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Children as young as 4 understand irony

New research findings from the Universit- de Montr-al reveals that children as young as four are able to understand and use irony. This study, published recently in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, may impact the way parents communicate with their family.

15 Sep 2010

Compandia is now CompanDX

Compandia has announced a name change to CompanDX. The company is a biomarker discovery company providing services to the Pharma and Biotech sectors but increasingly, as a result of in-house R&D, is identifying biomarkers that may lead to new diagnostic services and products of its own. Andy Sutton CEO of CompanDX explained "we have grown the service side of the business over the last 9 months and are delivering biomarker discovery services to large pharma, small biotech and diagnostic companies.

15 Sep 2010

Study on spinal cord stem cells paves way for post stroke symptom treatment

Neuralstem, Inc. announced that its spinal cord stem cells survived in rat brains affected by stroke and differentiated predominantly into neurons. The transplanted animals showed significant improvement in some motor skill and strength measurements. The study entitled, "Intracerebral Implantation of Adherent Human Neural Stem Cells To Reverse Motor Deficits in Chronic Stroke Rats," was presented earlier today by senior study author, Dr. Shinn-Zong Lin, M.D., Ph.D., at the Stem Cells USA & Regenerative Medicine Conference

15 Sep 2010

Mechanism behind gene mutation leading to development of cleft palate

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found a new mechanism that explains why a certain gene mutation causes craniofrontonasal syndrome (CFNS), a disorder that causes cleft palate and other malformations in the face, brain, and skeleton. Cleft palate affects one of every 1,000 newborns. The research is published in the September 15 issue of Genes & Development.

15 Sep 2010

Bone marrow-derived mononuclear cell therapy benefits patients after severe heart attack

The first randomized, placebo-controlled U.S. clinical trial to assess the use of bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BMC) in patients after a ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI; severe heart attack) demonstrated a strong safety profile for this cell therapy, based on phase 1 results published in the September issue of the American Heart Journal.

15 Sep 2010

Heart patients with Type D personality at higher risk of future cardiovascular problems

Heart patients with the "distressed" (Type D) personality profile may face a higher risk of future cardiovascular problems, according to a summary article published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

15 Sep 2010

UT Southwestern receives $8 million NIH grant to study influence of brain and liver on inflammation

An $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will enable UT Southwestern Medical Center to investigate how fat tissue "talks" to the brain and the liver to promote inflammation-related disorders such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

15 Sep 2010

Wintherix announces WX04554 molecule can cause bone healing

Wintherix, LLC, a privately held biotechnology company focusing on bone healing and regenerative medicine, today announced that WX04554, a potent small molecule activator of the Wnt pathway, has been designated as a lead drug for clinical development in bone healing and repair indications.

15 Sep 2010

Researchers create artificial human ovary to yield infertility treatments for cancer patients

Researchers at Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital have invented the first artificial human ovary, an advance that provides a potentially powerful new means for conducting fertility research and could also yield infertility treatments for cancer patients. The team has already used the lab-grown organ to mature human eggs.

15 Sep 2010

Mechanism linking brain activity to sleep discovered

Washington State University researchers have discovered the mechanism by which the brain switches from a wakeful to a sleeping state. The finding clears the way for a suite of discoveries, from sleeping aids to treatments for stroke and other brain injuries.

15 Sep 2010

ACT receives patent for RPE cells to treat retinal degeneration

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., a leader in the field of regenerative medicine, announced today that it will be issued U.S. Patent Numbers 7,795,025 and 7,794,704 on Tuesday, September 14th, which continue to extend the company's patent portfolio covering its retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell programs.

15 Sep 2010

Hormone melatonin improves egg quality in IVF

Poor egg (oocyte) quality is an important cause of female infertility. Low quality eggs may have several problems, for example they may not divide properly, or they may be missing certain chromosomes. Egg quality also declines with age, and certain medical conditions, such as PolyCystic Ovary Syndrome, can lead to poor quality eggs.

15 Sep 2010

microRNA 451 enhances treatment response in stomach cancer patients: Research

"The high presence of microRNA 451 enhances the response to treatment with chemo-radiotherapy and increases the survival of patients with stomach cancer", explained Dr. Jesús García-Foncillas, chief researcher of the Pharmacogenomics Laboratory at the Applied Medical Research Centre (CIMA) and Director of Oncology at the University Hospital of Navarra. This was one of the results presented at the IV Congress of the Spanish Society for Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomic, recently held at CIMA.

15 Sep 2010

Researchers identify risk gene for schizophrenia

An international team of researchers has identified a risk gene for schizophrenia, including a potentially causative mutation, using genome-wide association data-mining techniques and independent replications.

15 Sep 2010

Researchers unveil watercress compound can block pathway for cancer development

The research, unveiled at a press conference today (14 September 2010), shows that the watercress compound is able to interfere with the function of a protein which plays a critical role in cancer development.

15 Sep 2010

Life Technologies finalizes cell line license agreement for recombinant protein production

Life Technologies Corporation today announced that it has finalized cell line license agreements with a number of companies to provide rights to Life Technologies' proprietary CHO (Chinese hamster ovary) cell lines for the production of recombinant proteins used as therapeutic agents and vaccines.

14 Sep 2010

Stemedica Cell Technologies completes master bank of mesenchymal bone marrow-derived stem cells

Stemedica Cell Technologies, Inc., a world leader in adult stem cell manufacturing and research, announced today that it has completed its proprietary master bank of mesenchymal bone marrow-derived stem cells.

14 Sep 2010

Video games train people to make right decisions faster

Cognitive scientists from the University of Rochester have discovered that playing action video games trains people to make the right decisions faster. The researchers found that video game players develop a heightened sensitivity to what is going on around them, and this benefit doesn't just make them better at playing video games, but improves a wide variety of general skills that can help with everyday activities like multitasking, driving, reading small print, keeping track of friends in a crowd, and navigating around town.

14 Sep 2010

Researchers demonstrate shape memory alloys in medical implants

A European team has demonstrated that modern technological materials used in a wide range of medical devices and implants are entirely biocompatible and should not health problems as has previously been suggested.

14 Sep 2010

Metabolon receives patent for metabolic age analysis

Metabolon, Inc., leaders in global metabolomics, biomarker discovery and biochemical analysis, announced today the grant of US Patent 7,781,160 entitled "Biomarkers Related to Metabolic Age and Methods Using the Same". The USPTO awarded the patent to Metabolon on August 24, 2010. This is the 12th patent issued to Metabolon.

14 Sep 2010