R&D Mag - Life Sciences

J&J giving $200 million for health of women, kids

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 19:43:01 GMT

Health giant Johnson & Johnson is donating about $200 million in cash and medicine to a sweeping United Nations program created to improve the health and lives of people in poor countries.J&J is launching a five-year program called "Every Mother, Every Child," meant to help almost 400 million...

On organic coffee farm, complex interactions keep pests under control

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 17:51:03 GMT

Proponents of organic farming often speak of nature's balance in ways that sound almost spiritual, prompting criticism that their views are unscientific and naïve. At the other end of the spectrum are those who see farms as battlefields where insect pests and plant diseases must be...

Pfizer, American Kennel Club reach deal

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 16:41:19 GMT

Pfizer Inc. said Wednesday its animal health unit and the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation entered an exclusive partnership on new areas of research on dog diseases and treatments.Pfizer said the goal is to strengthen efforts to prevent, treat and cure canine disease, but the...

Looking into a live subject

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 16:40:10 GMT

Existing 2-D, or single-view, in vivo luminescence imaging systems are limited in terms of spatial resolution, and the ability to quantitatively estimate the number of luminescent cells within the subject. The development of the IVIS 300 In Vivo Imaging System by a research team at Xenogen Corp., Alameda, Calif., and associated reconstruction software, improve spatial resolution and allows users to determine the location of a light-emitting object in tissue to within 1 to 3 mm, depending on the depth.

Improving quality of life

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 16:37:17 GMT

Approximately 25 million catheters are sold annually in the US, while nosocominal urinary tract infections contribute to 6,500 deaths/yr. The UroCycler, developed by David Flinchbaugh of UroSolutions, Inc., Orlando, Fla., attempts to minimize the trauma of these situations with a pressure-sensitive magnetic valve that provides a bladder management system for automatically maintaining healthy bladder cycling in catheterized patients.

Don’t grow tissues, print them

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 16:34:15 GMT

The Biological Architectural Tool (BAT) developed by a research team at Sciperio, Inc., Stillwater, Okla., Human Architectural Technologies, Inc., Orlando, Fla., and the Univ. of Arizona, Tempe, is a digital printing machine that can be used to create living tissue. The basic technology consists of robotic microdispensing pens, capable of dispensing sub-nanoliter volumes of liquid with great precision.

Vision correction in the 21st century

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 16:24:23 GMT

Traditional phoropters used by ophthalmologists and optometrists are used to both measure and correct vision in order to derive an optical prescription for the patient. The MEMS-based Adaptive Optics Phoropter (MAOP) replaces traditional phoropters and enables them to accurately diagnose and treat patients with high-order visual aberrations. These aberrations such as coma and spherical aberrations have, in the past been difficult to measure and correct.

Finding the needle in the haystack

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 16:18:03 GMT

Nearly $40 billion is spent annually on the direct medical costs associated with cancer, most of which is related to the therapeutic management of newly diagnosed patients and relapsed patients who require treatment. Research teams at Battelle, Columbus, Ohio, and USDx, Inc., Guilford, Conn., have developed a process, Rare Cell Detection, capable of detecting one cancer cell/10 mL of whole blood.

Automating ion channel drug discovery

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 16:13:54 GMT

The OpusXpress 6000A pharmaceutical screening workstation from Axon Instruments, Union City, Calif., is the first automated parallel oocyte voltage-clamp recording system. It was designed to increase the efficiency of drug discovery for cellular ion channels by reducing the throughput bottleneck.

Linking microbial sex and virulence

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 14:51:45 GMT

Two opportunistic pathogens that were once thought to be very different have evolved some sexual reproduction and disease-causing habits that are not only similar but also suggest that in the microbial world sex and virulence are closely linked, according to a review published this week...

Missoula cancer researchers get $1.4 million grant

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 13:41:44 GMT

Cancer researchers in Missoula have received a $1.4 million grant to continue studying how the genetic makeup of Native Americans might affect they way they respond to cancer treatment.The grant will help researchers at the University of Montana and the Montana Cancer Institute with a study of...

Questioning the safety of certain 'healthful' plant-based antioxidants

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 12:51:30 GMT

Scientists are calling for more research on the possibility that some supposedly healthful plant-based antioxidants -- including those renowned for their apparent ability to prevent cancer -- may actually aggravate or even cause cancer in some individuals. Their recommendation follows a...

Scientists identify molecular gatekeeper of arthritis

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 12:51:23 GMT

Elimination of a molecular gatekeeper leads to the development of arthritis in mice, scientists report in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. The newly discovered gatekeeper is a protein that determines the fate -- survival or death -- of damaging cells that mistakenly attack the body's...

USDA scientists, cooperators create the first genomic map of the domesticated turkey

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 10:51:40 GMT

US Department of Agriculture researchers and their university colleagues have sequenced the majority of the genome of Meleagris gallopavo, the domesticated turkey, creating the first-ever turkey genome map.

