ResearchRSS3 days ago
A study from Japan found that people with pulmonary hypertension (a condition where blood vessels in the lungs become stiff and narrow) who have higher pulmonary vascular resistance—a measure of how hard the heart has to work to pump blood through the lungs—tend to have worse health outcomes. The study also looked at whether a type of diabetes medication called SGLT2 inhibitors might help these patients.
WHY IT MATTERSIf you have pulmonary hypertension related to heart disease, knowing that high pulmonary vascular resistance predicts worse outcomes could help your doctor decide whether to start more aggressive treatment earlier or monitor you more closely.
ResearchRSS3 days ago
Scientists found that haloperidol, a medication normally used to treat psychiatric conditions, may help treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) by increasing levels of a protein called SMN that is missing or low in SMA patients. In laboratory tests with mouse cells and human patient cells, haloperidol helped nerve cells survive longer, reduced harmful inflammation, and improved movement. This suggests haloperidol could potentially be used alongside or instead of current SMA treatments.
WHY IT MATTERSIf haloperidol proves effective in human trials, SMA patients could potentially benefit from a medication that already exists and is FDA-approved, potentially offering a faster path to treatment than developing entirely new drugs.