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Relationship between music, neurosciences to be discussed in a conference at Edinburgh

The Mariani Foundation for Paediatric Neurology announces "The Neurosciences and Music - IV: Learning and Memory", to be held in Edinburgh (Scotland, UK) from 9th to 12th June 2011. The conference is conceived as a continuation of the previous meetings on the relation between music and the neurosciences in which our foundation participated: "The Biological Foundations of Music" (New York, 2000), "The Neurosciences and Music, Mutual Interactions and Implications of Developmental Functions" (Venice, 2002), "The Neurosciences and Music - II, From Perception to Performance" (Leipzig, 2005) and "The Neurosciences and Music - III, Disorders and Plasticity".

17 Jul 2010

GABA disrupts working memory in neurofibromatosis type 1 patients

Imagine if your brain lost its working memory - the ability to hold and manipulate information in your mind's eye. That's the plight faced by millions of people with neurofibromatosis type 1, or NF1. The genetic condition affects one in 3,500 people and is the most common cause of learning disabilities.Now a UCLA research team has uncovered new clues about how NF1 disrupts working memory. Published in the July 12 online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the findings suggest a potential drug target for correcting NF1-related learning disabilities.

17 Jul 2010

Report on current state of research in information security and privacy in healthcare

Information security and privacy in the healthcare sector is an issue of growing importance but much remains to be done to address the various issues raised by healthcare consumers regarding privacy and security and the providers' perspective of regulatory compliance.

17 Jul 2010

Montana hospitals to get increased Medicare payments; Federal funding for New Orleans health clinics is expiring

"Come this fall, several of Montana's hospitals will start benefitting financially from an obscure provision in the federal health reform bill that ups Medicare payments in 'frontier states.' It's worth up to $4.5 million a year for some of Montana's largest hospitals, which for years have been getting paid less for Medicare-covered patients than hospitals in urban areas. Hospitals in Billings, Missoula and Kalispell are the big beneficiaries. While the money may not seem like much in Montana's multibillion-dollar health industry, it's certainly helpful, hospital executives say — and it's part of the bill's overall effort to improve what many believe is an imperfect system of paying for health care" (Dennison, 7/15).

17 Jul 2010

Lorillard calls upon FDA TPSAC to employ dispassionate science in evaluation of menthol in cigarettes

With the words of Food and Drug Commissioner Margaret Hamburg on the screen beside him, a Lorillard Tobacco Company scientist today called upon the FDA's Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) to employ a "truly science-based, data-driven" process in its evaluation of menthol in cigarettes. Earlier this week Hamburg made headlines when she told an FDA science panel to "Follow the science wherever it leads and the rest will fall into place."

17 Jul 2010

GOP wants to know if Supreme Court nominee Kagan would recuse herself from health reform case

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee want more information on if Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan would recuse herself from considering a health reform case because of her involvement with the Obama administration.

17 Jul 2010

CCTP focuses on identifying, testing drugs for cancer stem cell treatment

Cancer and stem cell biology researchers at the University of Colorado are launching the nation's first program focused on identifying and testing drugs that target and destroy cells thought to be at the root of cancer-cancer stem cells (CSCs).The Cancer Stem Cell-Directed Clinical Trials Program (CCTP) is a collaboration between the University of Colorado Cancer Center and the Charles C. Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology, both located at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

17 Jul 2010

Maxygen's option and licensing arrangement with Cangene expires

Maxygen, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the development of improved protein drugs, today announced that its option and licensing arrangement with Cangene Corporation has expired. Under the agreement, Maxygen had granted Cangene an option to obtain an exclusive license to Maxygen's proprietary MAXY-G34 protein therapeutic for use in treating acute radiation syndrome.

17 Jul 2010

Medicaid directors worried over expansion, Indiana's says federal government is not giving enough guidance

The new health law calls for dramatic increase in Medicaid programs, the joint federal-state health coverage for low-income residents. Some state Medicaid directors say they are worried about how that expansion will work and some are complaining that they are not getting enough guidance from federal officials.

17 Jul 2010

AMPK may regulate epigenetic mechanism: Research

AMP-activated protein kinase, or AMPK, is a master regulator protein of metabolism that is conserved from yeast to humans. When a cell is low on fuel, AMPK shuts down processes that use energy and turns on processes that produce energy.Biologists have been studying how AMPK works for several decades and know that once it is activated, AMPK turns on a large number of genes by passing the "make more energy" message through numerous signaling cascades in the cell. What was not known, until now, was that AMPK also works via an epigenetic mechanism to slow down or stop cell growth.

17 Jul 2010

New Hampshire launches accountable care pilot ahead of schedule

Five separate groups of New Hampshire hospitals and other health care providers are forming "accountable care organizations" as part of a pilot program intended to keep patients healthy and costs down, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. The program "attempts to tackle what many consider to be a big problem in the current system: having accountability spread across hospitals, doctors' offices, insurance carriers and employers with no one group responsible for the overall management of care."

