A one-step solution to make nitrogen-laden molecular precursors for the preparation of drugs and other bioactive molecules has been discovered by researchers at Rice University, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSWMC) and Brigham Young University. Research announced this month in Science will simplify the process and cut the cost of creating key nitrogen-containing functional groups for pharmaceuticals, said László Kürti, a synthetic chemist at Rice who developed the technique with his colleague at UTSWMC, John Falck.

In a novel controlled clinical trial, participants in a six-day Ayurvedic-based well-being program that featured a vegetarian diet, meditation, yoga and massages experienced measurable decreases in a set of blood-based metabolites associated with inflammation, cardiovascular disease risk and cholesterol regulation. The findings, published in the September 9 issue of Scientific Reports, represent a rare attempt to use metabolic biomarkers to assess the reported health benefits of integrative medicine and holistic practices.

Edible ginger-derived nano-lipids created from a specific population of ginger nanoparticles show promise for effectively targeting and delivering chemotherapeutic drugs used to treat colon cancer, according to a study by researchers at the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University, the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Wenzhou Medical University and Southwest University in China.

Researchers at the University of Adelaide have shown how a complex mix of plant compounds derived from ancient clinical practice in China - a Traditional Chinese Medicine - works to kill cancer cells. Compound kushen injection (CKI) is approved for use in China to treat various cancer tumours, usually as an adjunct to western chemotherapy - but how it works has not been known.

An experimental cancer drug works differently than intended and shows significant promise for stopping melanoma and possibly other forms of cancer, research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine suggests. The findings also indicate the drug may be effective against melanomas that have resisted other forms of treatment. The drug, pevonedistat, is already being tested in people.

Researchers at the University of Bristol and Afferent Pharmaceuticals have identified a potential new way of treating high blood pressure, or hypertension, by targeting aberrant nerve signals in the carotid bodies, which sit on the common carotid arteries on each side of the neck. The research study, entitled "Purinergic receptors in the carotid body as a new drug target for controlling hypertension," was led by Julian Paton, professor of physiology at the University of Bristol, and was published in the 5 September online edition of Nature Medicine.

Using a unique computational approach to rapidly sample, in millisecond time intervals, proteins in their natural state of gyrating, bobbing, and weaving, a research team from UC San Diego and Monash University in Australia has identified promising drug leads that may selectively combat heart disease, from arrhythmias to cardiac failure.