Medical News

RSS

Genentech submits application to FDA for Avastin in the most aggressive form of brain cancer

Genentech has announced that the company submitted a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Avastin (bevacizumab) as a therapy for people with previously treated glioblastoma. If accepted by the FDA, the application would be considered for an accelerated approval that allows provisional approval of medicines for cancer or other life-threatening diseases based on preliminary evidence suggesting clinical benefit.

3 Nov 2008

Minor shift in vaccine schedule has potential to reduce infant illness, death

A new study by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Vanderbilt University suggests that protecting infants from a common, highly contagious and even deadly disease may be as easy as administering a routine vaccine two weeks earlier than it is typically given.

3 Nov 2008

Researchers develop DNA vaccine for West Nile virus

Researchers are developing a DNA-based vaccine against the dreaded West Nile virus (WNV), which can be transmitted from animals to humans. The unique feature of this vaccine is that it is also effective after onset of the disease, for it has therapeutic properties.

3 Nov 2008

DIY high-tech microscope

A resourceful lecturer at the University of Essex has turned his hand to a spot of DIY and built a high-tech microscope that will transform the university's ability to undertake specialist medical and biological research.

3 Nov 2008

Magnet restores colour perception in partially-sighted patient

A researcher from the University of Essex has succeeded in inducing the experience of colour in the blind part of a partially sighted patient's visual field.

3 Nov 2008

Adult crime linked to childhood anxiety

Being nervous, socially isolated, anxious or neurotic during childhood protects young men from becoming criminal offenders until they enter adulthood, but the protective effect seems to wear off after the age of 21.

3 Nov 2008

First gene for child brain tumour identified

Scientists have found the first genetic link to a common childhood brain tumour - reveals research published in Cancer Research.

3 Nov 2008

Persistent bacterial infection exploits killing machinery of immune cells

A new study reveals an important and newly discovered pathway used by disease-causing bacteria to evade the host immune system and survive and grow within the very cells meant to destroy them. This discovery may lead to new treatments and vaccines for tuberculosis (TB) and certain other chronic bacterial and parasitic infections.

3 Nov 2008

Without glial cells, animals lose their senses

Sensory neurons have always put on a good show. But now it turns out they'll be sharing the credit. In groundbreaking research to appear in the October 31 issue of Science, Rockefeller University scientists show that while neurons play the lead role in detecting sensory information, a second type of cell, the glial cell, pulls the strings behind the scenes.

3 Nov 2008

Flu shot protects kids - even with a suboptimal vaccine match

Children who receive all recommended flu vaccine doses are less likely to catch the respiratory virus that the CDC estimates hospitalizes 20,000 children under 5 years old every year.

3 Nov 2008

Pregnant women told to keep coffee down to two a day

Pregnant women in Britain have been given new guidelines about drinking coffee - the new guidelines issued by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) say pregnant women should cut their caffeine intake and drink no more than two cups of coffee or four cups of tea a day.

3 Nov 2008

Experts say it is very important for all children to receive flu vaccinations

According to new research from the U.S., experts have found it is very important for all children to receive flu vaccinations for themselves and for the people around them.

3 Nov 2008

Aboriginals in the Kimberley suffer higher dementia rates

Australian researchers have found that Aboriginal people living in the Kimberley, in northern Western Australia, have significantly higher rates of dementia than the rest of the population.

3 Nov 2008

Lithium carbonate to be tested for motor neurone disease

Victims of motor neurone disease (MND) will find hope from British research which has found that lithium carbonate, a cheap off-patent drug, may offer a treatment for the disease.

3 Nov 2008

Insomnia linked to a neurochemical abnormality in the brain

Scientists at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine have linked insomnia to a neurochemical abnormality in the brain.

3 Nov 2008

Two pronged approach to melanomas shows promise

An international team of researchers have developed a new substance which uses a two pronged attack on malignant cells.

3 Nov 2008

Death from anthrax in Britain

A musician and drum maker has died in Britain from anthrax after handling animal skins thought to have been imported from Africa.

3 Nov 2008

How the Nodal gene family keeps the heart in the right (asymmetric) place

Asymmetry is crucial for the heart proper functioning, and now, scientists from the Institute Gulbenkian of Science in Portugal and Harvard University, have discovered that a family of genes, called Nodal, is crucial determining this asymmetry by controlling the speed and direction of the heart muscle cells during embryonic development.

2 Nov 2008

New method provides panoramic view of protein-RNA interactions in living cells

DNA, it has turned out, isn't all it was cracked up to be. In recent years we learned that the molecule of life, the discovery of the 20th century, did not - could not - by itself explain the huge differences in complexity between a human and a worm.

2 Nov 2008

FDA accepts Arana's anti-inflammatory IND

Biotechnology company Arana Therapeutics Limited today announced that lead anti-inflammatory compound, ART621 has successfully passed review of its rheumatoid arthritis Investigational New Drug (IND) application by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

2 Nov 2008