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PRIME-XS open call for proposals

The PRIME-XS consortium is a strategic collaboration of research groups from twelve international institutes, leading in the field of proteomics. PRIME-XS provides an infrastructure of state-of-the-art proteomics technologies to the European biological and biomedical research community. PRIME-XS is providing open and competitive access to their proteomics instrumentation and expertise.

7 Jul 2011

Researchers use AFM to characterize ovarian cell structure for cancer diagnosis

Using ovarian surface epithelial cells from mice, researchers from Virginia Tech have released findings from a study that they believe will help in cancer risk assessment, cancer diagnosis, and treatment efficiency in a technical journal: Nanomedicine.

7 Jul 2011

Low temperature vacuum drying process for production of probiotics

Probiotic bacteria are rapidly gaining ground as healthy food supplements. However, the production of this "functional food" has its pitfalls: only few probiotic bacterial strains are robust enough to survive conventional production processes.

7 Jul 2011

Eighteen scientists receive Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awards

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on supporting innovative early career researchers, named 18 new Damon Runyon Fellows at its spring Fellowship Award Committee review.

7 Jul 2011

Local school students' initiative for healthy computing

Move over, boy bands of America-there's a new group in town. Four middle-school students from Carmel Valley Middle School in San Diego, California, entered The Christopher Columbus Awards Competition, a science, technology, engineering, and math program that challenges middle-school students to identify a community problem and solve it using science and technology.

7 Jul 2011

Medicaid expands access to care, improves health for low-income adults

Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and Providence Health & Services have found that expanding low income adults' access to Medicaid substantially increases health care use, reduces financial strain on covered individuals, and improves their self-reported health and well-being.

7 Jul 2011

First transcatheter aortic valve implantation performed at Loyola University Hospital

Toni Meyer's heart-valve disease was so severe that she suffered shortness of breath even while sitting in a chair. But after Loyola University Hospital physicians replaced her diseased aortic valve in a catheter procedure as part of a clinical trial, Meyer said she is feeling "100 percent better."

From Medtronic 7 Jul 2011

Spiking Neural Network architecture aims to map out brain's individual functions

University of Manchester scientists have taken a key step towards producing a high-performance computer which aims to create working models of human brain functions.

7 Jul 2011

Freeze-dried gene therapy system safe and effective for treating brain cancer

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have developed a technique that delivers gene therapy into human brain cancer cells using nanoparticles that can be freeze-dried and stored for up to three months prior to use. The shelf-stable particles may obviate the need for virus-mediated gene therapy, which has been associated with safety concerns.

7 Jul 2011

Hydrogel capsule could simultaneously deliver different types of drugs

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have designed a multiple-compartment gel capsule that could be used to simultaneously deliver drugs of different types. The researchers used a simple "one-pot" method to prepare the hydrogel capsules, which measure less than one micron.

7 Jul 2011

Ovarian cells are stiffer and more viscous when benign

6 Jul 2011

New technology can inexpensively render medical linens, clothing permanently germ-free

A University of Georgia researcher has invented a new technology that can inexpensively render medical linens and clothing, face masks, paper towels-and yes, even diapers, intimate apparel and athletic wear, including smelly socks-permanently germ-free.

6 Jul 2011

Cumulus cells can provide information about genetic and chromosomal status of eggs

At present, when a woman undergoes preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) in a fertility clinic, doctors are trying to select an egg or an embryo that is healthy and doesn't have a chromosome abnormality such as an extra copy of chromosome 21, which causes Down's syndrome. In order to establish this, they either have to biopsy a part of the egg called the polar body or remove a cell from the embryo for screening. Both procedures are expensive, invasive and can damage the egg or embryo.

6 Jul 2011

Induced pluripotent cells may make embryonic stem cells unnecessary

For nearly two decades, the medical world and the American public have grappled with the lightning-rod topic of stem cells, in particular the controversy surrounding cells from human embryos. But when researchers four years ago successfully "reprogrammed" adult body cells to become stem cells, some thought the ethical debate was nearly over. Those redirected cells, known as induced pluripotent cells, or iPS cells, show potential as therapy.

6 Jul 2011

Managed care enters the exam room as insurers buy doctor groups

Kaiser Health News staff writer Christopher Weaver, working in collaboration with The Washington Post, reports: "Even if UnitedHealth Group isn't your insurance company, there's a good chance it touches you in some way.

6 Jul 2011

New technologies could bring innovative sensors, devices for 'lab-on-a-chip' applications

Researchers are developing new technologies that combine a laser and electric fields to manipulate fluids and tiny particles such as bacteria, viruses and DNA for a range of potential applications, from drug manufacturing to food safety.

6 Jul 2011

New report suggests only small risk of mobile phones causing cancer

"A committee of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection has concluded after a comprehensive review that there is little cause for concern about the suggested link between mobile phone use and brain tumours," BMJ reports.

6 Jul 2011

Zinc oxide nanowire waveguide lasers could kill viruses, increase DVD storage capacity

A team led by a professor at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering has made a discovery in semiconductor nanowire laser technology that could potentially do everything from kill viruses to increase storage capacity of DVDs.

6 Jul 2011

EIM collects data on frozen oocyte retrieval cycles for the first time

Other important data the European IVF Monitoring group (EIM) on 2008 cycles and the International Committee Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ICMART) on 2007 cycles highlighted were Sweden's low rate of multiple births - the lowest in the world - and Spain's 30 % share of egg donations in Europe.

6 Jul 2011

Baltimore symposium to discuss human factors and ergonomics in health-care

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society invites you to attend the 2012 Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care, to be held March 12-14, 2012, at the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. Mark your calendars for this exciting first-time event.

6 Jul 2011