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Grp94 chaperone protein can interfere with clearance of myocilin from cells

The chaperone protein Grp94 can interfere with the clearance of another protein known to cause the glaucoma when mutated, a new study led by researchers at the University of South Florida has found. Using a cell model, the researchers also demonstrated that a new specific inhibitor of Grp94 facilitates clearance of the genetically-defective protein, called myocilin, from cells.

10 Oct 2012

Researchers discover smallest and fastest-known RNA switches

A University of Michigan biophysical chemist and his colleagues have discovered the smallest and fastest-known molecular switches made of RNA, the chemical cousin of DNA. The researchers say these rare, fleeting structures are prime targets for the development of new antiviral and antibiotic drugs.

8 Oct 2012

Contract Manufacturing Offering introduced to the biopharmaceutical market by Olympus Biotech

Olympus Biotech, an Olympus Corporation company, today announced its new Contract Manufacturing Offering (CMO) at its state-of-the-art facility in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

From Evident Corporation - Life Sciences 5 Oct 2012

UPMC Health Plan recognized for call center excellence

UPMC Health Plan has once again been recognized for call center excellence under the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Call Center Certification Program.

5 Oct 2012

Obama should promote, invest more in PMI to gain votes

Leading up to the debates this month and the November presidential election, "President Obama would be wise to talk up our effective aid programs and the soft power they provide with regional allies," particularly the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), Roger Bate, a resident scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, and Kimberly Hess, a researcher with Africa Fighting Malaria, write in a New York Daily News opinion piece.

4 Oct 2012

Clemson University launches Medical Device Recycling and Reprocessing Certificate Program

Clemson University has established the first program to train engineers to recycle and reprocess medical devices. The Medical Device Recycling and Reprocessing Certificate Program offered by the Clemson University Biomedical Engineering Innovation Campus (CUBEInC) was developed in response to the dramatic market adoption of reprocessing in recent years.

3 Oct 2012

Extended length pipette introduced by INTEGRA

INTEGRA has introduced a new extended length GripTip pipette tip available in non-sterile, sterile, filter and GREEN CHOICE configurations.

From INTEGRA Biosciences 2 Oct 2012

World leaders unite behind global polio eradication efforts at U.N. General Assembly

Political leaders, donor representatives, and medical experts on Thursday met on the sidelines of the 67th U.N. General Assembly session "to celebrate polio eradication efforts that have already reduced the incidence of the crippling and potentially fatal disease by 99 percent around the globe," the U.N. News Centre reports.

29 Sep 2012

Life Technologies receives FDA clearance for OpTmizer CTS T-cell expansion media

Life Technologies Corporation today announced it has received FDA 510(k) clearance for its OpTmizer CTS T-Cell Expansion Tissue Culture Medium – a reagent that is now cleared as a Class II medical device and offers cost- and time-saving advantages for transitioning studies from the research bench to clinical trials.

28 Sep 2012

Roundup: Md. Blues chief pans hospital costs shift plan; Pharmacies struggle with new drug controls

Negotiations to avert a breakdown in Maryland's unique system of regulating hospital prices have deteriorated into a stalemate between the state's largest insurer and the Maryland Hospital Association. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield CEO Chet Burrell, speaking out for the first time about the talks, blames hospitals for their proposal to shift hundreds of millions in costs to CareFirst and other private insurers in an attempt to control rising Medicare spending.

28 Sep 2012

Toshiba announces expansion of Assurance Program to offer ultrasound systems

To provide increased value to healthcare facilities, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. expands its Assurance Program to offer reconditioned Toshiba ultrasound systems. Assurance ultrasound products include Aplio XG, Aplio MX, Aplio Artida, Viamo, and Xario XG.

25 Sep 2012

Death rates after surgery found to be too optimistic

National estimates of death following general surgery have been too optimistic, suggests the first large-scale study to explore surgical outcomes across Europe published in the first Article in a special Lancet theme issue on surgery.

21 Sep 2012

TECHLAB to utilize Dynex's Gold SmartKit packaging for ELISA product line

Dynex Technologies, Inc. announced today it has finalized a supply agreement with TECHLAB, Inc. (Blacksburg, VA), allowing TECHLAB to utilize Dynex's Gold SmartKit packaging for their ELISA product line.

20 Sep 2012

AIUM grants ultrasound practice accreditation to Smith Institute for Urology

The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) recently granted ultrasound practice accreditation in urology to Smith Institute for Urology in New Hyde Park, New York. This is the first practice to receive accreditation in the practice of urology from the AIUM.

19 Sep 2012

U-Systems receives FDA approval for somo-v ABUS

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the first ultrasound device for use in combination with a standard mammography in women with dense breast tissue who have a negative mammogram and no symptoms of breast cancer.

19 Sep 2012

No association between XMRV/pMLV and chronic fatigue syndrome

The causes of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have long eluded scientists. In 2009, a paper in the journal Science linked the syndrome-sometimes called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)-to infection with a mouse retrovirus called XMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related virus).

18 Sep 2012

Mitochondrial variations unlikely cause of osteoarthritis

Researchers have been unable to confirm a link between the development of osteoarthritis and maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA variants.

17 Sep 2012

Researchers hold new implications for pathogenesis of myotonic dystrophy

An important breakthrough could help in the fight against myotonic dystrophy. The discovery, recently published in the prestigious scientific journal Cell, results from an international collaboration between researchers at the IRCM, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Southern California and Illumina.

13 Sep 2012

PrimeraDx’s ICEPlex system and C. difficile detection assay receive CE mark

PrimeraDx, a molecular diagnostics company, announced today that the ICEPlex system, a quantitative multiplex PCR system, and their C. difficile detection assay both received the CE mark.

12 Sep 2012

Texas hospitals under scrutiny: Parkland's record penalty, how Houston treats heart attacks

Texas officials fined Dallas' Parkland Memorial Hospital a record $1 million for patient safety violations in the wake of intense federal oversight that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars if errors aren't corrected.

5 Sep 2012