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BIO president comments on U.S. District Court injunction on embryonic stem cell research funds

Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) President and CEO Jim Greenwood issued the following statement today regarding the injunction issued yesterday by a U.S. District Court prohibiting the use of federal funds to support embryonic stem cell research.

25 Aug 2010

Insuring your health: Health law requires continued coverage for patients in clinical trials

In her latest Kaiser Health News consumer column, Michelle Andrews writes: "When Richard Crusoe was diagnosed with a rare form of soft tissue cancer called liposarcoma, the retired firefighter and his family pinned their hopes of slowing the cancer's advance on a drug that was being tested in a clinical trial" (Andrews, 8/24).

25 Aug 2010

Study finds 15% patients experience postoperative pain after surgery

15% of patients experience more pain, physical and emotional problems a year after surgery than before their operation and 24% have less vitality, according to a study of over 400 patients published online by the British Journal of Surgery.

25 Aug 2010

Researchers identify specific gene responsible for Kuf's disease

A North Carolina State University researcher has helped to locate and identify a gene responsible for a fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects American Staffordshire terriers. This same gene may be responsible for a similar rare, fatal disease in humans. Its discovery will lead to improved screening and diagnosis of the disease in dogs and is the first step in working toward a cure for both canines and humans.

25 Aug 2010

New TRIM5α-based treatments can knock out HIV in humans: Research

Using a $225,000 microscope, researchers have identified the key components of a protein called TRIM5α that destroys HIV in rhesus monkeys.The finding could lead to new TRIM5α-based treatments that would knock out HIV in humans, said senior researcher Edward M. Campbell, PhD, of Loyola University Health System.

25 Aug 2010

Increasing levels of neuropeptide Y, receptors can counteract seizures: Research

Research in recent years has shown that the brain tries to counteract seizures. One of the ways it does this is by increasing levels of a protein-like molecule called neuropeptide Y and the expression of certain receptors for it.

25 Aug 2010

Water soluble extract of cinnamon reduces diabetes and heart disease risk

A study led by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) chemist Richard Anderson suggests that a water soluble extract of cinnamon, which contains antioxidative compounds, could help reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and heart disease.

25 Aug 2010

Judge blocks federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research

The Washington Post: "A federal judge on Monday blocked the Obama administration from funding human embryonic stem cell research, ruling that the support violates a federal law barring the use of taxpayer money for experiments that destroy human embryos.

25 Aug 2010

Increased levels of Oxytocin hormone fosters trust, increases generosity

Oxytocin (OT) is a hormone that plays an important role in social behavior-it has even been nicknamed "the love hormone" and "liquid trust." Increased levels of OT have been associated with greater caring, generosity, and trust.

25 Aug 2010

Researchers identify molecular signals that impact male fertility: Research

Male infertility is a common medical problem, affecting millions of men in the United States annually. Its causes include an inability to make productive sperm. Now, using yeast as a model organism, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are beginning to identify the molecular signals that could in part underlie that problem.

25 Aug 2010

Study examines movement of pediatric drug testing outside the U.S.

"A law intended to speed up development of new drugs for U.S. kids has ended up financing clinical trials in poor countries, where the medicines might never become available," suggest the authors of a study published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics, Reuters reports (Joelving, 8/23).

25 Aug 2010

Sleep deprivation and chronic disease

Sleep experts believe that sleep deprivation and inadequate sleep is becoming frightfully common and it can be bad for health in more ways than one. According to Harvard School of Medicine's Healthy Sleep site there is a real link between chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease and depression and chronic lack of sleep.

24 Aug 2010

Scientists discover influence of vitamin D in genes linked with autoimmune diseases

UK scientists at the University of Oxford have discovered that vitamin D can affect the activity of more than 200 genes of cells grown in the lab. Some of these genes are known from previous studies to be involved in diseases like diabetes and cancer.

24 Aug 2010

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals to present results on RNAi therapeutics at ACS National Meeting

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it will make a total of 16 oral presentations at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2010 240th National Meeting & Exposition being held in Boston, Mass. from August 22-26, 2010.

24 Aug 2010

3SBio and Isotechnika enter strategic agreement for voclosporin in China

3SBio Inc., a leading China-based biotechnology company focused on researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing biopharmaceutical products and Isotechnika Pharma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of immune modulating therapeutics, today announced the signing of a development and commercialization agreement for voclosporin.

24 Aug 2010

Bug with bifocals discovered

University of Cincinnati researchers are reporting on the discovery of a bug with bifocals - such an amazing finding that it initially had the researchers questioning whether they could believe their own eyes. "To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of truly bifocal lenses in the extant animal kingdom," the researchers state in the Aug. 24 cover feature of the premier life-science journal, Current Biology.

24 Aug 2010

MIT symposium at ACS National Meeting to familiarize future scientists with unfamiliar public policy

With laws, government regulations, and funding priorities continuing to exert a broad impact on science, a group of graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is holding a special symposium Aug. 23 during the American Chemical Society (ACS) 240th National Meeting and Exhibition here to familiarize future scientists with the unfamiliar realm of public policy.

24 Aug 2010

Consumers economizing on healthcare in ways that might be dangerous: Poll

More than two-thirds (69%) of Americans currently taking a prescription drug say drug makers have too much influence on doctors' prescribing decisions and half say that doctors are too eager to prescribe a drug when other non-drug options are available for managing a condition. Those are just some of the concerns raised by Americans in a new prescription drug poll by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. More information about the poll is available online at www.consumerreportsenespanol.org.

24 Aug 2010

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researcher receives L'Oreal Fellowship for breast cancer research

A desire to understand how breast cancer starts has seen Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researcher Dr Marie-Liesse Asselin-Labat today win one of three 2010 L'Oreal Australia For Women in Science Fellowships.

24 Aug 2010

Asian-Americans subgroups lack data on cardiovascular disease

Asians are the fastest-growing racial/ethnic group in the U.S., but data on cardiovascular disease is lacking. There are marked differences in heart disease risk and occurrence among Asian-American subgroups, but data on these subgroups is limited, prompting the American Heart Association to call for more research on this fastest-growing racial/ethnic group in the U.S., according to a scientific statement published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

24 Aug 2010