17 Jul 2010

JANA Partners sends detailed critique of Charles River's revised investor presentation on WuXi acquisition

JANA Partners LLC today sent Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. a detailed critique of Charles River's revised investor presentation released earlier this week, in which Charles River once again seeks to persuade shareholders of the merits of its proposed acquisition of WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc..

17 Jul 2010

Florida Institute of Technology assists licensing CDNI-Glu compound to UK company

As a national research university, Florida Institute of Technology not only involves its students in research, but also seeks to license and patent its many innovations. An example of recently licensed university technology is a chemical compound that facilitates the work of neuroscientists in the laboratory.Associate Professor Nasri Nesnas was familiar as a chemist with the chemical compound CDNI-Glu, a commonly used laboratory research tool. Most often, neuroscientists use it to study the brain's neural networks by improving the localization of synaptic stimulation

17 Jul 2010

IAS announces winners of four scientific awards to be presented at AIDS 2010

The International AIDS Society (IAS) announced today the ten winners of four prestigious scientific awards, to be presented at plenary sessions during the XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010). Presented by the IAS and partners, these awards recognize scientists involved in innovative HIV and AIDS research throughout the world. "The quality of work represented by the 2010 awardees is remarkable," said IAS President Julio Montaner. "The IAS hopes to draw the world's attention to these individuals and to their significant scientific accomplishments, as well as to the continued need for innovation in all of the major areas of HIV and AIDS research, represented by the six conference programme tracks."

17 Jul 2010

Resveratrol concentration impacts cancer risk mitigation: Study

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) chemist Thomas Wang, who specializes in cancer prevention research, has reported evidence that for some dietary compounds, length of exposure over time may be key to whether or not ingestion leads to a beneficial, or detrimental, effect.Scientists do not know exactly why one person develops cancer and another does not. But they do know that certain nutrients might increase or decrease cancer risk. There are "layers" of factors involved in the development of cancer, and Wang is studying the layers involving peoples' diet complexity and gene expression.

17 Jul 2010

ICON opens purpose-built clinical pharmacology unit within CMFT campus

ICON plc,, a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, today announced the official opening of a purpose-built clinical pharmacology unit within the Central Manchester University Hospitals Foundation Trust (CMFT) campus in Manchester, UK. Initial studies in the unit utilising translational medicine methodologies to expedite drug development projects began in June, and already 110 volunteers have participated in studies there.

17 Jul 2010

Cage type affects laboratory mice brain

Researchers at the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus have found the brains of mice used in laboratories worldwide can be profoundly affected by the type of cage they are kept in, a breakthrough that may require scientists to reevaluate the way they conduct future experiments.

17 Jul 2010

Study examines HIV-positive patients' death risk at CD4 counts above 350

"Having HIV appears to be associated with a greater risk of death, even when the immune system is relatively robust and patients have not started treatment," according to a study published Friday in the Lancet, MedPage Today reports (Smith, 7/15).

17 Jul 2010

Pain medication abuse soars

The Associated Press: "A new government study finds a 400 percent increase in the number of people admitted to treatment for abusing prescription pain medication. The increase in substance abuse among people ages 12 and older was recorded during the 10-year-period from 1998 to 2008. It spans every gender, race, ethnicity, education and employment level, and all regions of the country" (7/15).

17 Jul 2010

Cleveland Clinic to provide heart care in Chicago; Johns Hopkins increases primary care in D.C. area

Chicago Tribune: "In a move likely to shake up the market for heart care in the Chicago area, the Cleveland Clinic's cardiac surgery program has signed an affiliation agreement with Central DuPage Hospital in west suburban Winfield. The deal, announced Thursday, is designed to enhance the heart care provided at the 313-bed hospital and potentially bring Cleveland Clinic patient referrals at a time when fewer heart surgeries are needed than were a decade ago.

17 Jul 2010

Research News and Research

Relationship between music, neurosciences to be discussed in a conference at Edinburgh

GABA disrupts working memory in neurofibromatosis type 1 patients

Report on current state of research in information security and privacy in healthcare

Montana hospitals to get increased Medicare payments; Federal funding for New Orleans health clinics is expiring

Lorillard calls upon FDA TPSAC to employ dispassionate science in evaluation of menthol in cigarettes

GOP wants to know if Supreme Court nominee Kagan would recuse herself from health reform case

CCTP focuses on identifying, testing drugs for cancer stem cell treatment

Maxygen's option and licensing arrangement with Cangene expires

Medicaid directors worried over expansion, Indiana's says federal government is not giving enough guidance

AMPK may regulate epigenetic mechanism: Research

New Hampshire launches accountable care pilot ahead of schedule

JANA Partners sends detailed critique of Charles River's revised investor presentation on WuXi acquisition

Florida Institute of Technology assists licensing CDNI-Glu compound to UK company

IAS announces winners of four scientific awards to be presented at AIDS 2010

Resveratrol concentration impacts cancer risk mitigation: Study

ICON opens purpose-built clinical pharmacology unit within CMFT campus

Cage type affects laboratory mice brain

Study examines HIV-positive patients' death risk at CD4 counts above 350

Pain medication abuse soars

Cleveland Clinic to provide heart care in Chicago; Johns Hopkins increases primary care in D.C. area

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