Some 50 million Americans have hypertension, that is, blood pressure measuring above the normal range (less than 120/80 mmHg). If untreated, it can lead to heart attacks, strokes, or kidney disease. Lifestyle changes are the first-stage treatment for the disease, but if they fail, medications are prescribed.

Why does the standard dose of certain medications prove dangerously high for some patients and too low to produce beneficial effects in others? Scientists have added a previously unrecognized factor to the list of explanations (such as age, gender, diet and genetics) for this common problem of individual variability in response to drugs.

In laboratory tests on mice, researchers found that a medication often used to reduce toxic side effects of chemotherapy induced bone loss and helped tumors grow in bone. So the researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are recommending increased awareness of bone health during cancer treatments.

Social stigma and feeling lifeless and/or alienated from one's peers are some of the reasons why children and adolescents stop taking prescription stimulant medications used to treat attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a new study published in the Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing.

Common blood pressure medications might help block the spread of pancreatic cancer, researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia have found.