GBP Health / Biotech News 02-24-2010:
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EurekAlert - Biology:
Public Release: 24-Feb-2010
Chemical and Engineering News
Neutrons poised to play big role in future scientific advance
Subatomic particles called neutrons are poised to play a big role in fighting HIV, slowing global warming, and improving manufacturing processes. The reason: They are the focus of a process called neutron scattering that provides unprecedented ways to study the chemistry of a wide range of important materials, including coal and biological cells, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly news magazine.
Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society
Public Release: 24-Feb-2010Angewandte Chemie
A hot road to new drugs
The quest for new drugs is generally a lengthy and costly undertaking. Researchers of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet in Munich have now come up with a simpler and more efficient way of going about it. Not only pharmaceutical research but also medical diagnostics and the environment stand to benefit from the new work.
Contact: Prof. Dieter Braun
49-892-180-2317
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Public Release: 24-Feb-2010Cell Transplantation
Bone marrow cell transplants to benefit those with heart disease
Separate bone marrow cell transplantation studies may lead to new treatments for the treatment of heart diseases. One study by a team of Brazilian researchers, found that cell transplantation of bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMCs) and ReACT formula injected directly into the heart benefited patients suffering from refractory angina. A second study in the Peoples' Republic of China found that apelin, a newly described inotropic peptide, improves heart function following transplantation of BMMCs.
Cryopraxis Crobiologia Ltd., Cellpraxis Bioengeneering, National Advanced Technology Development Plan of China
Contact: David Eve
celltransplantation@gmail.com
Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair
Public Release: 23-Feb-2010Cancer Research
Bitter melon extract attacks breast cancer cells
A common Chinese and Indian folk medicine inhibits the growth of breast cancer cells, Saint Louis University researchers find.
Contact: Nancy Solomon
solomonn@slu.edu
314-977-8017
Saint Louis University
Public Release: 23-Feb-2010Journal of Biomedical Engineering
The sound of melanoma can help doctors find cancer
University of Missouri researchers in the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center are studying how photoacoustics, or a laser-induced ultrasound, could help scientists locate the general area of the lymph node where melanoma cells could be residing. This new technology could help doctors identify the stage of melanoma with more accuracy.
Contact: Kelsey Jackson
JacksonKN@missouri.edu
573-882-8353
University of Missouri-Columbia
Public Release: 22-Feb-2010Genome Research
Melanoma transcriptome reveals novel genomic alterations not seen before
Melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, afflicts more than 50,000 people in the United States annually and the incidence rate continues to rise. In a study published online in Genome Research, scientists have delved deeper than ever before into the RNA world of the melanoma tumor and identified genomic alterations that could play a role in the disease.Starr Cancer Consortium, Melanoma Research Alliance, Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research, Adelson Medical Research Foundation
Contact: Peggy Calicchia
calicchi@cshl.edu
516-422-4012
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Public Release: 22-Feb-2010PLoS Medicine
Tool identifies infection clusters; rate of T cell drop not helpful in decision to start treating HIV
In research published this week in PLoS Medicine, Susan Huang and colleagues describe the use of a novel automated cluster detection tool and Marcel Wolbers found that the CD4 cell slope does not improve the prediction of clinical outcome in patients with a CD4 cell count above 350 cells/ìl.
Contact: Andrew Hyde
press@plos.org
44-122-346-3330
Public Library of Science
Source - Science Daily :
Please note : Due to the format restrictions of Science Daily articles, you must click on the URL (web address) below the article summary ,rather than the article title.
Damaged Protein Identified as Early Diagnostic Biomarker for Alzheimer's Disease in Healthy Adults
February 24, 2010 — Researchers have found that elevated cerebrospinal fluid levels of phosphorylated tau231, a damaged tau protein found in patients with Alzheimer's disease, may be an early diagnostic biomarker for ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100223161833.htm
Virus Hybridization Could Create Pandemic Bird Flu
February 24, 2010 — Genetic interactions between avian H5N1 influenza and human seasonal influenza viruses have the potential to create hybrid strains combining the virulence of bird flu with the pandemic ability of ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100222161841.htm
Oral Cancer Study Shows Full Tumor Genome; Novel Method Speeds Analysis for Individualized Medicine
February 24, 2010 — Researchers are reporting on the application of a new approach for sequencing RNA to study cancer ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100223101426.htm
What It Might Take to Unravel the 'Lean Mean Machine' That Is Cancer
February 24, 2010 — Scientists in Australia have published a new paper describing gene expression in a prostate cancer cell: more sweeping, more targeted and more complex than we could ever have imagined, even five ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100223100712.htm
Novel Inhibitor of Tumor Angiogenenesis
February 24, 2010 — Scientists have discovered that the metalloprotease ADAMTS9 inhibits tumor ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100224083741.htm
Dermatology: Watching Immune Cell Movement to and from the Skin
February 23, 2010 — Immune cells known as Tregs have an important role in preventing other immune cells from attacking the cells of our body and causing autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. A team of ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100222213330.htm
New Treatment to Prevent Cancer Recurrence Shows Promise in Study
February 23, 2010 — Glioblastoma is one of the most deadly human brain cancers. Radiation can temporarily shrink a tumor, but they nearly always recur within weeks or months and few patients survive longer than two ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100222182141.htm
