Rare diseases: Over 300 million patients affected worldwide

Rare diseases represent a global problem. Until now, the lack of data made it difficult to estimate their prevalence. The Orphanet database, which contains the largest amount of epidemiological data on these diseases taken from the scientific literature, has made it possible to obtain a global estimate.

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Turning wood into pharmaceutical ingredients

Production of hazardous waste during drug manufacturing is a serious concern for the pharmaceutical industry. Typically, large amounts of flammable solvents are used during these processes, which usually require several steps to make structurally complex drugs. Researchers now report a method to produce pharmaceutically relevant compounds in just two or three steps, with water as the only waste product, using renewable woodchips as starting material.

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Study looks at distribution of new cases of diabetes, density of specialists

Researchers analyzed national data on the prevalence of diabetes and the number of internal medicine specialists in each U.S. state. They found that cardiologists were the highest represented specialists and conclude that they are well positioned to be integral members of a patient's care team.

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Sensing sweetness on a molecular level

Whether it's chocolate cake or pasta sauce, the sensation of sweetness plays a major role in the human diet and the perception of other flavors. While a lot is known about the individual proteins that signal ''sweet,'' not much is known about how the proteins work together as a receptor to accomplish this feat.

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Researchers find college football players' weight gain leads to heart problems

Weight gain and high blood pressure in college football players leads to adverse changes in cardiac structure and function, indicating monitoring and early intervention is needed for this young and otherwise healthy athletic population, according to a new study.

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