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Sylentis, a pharmaceutical company in the PharmaMar Group (MSE:PHM) and a pioneer in the research and development of new drugs based on gene silencing (interference RNA, RNAi), has presented the results of two Phase II dose-finding and efficacy assessment clinical trials (SYL1001_II and SYL1001_III) with the investigational medicinal product SYL1001 for treating ocular discomfort related to dry eye syndrome.

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and direct acting antiviral agents (DAAs) are key elementsin the effective pharmacotherapy of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) respectively. These two chronic illnesses affect millions of persons worldwide at any given time, though only a select proportion has been eligible for successful treatment. With the development of newer, safer and more effective antiviral therapies it is expected that a greater proportion of those infected by HIV and/or HCV will have access to these life-saving therapies.

What does a smartphone say when you tell it you were raped, want to commit suicide, feel depressed or are being abused?

As it turns out, four widely used smartphone conversational agents, including Siri on Apple phones and Cortana on Windows phones, answer inconsistently and incompletely when asked simple questions about mental health, interpersonal violence and physical violence, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Obese women who used oral contraceptives appeared to have increased risk for a rare type of stroke known as a cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) compared with women of normal weight who did not use oral contraceptives, according to an article published online by JAMA Neurology.

High school girls who used intrauterine devices and implants for long-acting reversible contraception were less likely to also use condoms compared with girls who used oral contraceptives, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics.

A new comprehensive study of children's well-being in China reveals glaring disparities in education, economic conditions and emotional health between rural and urban children and the need for educational and public policy reforms to help close those gaps.

Even as China's economic growth fuels improved living conditions in much of the country, it challenges others: Children "left behind" when parents move to urban areas for work are particularly vulnerable, according to the study.

Certain foods can alter the activity of endogenous enzymes and thus influence the efficacy of drugs. It is well known, for example, that grapefruit has an adverse effect on a number of anti-arrhythmic and cholesterol-lowering drugs: it contains ingredients that inhibit an endogenous enzyme responsible for the degradation of certain medications in the liver. Consumption of grapefruit thus increases the side-effects associated with these drugs.

The human microbiome, a diverse collection of microorganisms living inside us and on our skin, has attracted considerable attention for its role in a broad range of human health issues. Now, researchers are discovering that the built environment also has a microbiome, which includes a community of potentially-pathogenic bacteria living inside water supply pipes.

In many countries, including but not limited to Russia, frontier regions, populated more recently than the country's core territory, tend to lag behind in terms of socio-economic development. This phenomenon can be explained by legacies such as state formation in remote regions and the autonomy traditionally enjoyed by new settlers, according to Roberto Foa (Harvard University) and Anna Nemirovskaya, Senior Research Fellow of the HSE Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSR).

PolyU's new invention utilizes an optical method called upconversion luminescence resonance energy transfer (LRET) process for ultrasensitive virus detection. It involves simple operational procedures, significantly reducing its testing duration from around 1-3 days to 2-3 hours, making it more than 10 times quicker than traditional clinical methods. Its cost is around HK$20 per sample, which is 80% lower than traditional testing methods.

Spiders are known to be the classic example of insectivorous predators. Zoologists from the University of Basel, the US and UK have now been able to show that their diet is more diverse than expected. Their findings show that spiders like to spice up their menu with the occasional vegetarian meal. The Journal of Arachnology has published the results.

The rain forests in the mountains of the tropical Andes are amongst the most biodiverse regions on the planet. But the multitude of ants, beetles, moths and butterflies which can be found here are largely unknown. An international team of researchers recently drew up a thorough inventory of the family of the species of looper moths (Geometridae). They came up with a surprising result: The diversity of these moths is much greater than was previously assumed.

A new drug is showing promise as a treatment for mesothelioma - one of the most lethal cancers of all.

The drug, known as HRX9, works by preventing the cancer cells from avoiding apoptosis - the natural process by which unhealthy and damaged cells close themselves down and die.

ANN ARBOR--Lake Huron's Chinook salmon fishery will likely never return to its glory days because the lake can no longer support the predatory fish's main food source, the herring-like alewife, according to a new University of Michigan-led computer-modeling study.

A team of Vermont investigators has been issued a patent for their discovery of a molecule that rescues damaged blood vessels, yet preserves healthy vessels and could serve as a springboard for a new pharmaceutical therapy with fewer side effects for hypertension - a major risk factor for cardiovascular and kidney disease that effects roughly one in three people in the U.S.

The group's findings, which were published recently in the journal Chemistry & Biology, yielded an important discovery for which they were issued a U.S. patent on February 16, 2016.