New Cardiac CT Technology Drastically Reduces Patient Radiation Exposure
February 23, 2010 — Researchers have determined that an imaging exam of the heart using the latest generation of CT technology exposes patients to as much as 91 percent less radiation than standard helical CT ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100223100704.htm
February 22, 2010 — Researchers have for the first time identified a key mechanism that makes certain cells become tumorous in the brain. The resulting tumors occur most often spontaneously but can also occur in numbers ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100222104949.htm
Neuroimaging Study May Pave Way for Effective Alzheimer's Treatments
February 22, 2010 — Scientists have determined that a new instrument known as PIB-PET is effective in detecting deposits of amyloid-beta protein plaques in the brains of living people, and that these deposits are ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100209183240.htm
New Strategy Produces Promising Advance in Cancer Vaccines
February 22, 2010 — Researchers have used a new strategy to develop cancer vaccines that are remarkably effective in mice. The scientists report that 100 percent of the mice vaccinated with a peptide they developed ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100216114026.htm
Source - Health Day:
Health Highlights: Feb. 24, 2010
- Ex-Vice President Cheney Leaves Hospital
- Protein May Predict Alzheimer's: Study
- Scientists Identify Gene Linked to Tamoxifen Resistance
- No Annual Dental Care for 1 in 5 U.S. Children
Heart Stem Cells Move Closer to Human Treatments
'Patch' for damaged heart is just one of several promising developments
FDA: No Decision on Whether to Pull Diabetes Drug Avandia Off the Market
Controversial medicine raises users' heart risk, leaked files suggest, but agency still reviewing data
Clinical Trials Update: Feb. 23, 2010
- Osteoporosis
- Asthma
- Gout
Source - Yahoo Biotech News:
Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Announces Pricing of Public Offering of Common Stock
PR Newswire - Wed 9:00 am ET
Novelos Therapeutics Pivotal Phase 3 Lung Cancer Trial Does Not Meet the Primary Survival Endpoint
Business Wire - Wed 8:30 am ET
Pfizer Receives FDA Approval for Prevnar 13 for the Prevention of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease in Infants and Young Children - Business Wire - 52 minutes ago
NEW YORK----Pfizer Inc. announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration has granted approval for Prevnar 13™ , the Company’s 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.
Source - Google Health News:
FDA Recommends H1N1 For Inclusion In Next Year's Flu Vaccine
Kaiser Family Foundation
... that the H1N1 (swine flu) strain be added to next year's seasonal flu vaccine, ... In the study, researchers "combined a strain of the deadly H5N1 avian ...
Gene Therapy Shows Promise Against HIV
BusinessWeek
19 (HealthDay News) -- A new study is among the first to hint that gene therapy could become a weapon against the virus that causes AIDS. ...
Source - Medical News Today:
Pandemic Hybrid Of Bird And Human Seasonal Flu Possible Say Scientists
An international team of scientists has created a highly pathogenic laboratory hybrid of the H5N1 bird flu and human seasonal flu viruses by swapping just one gene, and propose that a similar genetic interaction could happen in nature between the current pandemic H1N1 swine flu and H5N1 avian flu strains, highlighting the importance of continued surveillance. A report of the study by senior author is Dr Yoshihiro Kawaoka, professor of pathobiological sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US, and colleagues, appeared online before print on 22 February in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/180198.php
Approximately 57 million Americans are on the brink of diabetes . Yet research tells us that there is much we can do to keep it from progressing to full-blown diabetes. Lab tests can help us get a grip on the disease, says the American Clinical Laboratory Association President Alan Mertz. "Ask your doctor about a quick and easy lab test called hemoglobin A1C (A1C). The test can tell you if you actually have diabetes or are close to developing it a silent and serious condition called pre-diabetes," says Mertz.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/180185.php
Predicting The Progression Of Alzheimer's
An assessment has been developed which reliably predicts future performance in cognition and activities of daily living for patients withAlzheimer's disease . Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Alzheimer's Research & Therapy followed 597 patients over 15 years to identify factors associated with slow, intermediate and rapid progression. Professor Rachelle Doody worked with a team of researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, US, to carry out the study. She said, "Patients and families frequently ask clinicians to predict expected rates of cognitive and functional decline, and clinicians currently have little basis for making such decisions. We've found that a simple, calculated progression rate at the initial visit gives reliable information regarding performance over time. The slowest progression group also survives longer."
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/180079.php
Ultra-Fast Lasers Open Doors To New Technologies Unheard Of Just Years Ago
For nearly half a century, scientists have been trying to figure out how to build a cost-effective and reasonably sized X-ray laser that could, among other things, provide super high-resolution imaging. And for the past two decades, University of Colorado at Boulder physics professors Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn have been inching closer to that goal. Recent breakthroughs by their team at JILA, a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, have paved the way on how to build a tabletop X-ray laser that could be used for super high-resolution imaging, while also giving scientists a new way to peer into a single cell and gain a better understanding of the nanoworld.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/179907.php
Source - MIT's Technology Review :
A Brain Implant that Uses Light
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24644/
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24640/
2010 AAAS Annual Meeting
Neuron
Max Planck Society