Cloud computing method greatly increases gene analysis

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 10:51:34 GMT

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have developed new software that greatly improves the speed at which scientists can analyze RNA sequencing data. The software, known as Myrna, uses "cloud computing," an Internet-based method of sharing computer...

CVS Caremark to give away up to $5M in flu shots

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 10:42:04 GMT

CVS Caremark Corp. said Wednesday it will give away up to $5 million in seasonal flu vaccinations to people without health insurance.The Woonsocket, R.I., company said vouchers for the vaccines will be available at clinics or community health centers starting Sept. 20. Consumers will be able to...

MAP Pharma reports positive migraine drug results

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 10:42:00 GMT

MAP Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Wednesday that data shows patients taking its potential migraine treatment Levadex didn't experience greater pulmonary artery pressure than those patients taking a placebo and another treatment.MAP Pharmaceutical shares climbed 71 cents, or 6.5 percent, to $11.70...

Unraveling the genome sequence of the domesticated turkey

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 09:53:19 GMT

An international consortium of researchers has completed the majority of the genome sequence of the domesticated turkey, thanks in part to the efforts of Virginia Tech faculty members.

New process created to program cancer cell death

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 08:31:20 GMT

Researchers at Caltech have engineered a fundamentally new approach to killing cancer cells. The process developed uses small RNA molecules that can be programmed to attack only specific cancer cells; then, by changing shape, those molecules cause the cancer cells to self-destruct.

AP Exclusive: Back to work after salmonella case

Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 03:41:04 GMT

The peanut industry executive whose filthy processing plants were blamed in a salmonella outbreak two years ago that killed nine people and sickened hundreds more is back in the business.Stewart Parnell, former president of the now-bankrupt Peanut Corp. of America, is working as a consultant to...

Judge won't let stem cell money keep flowing

Tuesday, 07 Sep 2010 20:42:33 GMT

A federal judge on Tuesday refused to lift his order blocking federal funding for some stem cell research, saying that a "parade of horribles" predicted by federal officials would not happen.Medical researchers value stem cells because they are master cells that can turn into any tissue of the...

Gates Foundation acknowledges flaws in report

Tuesday, 07 Sep 2010 12:41:43 GMT

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has taken another baby step toward increased transparency, acknowledging in its annual report that the world's largest charitable foundation is too secretive and hard to work with.The report, posted online Tuesday, includes the usual financial information and...

Bovine tuberculosis meeting set in Mich. county

Tuesday, 07 Sep 2010 12:41:37 GMT

Michigan agriculture officials plan to have a public meeting to discuss the presence of bovine tuberculosis in Emmet County.The Sept. 16 meeting comes after the U.S. Department of Agriculture last month classified a second Emmet County farm as being infected with bovine tuberculosis.State...

First Irish genome sequenced

Tuesday, 07 Sep 2010 11:52:37 GMT

The first entire genome of an Irish individual has been sequenced. The sequence is reported in BioMed Central's open-access journal, Genome Biology, and provides insight into the evolutionary history of this distinct lineage.

Imaging reveals key metabolic factors of cannibalistic bacteria

Tuesday, 07 Sep 2010 09:48:23 GMT

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have revealed new details about how cannibalistic bacteria identify peers suitable for consumption. The work, which employed imaging mass spectrometry, is a first step toward a broader effort to map all signaling molecules between organisms.

Experts recommend universal screening of newborns for congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Tuesday, 07 Sep 2010 00:52:07 GMT

Today, the Endocrine Society released a new clinical practice guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The guideline features a series of evidence-based clinical recommendations developed by an expert task force.

Are white homosexual men still taking too many HIV risks?(2)

Monday, 06 Sep 2010 19:52:24 GMT

Risky sexual behavior among members of a subset of the gay community is still adding to the spread of HIV. Research published in the open access journal BMC Infectious Diseases has found that young white homosexual men have an important contribution in the local spread of HIV.

These cells will self-destruct in 5...4...

Monday, 06 Sep 2010 16:52:09 GMT

In a recent study, researchers demonstrated that conditional small RNA molecules can effectively kill lab-grown human brain, prostate and bone cancer cells in a mutation-specific manner. The treatment separates the "diagnosis" and "treatment" aspects of chemotherapy, so a cell is killed...

UK regulators want Avandia diabetes pill pulled

Monday, 06 Sep 2010 15:41:23 GMT

British drug regulators say GlaxoSmithKline's controversial diabetes pill Avandia should be pulled from the U.K. market because of concerns that the drug can increase the risk of heart attacks.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency says an independent panel of experts concluded...

Researchers define role of CEP290 in maintaining ciliary function

Monday, 06 Sep 2010 13:52:08 GMT

A new study in the Sept. 6 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology helps define the role of an important ciliary protein, CEP290. The results could be applied toward targeted gene therapy in cilia-related diseases.