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CDC report on HIV/AIDS in U.S. should serve as 'wake-up call' for policymakers, health workers

A recent CDC report on HIV/AIDS in the U.S. -- which found that about 56,000 new HIV infections occur in the U.S. each year -- "should serve as a wake-up call from the AIDS amnesia surrounding the domestic epidemic in recent years," Susan Blumenthal, senior policy and medical adviser at the Foundation for AIDS Research, and Melissa Shive, a former research assistant at amfAR and medical student at the University of California-San Francisco, write in a Washington Times opinion piece.

13 Aug 2008

Isis Pharmaceuticals trials C-reactive protein drug

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today it has initiated a Phase 1 study of ISIS 353512, an antisense drug that inhibits the production of C-reactive protein (CRP). CRP levels are frequently elevated in patients with a variety of diseases including cardiovascular disease, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and end-stage renal disease.

13 Aug 2008

Diakron licenses anticoagulant drug candidate from Merck

Diakron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today the signing of an exclusive license agreement for a novel investigational oral anticoagulant drug candidate discovered and developed through Phase I clinical trials by Merck & Co. Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Diakron has the exclusive rights to develop, and, if approved, market and distribute the compound worldwide.

13 Aug 2008

SpectraScience awarded U.S. patent for correcting image misalignment

SpectraScience, Inc. has announced that it has been awarded a patent for correcting image misalignment between at least two images in a sequence of images due at least in part to tissue sample movement. The patent, U.S. Patent No. 7,406,215, is titled "Methods and systems for correcting image misalignment."

13 Aug 2008

St. Jude Medical receives approval of first extended-life primary cell neurostimulator for treatment of chronic pain

St. Jude Medical, Inc. has announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European CE Mark approvals of EonC, the first extended-life primary cell (non-rechargeable) neurostimulator for the treatment of chronic pain.

13 Aug 2008

Clumsy at seven - obese at 30

According to new research children who are clumsy and poorly coordinated may be at a higher risk of obesity in later life.

13 Aug 2008

Molecular switch provides insights into a form of altered brain activity occurring in schizophrenia

People with schizophrenia have an alteration in a pattern of brain electrical activity associated with learning and memory. Now, researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Sweden's Karolinska Institute have identified in mouse brain tissue a molecular switch that, when thrown, increases the strength of this electrical pattern. The researchers found that adding the brain chemical Neuregulin-1 to the brain tissue boosted the electrical signals that the tissue generated.

13 Aug 2008

A snooze button for the circadian clock

We may use the snooze button to fine-tune our sleep cycles, but our cells have a far more meticulous and refined system. Humans, and most other organisms, have 24-hour rhythms that are regulated by a precise molecular clock that ticks inside every cell.

13 Aug 2008

Infant sensitivity to negative emotional expressions develops at around six months

Scientists working in the Academy-funded Research Programme on Neuroscience (NEURO) have discovered important changes in the way that infants react to another person's face at age 5-7 months.

13 Aug 2008

Robot controlled by biological brain provides insights into how the brain works

A multidisciplinary team at the University of Reading has developed a robot which is controlled by a biological brain formed from cultured neurons. This cutting edge research is the first step to examine how memories manifest themselves in the brain, and how a brain stores specific pieces of data.

13 Aug 2008

NanoBio vaccine for hepatitis B shows promise

Chronic hepatitis B infects 400 million people worldwide, many of them children. Even with three effective vaccines available, hepatitis B remains a stubborn, unrelenting health problem, especially in Africa and other developing areas. The disease and its complications cause an estimated 1 million deaths globally each year.

13 Aug 2008

Fame matters more than beauty in consumer behaviour

New research from Aston University in Birmingham, UK suggests that fame really does matter more than beauty when it comes to consumer behaviour.

13 Aug 2008

Sexual dysfunction among older adults

Sexual dysfunction is not an inevitable part of aging, but it is strongly related a number of factors, such as mental and physical health, demographics and lifetime experiences, many of which are interrelated, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Chicago.

13 Aug 2008

Californian bill to revolutionize HIV testing passes legislature unanimously

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the operator of the largest non-government HIV testing program in California, today praised the California Legislature for its passage this week of Assembly Bill 2899 (Portantino, D-Pasadena).

13 Aug 2008

The effect of childhood dairy intake on adolescent bone health

Dairy is recognized as a key component of a healthy, balanced diet. However, until recently it was unclear how long-term dairy intake contributes to the many aspects of bone health in children, including bone density, bone mineral content, and bone area. A new study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics investigates the effect of childhood dairy intake on adolescent bone health.

13 Aug 2008