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Balanced approach can combat Central Africa's food insecurity

The polarized debate over the use of organic and inorganic practices to boost farm yields is slowing action and widespread farmer adoption of approaches that could radically transform Africa's food security situation, according to a group of leading international scientists meeting in Kigali this week.

29 Oct 2011

Scientists discover Leishmania parasite with juggling chromosomes

Scientists found a deadly parasite with some of its chromosomes in duplicate, others in triplicate, while still others are present four or even five times. Moreover, the copy number varies between individuals. Such a bizarre occurrence has never before been found in nature, in any organism. As a rule, chromosomes should come in couples. The scientists, from the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITG) and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, made the striking discovery while deciphering the genetic code of a series of Leishmania-parasites.

29 Oct 2011

BZL and ATLAB Pharma partner to develop 177Lu-J591 for metastatic prostate cancer treatment

ATLAB Pharma SAS and BZL Biologics LLC have entered into a sublicense agreement to develop 177Lu-J591 for cancer treatment. It includes exclusive rights to manufacture, develop and commercialize this radiopharmaceutical product worldwide as well as a joint Phase IIB/III clinical validation program.

29 Oct 2011

Sulodexide drug fails to benefit diabetes patients with kidney disease

What was hoped to be a promising new drug to protect the kidneys has failed to benefit diabetes patients with kidney disease, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

28 Oct 2011

HMS, EPFL to collaborate on 6 pioneering neuroengineering projects

Two of the world's leading universities are joining forces to combine neuroscience and engineering in order to alleviate human suffering caused by such neurological disabilities as paralysis and deafness. Scientists, engineers, and clinicians at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Ecole Polytechnique F-d-rale de Lausanne (EPFL) will collaborate on six pioneering neuroengineering projects made possible thanks to a $3.6 million grant from the Bertarelli Foundation.

24 Oct 2011

Simulation improves cardiac surgical training results

Residents in cardiac surgery who receive extra training on a take-home simulator do a better job once they get into the operating room, Dr. Buu-Khanh Lam today told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2011, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.

24 Oct 2011

DFG announces establishment of twelve research units

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft has established nine new Research Units and three Clinical Research Units. The decision was made by the Joint Committee of Germany's central research funding organisation at its October meeting in Bonn.

22 Oct 2011

Micro-electrical stimulators for spinal cord injuries

A new wireless device to help victims of spinal cord injury is receiving attention in the research community. Mesut Sahin, PhD, associate professor, in the department of biomedical engineering at NJIT, recently has published and presented news of his findings to develop micro-electrical stimulators for individuals with spinal cord injuries.

18 Oct 2011

Belfast Health, Social Care Trust license new meningitis test to HiberGene

Belfast Health and Social Care Trust has licensed its novel rapid meningitis diagnostic test to HiberGene Diagnostics Ltd, an Irish start-up client company of NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at University College Dublin.

7 Oct 2011

Virus DNA uncoated with aid of host cell

They have been around since the dawn of time and are a model of evolutionary success: viruses. Viruses are extremely adaptable but they have a problem: They cannot reproduce, so they smuggle their genes into suitable host cells. In the case of some viruses, the viral DNA has to enter the cell nucleus to reproduce. This has been known for almost 50 years.

4 Oct 2011

Simple low-cost method for isolation and collection of fragile prostate cancer cells

At the Oct. 2-6 microTAS 2011 conference, the premier international event for reporting research in microfluidics, nanotechnology and detection technologies for life science and chemistry, University of Cincinnati researchers will present a simple, low-cost, method for separating and safely collecting concentrated volumes of fragile prostate cancer cells.

29 Sep 2011

More predictability in the chaos of infectious Chagas disease transmission

Despite what Hollywood would have you believe, not all epidemics involve people suffering from zombie-like symptoms--some can only be uncovered through door-to-door epidemiology and advanced mathematics.

28 Sep 2011

Zoledronic acid may benefit post-menopausal women with breast cancer

A trial investigating the use of zoledronic acid to aid chemotherapy for breast cancer has found a significant benefit for post-menopausal women, according to results presented at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress.

26 Sep 2011

Researchers identify micro-RNA that regulates learning processes, Alzheimer's

Proteins are the molecular machines of the cell. They transport materials, cleave products or transmit signals - and for a long time, they have been a main focus of attention in molecular biology research. In the last two decades, however, another class of critically important molecules has emerged: small RNA molecules, including micro-RNAs. It is now well established that micro-RNAs play a key role in the regulation of cell function."A micro-RNA regulates the production of an estimated 300-400 proteins.

26 Sep 2011

Cambridge Heart enters agreement with EO Medical for MTWA technology

Cambridge Heart, Inc., a developer of non-invasive diagnostic tests for cardiac disease, today announced that it has executed an exclusive agreement with EO Medical Pte Ltd to distribute its HearTwave II System and proprietary Microvolt T-Wave Alternans (MTWA) software and Micro-V Alternans Sensors in Singapore upon regulatory approval.

22 Sep 2011