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New methods for the growth and development of human pancreatic beta islets

Vitro Diagnostics has announced the development of new methods for the growth and development of human pancreatic beta islets (Islets of Langerhans) and the filing of a new patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

27 Sep 2004

Researchers have integrated heart cells grown from human embryonic stem cells into a host heart

Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Medical Center have demonstrated that heart cells grown from human embryonic stem cells can integrate into the host heart and help regulate its activity, becoming in effect a biological pacemaker.

27 Sep 2004

Functions of the c-myb gene which leukemia cells depend on for proliferation

Today the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences publishes a paper by Temple University researchers that details one of the functions of the c-myb gene (which leukemia cells depend on for proliferation), the formation of white blood cells.

27 Sep 2004

Global-positioning system offers surgeons a powerful tool for minimally invasive joint replacement

Doctors with Abbott Northwestern Hospital’s Orthopaedic Institute have a new and valuable tool for performing knee replacement surgeries.

27 Sep 2004

South African sales of MedMira rapid HIV tests begin

MedMira Inc., the international market leader in rapid flow- through diagnostic technology announced today that it has begun shipment of its MiraWell(TM) Rapid HIV Test to its distributor.

26 Sep 2004

$16 million investment in minute wireless implant technology

Remon Medical Technologies a privately held medical device company, today announced that it has raised $16 million in the initial close of a Series C financing.

23 Sep 2004

First generation of human retinal cells in the laboratory from human embryonic stem cells

Some of these retinal tissues such as Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE) may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for such devastating diseases as macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and other retinal degenerative diseases.

23 Sep 2004

Auckland kids are five times more likely than those in other developed countries to need hospital admission for pneumonia

Pneumonia is a major problem in New Zealand. We believe a significant proportion of it is preventable. We want to know what the risk factors are so that we can find ways to reduce the number of children who get so sick they need hospital care

23 Sep 2004

PA Consulting sells drug delivery venture, Meridica, to Pfizer

Pfizer and PA Consulting Group have announced the signing of a transaction in which Pfizer will purchase the remaining 90% ownership of Meridica Limited

23 Sep 2004

Nanowires could be used to sense thousands of different viruses

Harvard University scientists have found that ultra-thin silicon wires can be used to electrically detect the presence of single viruses, in real time, with near-perfect selectivity.

22 Sep 2004

Accurate method for interpretation of heart images developed

VTT - Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed an internationally significant method for interpreting MRI images of the heart.

22 Sep 2004

Tiny babies may face development and behaviour problems

The long term difficulties facing Britain’s “miracle babies” are revealed by a new study following the lives of some of the tiniest infants born in this country.

22 Sep 2004

Edible vaccine for HIV AIDS

Scientists from Novosibirsk are engaged in the development of an unusual vaccine which, apart from being less expensive to produce, safe and painless to administer, is also edible.

22 Sep 2004

HER-2 cell surface receptors tun on genes associated with carcinogenesis

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center now have evidence that receptors found on tumors that were believed to function only on the surface of cells can actually switch on genes inside a cell's nucleus, thus promoting cancer development in two distinct ways.

21 Sep 2004

World's most powerful magnetic resonance imaging machine for human studies

The University of Illinois at Chicago unveiled today the world's most powerful magnetic resonance imaging machine for human studies, capable of imaging not just the anatomy but metabolism within the brain.

21 Sep 2004

New computer program helps health departments halt outbreaks

Imagine that a terrorist has just released the smallpox virus in Atlanta, and suddenly there’s a race against time to vaccinate and treat every last man, woman and child in metro Atlanta before the deadly virus can spread.

20 Sep 2004

Investigation into the potential for designing drug treatments based on a person’s genetic makeup

Most current drugs are not effective for 100 per cent of the population and some work in as few as 30 to 50 per cent of cases. Pharmacogenetics, the study of how genetic factors influence a person’s response to a drug, is seen as a way of making treatments as safe and effective as possible for every individual.

20 Sep 2004