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Roche introduces new EMR interface for the U.S. Department of VA

Roche announced today that it has introduced a new Electronic Medical Record interface for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that helps VA healthcare facilities improve their efficiency and accuracy by transmitting patient diabetes management data directly into the VistA computerized patient record system.

From Roche Sequencing and Life Science 19 Apr 2011

Tweaking gene in satellite cells may increase lifespan of people with muscular dystrophy

Researchers have long questioned why patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) tend to manage well through childhood and adolescence, yet succumb to their disease in early adulthood, or why elderly people who lose muscle strength following bed rest find it difficult or impossible to regain.

18 Apr 2011

Amylin reports total revenue of $152.7 million for quarter ended March 31, 2011

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2011.

18 Apr 2011

Consumers can trust the quality and value of heart-healthy imported olive oils: Study

Consumers can continue to trust the quality of the imported olive oils they buy in supermarkets throughout the United States, contrary to what the authors of a report funded by a small contingent of domestic olive oil producers would like them to believe.

16 Apr 2011

Thermo Fisher Scientific introduces wireless sample monitoring solution

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today introduced its new Thermo Scientific Smart-Vue wireless monitoring solution. Smart-Vue™ protects precious samples by monitoring key laboratory parameters including temperature, CO2 concentration, humidity and differential pressure. It can be installed by the user on most laboratory equipment, including ultra-low temperature freezers, laboratory refrigerators, CO2 incubators and clean rooms.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 16 Apr 2011

NVP-BEZ235 inhibits growth of ovarian cancer cells, increases survival: Study

An experimental drug that blocks two points of a crucial cancer cell signaling pathway inhibits the growth of ovarian cancer cells and significantly increases survival in an ovarian cancer mouse model, a study at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has found.

16 Apr 2011

Proteins could lead to new therapeutic target for NF2: Wistar Institute researchers

The proteins that provide cells with a sense of personal space could lead to a therapeutic target for Neurofibromatosis Type 2, an inherited cancer disorder, according to researchers at The Wistar Institute. Their findings, which appear in the April 12 issue of the journal Cancer Cell, could have profound implications for NF2 and related cancers, such as mesothelioma.

16 Apr 2011

Energy drinks with alcohol may increase risk of drinking

Energy drinks mixed with alcohol, such as Red Bull- and vodka, have become trendy. While this consumption has been implicated in risky drinking practices and associated accidents and injuries, there is little laboratory research on how the effects of this combination differ from those of drinking alcohol alone.

16 Apr 2011

Genentech receives FDA approval for Actemra to treat juvenile idiopathic arthritis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Actemra, given alone or in combination with methotrexate, for the treatment of active systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis in children ages 2 years and older.

15 Apr 2011

FEN1 enzyme might serve as anti-cancer therapy target

An enzyme essential for DNA replication and repair in humans works in a way that might be exploited as anti-cancer therapy, say researchers at The Scripps Research Institute and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

15 Apr 2011

New treatment improves immune function in 13-year-old with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome

In a novel approach that works around the gene defect in Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, an inherited immune deficiency disorder, researchers used an alternative cell signaling pathway to significantly improve immune function in a 13-year-old boy with the disease.

15 Apr 2011

Investigational Alzheimer's compounds may treat neuropathies

Drugs already in development to treat Alzheimer's disease may eventually be tapped for a different purpose altogether: re-growing the ends of injured nerves to relieve pain and paralysis.

15 Apr 2011

Scientists identify novel small molecules that block human tumor cell growth

Researchers from the Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center have identified three novel small molecules that interrupt a crucial cellular communication pathway that regulates many aspects of development and cancer.

15 Apr 2011

Organic pollutants in flame retardents cause molecular changes in reproductive organs

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are chemicals that have been widely used as flame retardants and are now classified as persistent organic pollutants. Health concerns in humans have arisen based primarily on studies with laboratory animals exposed to high levels of PBDEs. Three commercial mixtures of PBDEs have been manufactured in or imported into the United States which include penta-, octa-, and deca-brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs).

15 Apr 2011

Stimulation of brain nerves accelerates learning

In a breakthrough that may aid treatment of learning impairments, strokes, tinnitus and chronic pain, UT Dallas researchers have found that brain nerve stimulation accelerates learning in laboratory tests.

15 Apr 2011

Researchers create artificial cornea using pig and human stem cells

Researchers extracted pig corneal cells and replaced them with human stem cells. Thus, the University of Granada takes the lead in the making of bioartificial organs, a field so far led by the Hospital Gregorio Marañón in Madrid.

15 Apr 2011

African genital herpes strains are more infectious than the U.S. virus

Strains of genital herpes in Africa are far more virulent than those in the United States, researchers at Harvard Medical School report, a striking insight into a common disease with important implications for preventing HIV transmission in a region staggered by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

15 Apr 2011

Researchers temporarily turn off essential gene using RNAi technology

One way of discovering a gene's function is to switch it off and observe how the loss of its activity affects an organism. If a gene is essential for survival, however, then switching it off permanently will kill the organism before the gene's function can be determined. Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have overcome this problem by using RNA interference (RNAi) technology to temporarily turn off any essential gene in adult mice and then turn it back on before the change kills the animals.

15 Apr 2011

Normal breast cells provide an innate defense mechanism against cancer

It is well known that the human body has a highly developed immune system to detect and destroy invading pathogens and tumor cells. Now, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown that the body has a second line of defense against cancer - healthy cells.

15 Apr 2011

Researchers show how TET1 enzyme controls fetal development and fights cancer

To ensure normal fetal development and prevent disease, it is crucial that certain genes are on or off in the right time intervals. Researchers in Professor Kristian Helin's group at BRIC, University of Copenhagen, have now shown how the TET1 enzyme controls the activity of our genes. The results are just published in the journal Nature.

15 Apr 2011