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FDA launches pilot program to improve drug safety and active drug ingredients produced outside U.S.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced the launch of a voluntary pilot program that would help promote the safety of drugs and active drug ingredients produced outside the United States.

14 Jan 2009

Hepatitis B and C in U.S.

In the last decade, more than 60,000 patients in the United States were asked to get tested for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) because health care personnel in settings outside hospitals failed to follow basic infection control practices, according to a new study by the CDC.

6 Jan 2009

Need another reason to add "Quit Smoking" to your New Year's resolutions list?

How about the fact that even if you choose to smoke outside of your home or only smoke in your home when your children are not there - thinking that you're keeping them away from second-hand smoke - you're still exposing them to toxins?

30 Dec 2008

Remote sensing helps tackle tropical disease schistosomiasis in southern China

Scientists are looking to outer space for help in their attempt to prevent new outbreaks of the tropical disease schistosomiasis in southern China.

18 Dec 2008

Report looks at dangers of drinking raw milk

With disease outbreaks linked to unpasteurized milk rising in the United States, a review published in the January 1, 2009 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases examines the dangers of drinking raw milk.

16 Dec 2008

Labcyte awarded U.S. patent for transferring liquids within sealed containers

Labcyte Inc. announces the issuance of U.S. Patent 7,405,072, which uses the unique advantages of moving liquids with sound to transfer fluids within a sealed container, free from any physical contact. This process can be applied to the testing of pathogens and other dangerous fluids.

10 Dec 2008

Dioxins in Irish pork causes food scare in Britain

A food scare in Britain involving pork from Ireland has forced all major supermarkets to remove all Irish pork products from their shelves because of concerns they may contain toxic dioxins.

8 Dec 2008

Alarm over high lead contamination of Esperance sea food

Alarm over high lead contamination of Esperance sea food. The presence of high concentrations of lead found in fish in a part of Western Australia has prompted a warning to people living in the Esperance area to avoid eating some local seafood.

8 Dec 2008

Discovery of novel prion infectivity in white and brown fat tissues of mice

Prion diseases, also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, are infectious progressive fatal neurodegenerative diseases which affect humans as well as wild and domestic animals.

5 Dec 2008

Tobacco plants grown in novel mist bioreactor system provide new soure of interleukin-12

Interleukin-12 is a naturally occurring protein essential for the proper functioning of the human immune system.

3 Dec 2008

Lab on a microfluidic chip for the GP's surgery

If doctors were able to conduct efficient genetic analysis at the point of care, using inexpensive, portable equipment, it would revolutionise disease detection and treatment. European researchers are close to enabling this revolution.

2 Dec 2008

New European food allergy research

A team of scientists from across Europe are embarking on new research to develop a treatment for food allergy.

30 Nov 2008

Study looks at Tamiflu resistance in influenza viruses caused by environmental contamination

The research council FORMAS, Sweden, has granted 5.9 million SEK to a new research project that will study the environmental fate and effects of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu on the development on influenza resistance.

26 Nov 2008

Aging brain easily distracted

Canadian researchers have found more evidence that older adults aren't able to filter out distracting information as well as younger adults.

25 Nov 2008

Health problems associated with mineral oil contamination

From a quantitative standpoint, mineral oil is probably the largest contaminant of our body. That this contaminant can be tolerated without health concerns in humans has not been proven convincingly.

24 Nov 2008

Pollution comes home and gets personal: Women's experience of household chemical exposure

Although Americans are becoming increasingly aware of toxic chemical exposure from everyday household products like bisphenol A in some baby bottles and lead in some toys, women do not readily connect typical household products with personal chemical exposure and related adverse health effects, according to research from the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

21 Nov 2008

If avian flu hits poultry consumption could decline

If a case of avian flu is discovered in a U.S. poultry flock, it's likely that poultry consumption would decline.

20 Nov 2008

FDA strengthens safety of Sucraid (sacrosidase) oral solution

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued an expedited approval of a supplemental application that allows for changes in the manufacturing of Sucraid (sacrosidase) Oral Solution.

20 Nov 2008

Microbial population of raw milk found to be more complex than previously thought

Raw milk is illegal in many countries as it can be contaminated with potentially harmful microbes.

16 Nov 2008

New report shows high Clostridium difficile infection rates in U.S. hospitals

Consumers Union called on hospitals today to take more aggressive steps to protect patients from Clostridium difficile (C.-diff.) infections in light of a new report showing that they are much more common than previous estimates had indicated. As the rate of hospital acquired C.-diff. infections has jumped in recent years, an increasing number of patients have developed antibiotic-resistant strains of the infection that are more difficult to treat and more deadly.

11 Nov 2008