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With corporations already claiming pain from overhaul, business lobby prepares to fight back

A week after the health overhaul cleared Congress, a business lobby that opposed the plan is now regrouping to shape its implementation and exact political retribution on supporters, The Wall Street Journal reports. "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is planning a broad effort to blunt the health overhaul by trying to shape its regulatory language and spending heavily to unseat vulnerable Democrats who voted for it."

1 Apr 2010

Mtb fine-tunes behaviour to escape detection and causes TB

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) possesses extraordinary survival ability by masking itself from the host immune system and persisting for decades inside the host. Speaking at the Society for General Microbiology's spring meeting in Edinburgh today, Dr Kristine Arnvig provides further insight into how the bacterium causes tuberculosis (TB) by fine-tuning its behaviour in response to its surroundings to escape detection.

1 Apr 2010

Scientists use non-viral, synthetic nanoparticle carrier to restores vision

Take a look at this: Scientists from Buffalo, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City made a huge step toward making the blind see, and they did it by using a form of gene therapy that does not involve the use of modified viruses.

1 Apr 2010

Insight into how mutations in LRRK2 gene may cause familial Parkinson's disease

Using new one-of-a-kind "mouse models" that promise to have a significant impact on future Parkinson's disease research, Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers are among the first to discover how mutations in a gene called LRRK2 may cause inherited (or "familial") Parkinson's disease, the most common form of the disease. The study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, is the first in vivo evidence that LRRK2 regulates dopamine transmission and controls motor performance, and that the mutation of LRRK2 eliminates the normal function of LRRK2, leading to Parkinson's disease.

1 Apr 2010

VA may expand list of Gulf War illnesses

The Army Times/Veterans Today: "In a boost for veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War and those who have served in recent years in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Veterans Affairs Department has proposed changes to its list of illnesses that are presumed connected to service to include nine infectious diseases."

1 Apr 2010

Mislabeled high fire risk kids nightwear recalled by Big W

Big W stores in Australia have apologized after selling inflammable children’s night wear labeled as “low fire danger”. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) deputy chair Peter Kell said in a statement, "The ACCC enforces a mandatory standard for the labelling of children's nightwear,” "It is designed to reduce the risk of burns injuries to children by providing specific information on the fire hazard," he said. "There is considerable research which shows that clear labelling helps minimise the risk of these injuries, which is why the ACCC regularly monitors compliance."

1 Apr 2010

Pfizer admits paying $35 million to doctors over last 6 months

Pfizer among other large pharmaceutical companies recently disclosed payments to doctors and other medical professionals for consulting and speaking on its behalf and also some sponsorship of clinical trials. On Wednesday in an announcement the company spokesperson revealed that they had paid a whopping $20 million to 4,500 doctors and other medical professionals in the last six months of 2009. Pfizer also accepted that they paid $15.3 million to 250 academic medical centers and other research groups for clinical trials in the same period. This disclosure is only about payments made within the US.

1 Apr 2010

Some states reject health reform lawsuits as others prepare to join fray

In Georgia, "the Democratic attorney general has rejected" the idea of lawsuits that challenge the constitutionality of the recently enacted federal health overhaul "as 'frivolous' and 'a waste of taxpayer money.' Now ... [31] Republicans in the state legislature signed a resolution Tuesday calling for the impeachment of the attorney general, Thurbert Baker." Mr. Baker is planning to run for governor, a race "expected to be closely fought, to succeed Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, who is prevented by law from seeking a third term."

1 Apr 2010

Cigarette filters contain pig’s blood

The next time you light up a cigarette you may be puffing on a filter which contains pig’s blood. A recent Dutch research found that pig hemoglobin was being used to make filters of cigarettes more effective in blocking harmful chemicals before they enter the smoker’s lungs.

1 Apr 2010

Four studies of bavituximab and PS-targeting antibodies to be presented at AACR 2010

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer and viral infections, today announced four studies of bavituximab and its other PS-targeting antibodies have been accepted for presentation at the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research to be held April 17-21, 2010 in Washington, D.C.

1 Apr 2010

Red Hill Studios, UCSF awarded two grants to develop computer-based physical therapy games

Red Hill Studios, a California-based serious games developer, in partnership with the UCSF School of Nursing, has been awarded two grants totaling $1.1 million from the National Institutes of Health to continue development, production and testing of computer-based physical therapy games for patients with Parkinson's disease and cerebral palsy.

1 Apr 2010

Newsweek examines challenges associated wtih U.S. food aid program

Newsweek examines how the U.S. farm bill influences food aid by tracking the efforts of U.S. entrepreneur Navyn Salem as she worked to launch a nonprofit capable of providing ready-to-use therapeutic (RUTF) food aid known as Plumpy'nut - "a squeezable package of fortified peanut-butter-based paste … used to feed severely malnourished children and pregnant or lactating women" - to NGOs that contract with USAID.

1 Apr 2010

Combating immune suppressive cells in liver may prevent the spread of cancer: Study

Scientists have uncovered what could be a very important clue in answering one of the most perplexing questions about cancer: why does it spread to the liver more than any other organ? In a new research report published in the April 2010 issue of Journal of Leukocyte Biology, scientists from New York University describe experimental results suggesting that the immune system may be the reason.

1 Apr 2010

Researchers develop experimental protocol to detect age-related memory disorders

By studying the aging of memory in the mouse, researchers in the Laboratoire Neurobiologie des Processus Adaptatifs have developed an experimental protocol that can detect age-related memory deficits at an early stage. They have shown that even at 10 months, which corresponds to a third of their life expectancy, some mice present with age-related memory disorders.

1 Apr 2010

Conventional analgesics to drive acute pain market over the next decade

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, through 2018, the launches and uptake of reformulations of conventional analgesics will drive annual three percent growth in the acute pain drug market in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan.

1 Apr 2010

Same-sex couples often pay more for health coverage

MarketWatch reports on higher health care costs for same-sex couples. "Even in states where same-sex marriages are legal, employers may exclude partners from coverage.

1 Apr 2010

Neurologist develops SAGE tool to diagnose memory disorders

A self-administered test to screen for early dementia could help speed the diagnosis and subsequent treatment of memory disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. It could also provide health care providers and caregivers an earlier indication of life-changing events that could lie ahead.

1 Apr 2010

Phase 1/2 human clinical trial of Symphogen's Sym004 initiated in the US

Symphogen A/S today announced that it has initiated a Phase 1/2 human clinical trial in the US to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of its drug candidate Sym004 for the treatment of advanced solid tumors. Sym004 is composed of two anti-epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibodies targeting different nonoverlapping EGFR epitopes.

1 Apr 2010

U.N. releases report on poverty in Afghanistan

A new U.N. report (.pdf) finds that "the majority of Afghans live in dire poverty, despite an estimated $35 billion in aid being poured into the country between 2002 to 2009," the Associated Press reports (3/30).

1 Apr 2010

Symyx Technologies forms alliance with Pistoia Alliance

Symyx Technologies, Inc. today announced it has joined the Pistoia Alliance, a non-profit group that promotes collaboration to streamline non-competitive elements of pharmaceutical and life science discovery workflows. The alliance was initially formed by major global pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, and AstraZeneca.

1 Apr 2010