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Detecting transmissibility of avian influenza virus in human households

Recent outbreaks of emerging diseases such as SARS and H5N1 avian influenza have underlined the fact that animal pathogens may acquire the ability to spread efficiently in humans but as yet have not.

26 Jul 2007

Court rules in favor of Sandoz on Toprol Xl patent

Sandoz was pleased to learn this week that the U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis has affirmed a summary judgment by U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel invalidating patent protection on Toprol XL(R), a beta blocker used to treat angina, heart failure, and high blood pressure.

26 Jul 2007

New report shows minimum income required by older people in UK

A University of London team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has just published a report in the International Journal of Epidemiology defining the minimum income required by older people to live healthy and decent lives.

26 Jul 2007

Combination of blood pressure-lowering drugs stops loss of kidney function in rare genetic disease

A combination of two types of blood pressure-lowering drugs, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) plus an angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB), added to enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with agalsidase-beta (Fabrazyme, Genzyme Corporation, Cambridge, MA) is the first treatment shown to stop progressive loss of kidney function in patients with severe kidney involvement due to the rare genetic disorder Fabry disease, reports a study in the September Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

26 Jul 2007

WHO announces China and India join clinical trial registry platform

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced the expansion of its clinical trial registry platform to include trial registers from China and India.

26 Jul 2007

Dexamethasone steroid treatment shows no benefit for kids with bronchiolitis

DMC Children's Hospital of Michigan has found that a common steroid treatment often prescribed for kids with bronchiolitis has no impact on improving their symptoms or in reducing hospitalization.

26 Jul 2007

Claim construction decision issued in Digene's patent case

Digene Corp. has announced that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin issued a pre-trial claim construction decision in the pending litigation between Digene and Third Wave Technologies, Inc. In that litigation, Digene alleges that Third Wave infringes its U.S. Patent No. 5,643,715 covering probes and methods for detecting human papillomavirus (HPV) type 52, a high-risk type of HPV.

26 Jul 2007

Study says you're not as generous as you think

A new study out of Carnegie Mellon University reveals that people who regard themselves as humanitarians are even more likely than others to base donations to the poor on whether they believe poverty is a result of bad luck or bad choices.

26 Jul 2007

Discovery of key HIV protein which makes cell membranes bend more easily

Carnegie Mellon University scientists have made an important discovery that aids the understanding of why HIV enters immune cells with ease.

26 Jul 2007

Call for EU to launch major project to map out all our proteins

Biologists still have no clear idea how many active genes there are coding for proteins in humans and other organisms, even though for some species the genomes have been completely sequenced.

26 Jul 2007

Brain chip could predict and stop epilepsy seizures

An implanted stimulator being studied at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital may be able to predict and prevent seizures before they start in people with uncontrolled epilepsy.

26 Jul 2007

Biologic agents valuable treatment option for patients with inflammatory bowel disease

The use of biologic agents for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may benefit patients, but doctors need to consider the potential associated side effects in determining treatment course, according to a consensus paper published in this month's issue of Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

26 Jul 2007

Air pollution has a role to play in atherosclerosis

Should we be watching our exposure to airborne pollution as well as our cholesterol levels?

26 Jul 2007

High-dose chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant cures testicular cancer

Testicular cancer patients who do not respond to traditional therapy can be cured with high-dose chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, according to an Indiana University School of Medicine report in the July 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

26 Jul 2007

Researchers improve accuracy of thyroid hormone testing

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have developed a fast and accurate way to measure a major hormone released by the thyroid gland--an advance they say may help in the treatment of many women who have overactive or underactive thyroid glands.

26 Jul 2007

The future of Alzheimer's disease research

Imagine the day when a routine visit to the family doctor includes a simple blood test to predict the risk for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD).

26 Jul 2007

ZARS starts phase 3 trial of ThermoProfen

ZARS, Inc., has announced that it commenced the first of two Phase 3 clinical trials of ThermoProfen in patients with mild to moderate osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee on June 26, 2007.

26 Jul 2007

Why people like horror movies?

A bedrock assumption in theories that explain and predict human behavior is people's motivation to pursue pleasure and avoid pain.

26 Jul 2007

White blood cell booster may help cancer patients avoid deadly complications

Cancer patients who receive a drug that stimulates the growth of infection-fighting white blood cells may be significantly less likely to die from a chemotherapy-related complication characterized by fever and low white blood cell levels, according to a multi-institutional study led by researchers from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

26 Jul 2007