflammation developed at the University of Turku, Finland, have been published. The compound, which targets the vascular adhesion protein 1 (VAP-1) that regulates inflammatory cell traffic, is the first radiopharmaceutical that has been developed completely in Finland and has advanced to clinical trials. In the study that started with healthy volunteers, the radiopharmaceutical was found to be well tolerated and safe.

Before humans can benefit from new drug therapies and nutritional additives, scientists test their safety and efficacy in animals, typically mice and rats. But, as much as they've done for biomedical research, rodents aren't always the best research model for studies on neonatal brain development and nutrition. That's where pigs can play an important role.

Psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, may be at least as effective as a leading antidepressant medication in a therapeutic setting.