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Top-line results from Optimer Pharmaceuticals' second fidaxomicin Phase 3 trial in CDI patients

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced positive top-line results from the second of two pivotal Phase 3 trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of fidaxomicin (OPT-80) in patients with Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI). This study was conducted in approximately 100 clinical sites throughout North America and Europe. The Company plans to use data from this study to support submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the second half of 2010.

5 Feb 2010

Research could help in developing more effective treatments for wound infections

Bacteria that infect chronic wounds can be deadly to maggot 'biosurgeons' used to treat the lesions, show researchers writing in the journal Microbiology. The findings could lead to more effective treatment of wounds and the development of novel antibiotics.

5 Feb 2010

February issue of Chest releases latest medical news

Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are widely used for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, new research suggests that ICS may only provide a modest benefit in reducing exacerbations in patients with COPD.

4 Feb 2010

State of Michigan keeps lethal hospital infections in check

The state of Michigan, which used a five-step checklist developed at Johns Hopkins to virtually eliminate bloodstream infections in its hospitals' intensive care units , has been able to keep the number of these common, costly and potentially lethal infections near zero — even three years after first adopting the standardized procedures. A report on the work is being published in the February 20 issue of BMJ (British Medical Journal).

4 Feb 2010

Mycobacterium avium infection can result in three different kinds of illness in humans

Through work carried out in connection with her PhD, Tone Bjordal Johansen has shown that Mycobacterium avium does not infect pigs via birds, as previously believed. M. avium can be divided into several subspecies, and the research shows that birds are infected by one particular subspecies, whereas pigs and humans are infected by another.

4 Feb 2010

New ‘smart coating’ enables safe surgical implants; prevents infections post surgery

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a "smart coating" that helps surgical implants bond more closely with bone and ward off infection.

4 Feb 2010

Amantadine binds to and blocks critical M2 proton channel necessary for influenza virus to infect healthy cells

Antiviral drugs block influenza A viruses from reproducing and spreading by attaching to a site within a proton channel necessary for the virus to infect healthy cells, according to a research project led by Iowa State University's Mei Hong and published in the Feb. 4 issue of the journal Nature.

4 Feb 2010

Providing Tamiflu and educating on sanitizer use helped to stop spread of H1N1 at boys' summer camp

Providing preventive Tamiflu and educating and emphasizing the need for repeated hand sanitizer use and disinfectant spray helped stop the spread of H1N1 influenza at a boys' summer camp in northern Alabama, according the co-director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

4 Feb 2010

Study finds link between genes that regulate maternal inflammatory response, bacterial vaginosis and preterm delivery

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting -, in Chicago, researchers will show the use of haplotype tagging (hap-tag) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to study the relationship between genetic predispositions, an environmental factor - bacterial vaginosis, and preterm birth.

4 Feb 2010

New study may allow scientists to develop screening test for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

A simple blood test could predict which patients with the lung-scarring disease known as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are soon to get far worse, an indicator that could one day influence their treatment, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

4 Feb 2010

Scientists identify potential drug therapy target for malaria

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a protein made by the malaria parasite that is essential to its ability to take over human red blood cells.

4 Feb 2010

New discovery lays foundation for development of new anti-HIV drugs

A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has identified two compounds that act on novel binding sites for an enzyme used by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.

4 Feb 2010

New African Union chair's focus to include food security; First Ladies discuss HIV/AIDS

The African Union (AU) Summit concluded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Tuesday with newly elected AU chairman Bingu Wa Mutharika, of Malawi, encouraging African leaders to make agriculture and food security a top priority, Angola Press reports (2/2).

4 Feb 2010

Mandatory flu shot program increases vaccination rate to more than 98% in BJC HealthCare

Making flu shots mandatory in 2008 dramatically increased the vaccination rate among St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare's nearly 26,000 employees to more than 98 percent, according to a report now online in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

4 Feb 2010

DNA variants in mother and fetus can increase risk of preterm labor

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have identified DNA variants in mothers and fetuses that appear to increase the risk for preterm labor and delivery.

4 Feb 2010

Canadian Institutes of Health Research awards $2.3M for study on integrative biology of inflammatory diseases

A research team led by Dr. John D. Rioux, a researcher at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) and professor in the faculty of medicine at the Université de Montréal, has been awarded a grant of more than $2.3 million to finance a major research project on the integrative biology of inflammatory diseases. From among the roughly 70 applications submitted, Dr. Rioux's team is one of six selected by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to receive the Emerging Team Grant - From Genes to Proteins, Cells, Tissues and Patients.

4 Feb 2010

Despite improvements, aid delivery bottlenecks persist in Haiti

Three weeks after a major earthquake struck Haiti, challenges in getting aid to those in need persist, the Washington Post reports. "Rajiv Shah, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said the relief effort has escalated in recent days and will continue to do so.

4 Feb 2010

Findings provide potential new targets to combat malaria

Yale University researchers have found more than two dozen scent receptors in malaria-transmitting mosquitoes that detect compounds in human sweat, a finding that may help scientists to develop new ways to combat a disease that kills 1 million people annually.

4 Feb 2010

New vaccine to prevent malaria infection shown promise to protect young children

A new vaccine to prevent the deadly malaria infection has shown promise to protect the most vulnerable patients - young children - against the disease, according to an international team of researchers led by the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and the Malaria Research and Training Center at the University of Bamako in Mali, West Africa.

4 Feb 2010

BD Diagnostics launches Be a Flu Fighter initiative to increase awareness and prevent influenza

BD Diagnostics, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), today announced the launch of the Be a Flu Fighter initiative, aimed at increasing awareness and prevention of influenza.

From BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) 3 Feb 2010

Disease/Infection News

Top-line results from Optimer Pharmaceuticals' second fidaxomicin Phase 3 trial in CDI patients

Research could help in developing more effective treatments for wound infections

February issue of Chest releases latest medical news

State of Michigan keeps lethal hospital infections in check

Mycobacterium avium infection can result in three different kinds of illness in humans

New ‘smart coating’ enables safe surgical implants; prevents infections post surgery

Amantadine binds to and blocks critical M2 proton channel necessary for influenza virus to infect healthy cells

Providing Tamiflu and educating on sanitizer use helped to stop spread of H1N1 at boys' summer camp

Study finds link between genes that regulate maternal inflammatory response, bacterial vaginosis and preterm delivery

New study may allow scientists to develop screening test for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Scientists identify potential drug therapy target for malaria

New discovery lays foundation for development of new anti-HIV drugs

New African Union chair's focus to include food security; First Ladies discuss HIV/AIDS

Mandatory flu shot program increases vaccination rate to more than 98% in BJC HealthCare

DNA variants in mother and fetus can increase risk of preterm labor

Canadian Institutes of Health Research awards $2.3M for study on integrative biology of inflammatory diseases

Despite improvements, aid delivery bottlenecks persist in Haiti

Findings provide potential new targets to combat malaria

New vaccine to prevent malaria infection shown promise to protect young children

BD Diagnostics launches Be a Flu Fighter initiative to increase awareness and prevent influenza

How can microdialysis benefit drug development

Global and Local Efforts to Take Action Against Hepatitis

Addressing Important Cardiac Biology Questions with Shotgun Top-Down Proteomics

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