Technology News and Research

RSS

Genetic testing for sudden cardiac death

Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) is a major contributor to mortality in industrialized nations, affecting around 500,000 individuals annually in the Western World, and causing more deaths than AIDS, lung and breast cancer and stroke together.

31 Aug 2008

Urologist is first in the world to use robot-assisted surgery to repair rare defect

A urologist at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is the first in the world to repair a rare type of hernia using robot-assisted, minimally invasive surgery. The surgery required only an 18-hour hospital stay; typically, the repair involves major surgery and three to five days of hospital care.

31 Aug 2008

New beta-blocker for heart disease and angina

Researchers at The University of Nottingham have been awarded £2.8 million by the Wellcome Trust to develop a new drug that could ease the suffering of hundreds of thousands of heart disease patients who are unable to take beta-blockers.

28 Aug 2008

New cutting edge laser technology provides view into body's chemical messenger system

Researchers at The University of Nottingham have developed a unique technology that will allow scientists to look at microscopic activity within the body's chemical messenger system for the very first time, live as it happens.

28 Aug 2008

Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale reports WHO's Commission

A child born in a Glasgow, Scotland suburb can expect a life 28 years shorter than another living only 13 kilometres away. A girl in Lesotho is likely to live 42 years less than another in Japan. In Sweden, the risk of a woman dying during pregnancy and childbirth is 1 in 17 400; in Afghanistan, the odds are 1 in 8. Biology does not explain any of this. Instead, the differences between - and within - countries result from the social environment where people are born, live, grow, work and age.

28 Aug 2008

HIV rate in New York 3 times the national average

Health officials in New York say the city's rate of HIV infection is three times higher than the national rate.

28 Aug 2008

Pre-school age exercises help prevent dyslexia

A typical characteristics of children's linguistic development are early signs of the risk of developing reading and writing disabilities, or dyslexia. New research points to preventive exercises as an effective means to tackle the challenges children face when learning to read. The results achieved at the Centre of Excellence in Learning and Motivation Research were presented at the Academy of Finland's science breakfast on 21 August.

27 Aug 2008

FDA clears non-invasive test to help manage heart transplant patients

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced it has cleared for marketing a non-invasive test that uses molecular expression techniques to assist doctors in managing heart transplant patients post-surgery for potential organ rejection.

27 Aug 2008

Genzyme, Medicines for Malaria Venture, Advinus collaborate on malaria initiative

The Cambridge, Mass.-based biotechnology firm Genzyme on Monday announced it will collaborate with the not-for-profit group Medicines for Malaria Venture and the Indian pharmaceutical company Advinus Therapeutics to develop new malaria treatments, the Boston Business Journal reports.

26 Aug 2008

Early trigger for type-1 diabetes found in mice

Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine are shedding light on how type-1 diabetes begins.

26 Aug 2008

California's tobacco control program saved $86 billion in medical costs

California's state tobacco control program saved $86 billion (in 2004 dollars) in personal healthcare costs in its first 15 years, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.

26 Aug 2008

Premature births may be the result of undiagnosed infection

Scientists in the U.S. say a significant number of premature births may be caused by infections which are undiagnosed and the heavier the infection, the more likely the women were to deliver younger, sicker babies.

26 Aug 2008

Galapagos acquires structure-based drug discovery from Sareum

Galapagos NV and Sareum Holdings plc has announced today that Galapagos has acquired Sareum's assets in drug discovery services, for a total cash consideration of EUR 695,000 (£553,000). These assets will position Galapagos' service division BioFocus DPI strongly in the growing field of structure-based drug discovery.

26 Aug 2008

Could a substance from the jasmine flower hold the key to an effective new therapy to treat cancer?

Prof. Eliezer Flescher of The Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University thinks so. He and his colleagues have developed an anti-cancer drug based on a decade of research into the commercial applications of the compound Jasmonate, a synthetic compound derived from the flower itself.

25 Aug 2008

Century old rule of chemistry overturned - major implications for drug delivery

A new study by research chemists at the University of Warwick has challenged a century old rule of pharmacology that defined how quickly key chemicals can pass across cell walls. The new observations of the Warwick researchers suggest that the real transport rates could be up to a hundred times slower than predicted by the century old "Overton's Rule". This could have major implications for the development and testing of many future drugs.

25 Aug 2008

NicOx updates on PF-03187207 and research collaboration with Pfizer

NicOx S.A. has announced the results of a dose-ranging phase 2 study conducted with PF‑03187207 in Japanese patients with glaucoma by its partner Pfizer Inc. PF-03187207 is a nitric oxide-donating prostaglandin analog. The study was designed to compare the safety and efficacy of several doses of PF-03187207 to Xalatan (latanoprost) and enrolled 112 Japanese patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension.

25 Aug 2008

U.S. spinach and lettuce to be irradiated to stop outbreaks of foodborne bacteria

Following an increasing number of outbreaks of foodborne illnesses over the last few years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States is about to allow food producers to irradiate spinach and iceberg lettuce to kill foodborne bacteria.

25 Aug 2008

BioAlliance Pharma granted patent on Lauriad technology in Europe

The patent describes and protects a muco-adhesive tablet for various applications in the field of opportunistic infections associated with AIDS and cancer. It has been validated in the main European countries and the opposition period has now expired.

24 Aug 2008

Computer modeling technology helps HIV treatment in developing nations

In the past 10 years, the global campaign to expand treatment for millions of people with AIDS living in resource-limited countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, has gained substantial commitments in public and private financing, and has made major strides in making treatment available to those who need it.

24 Aug 2008

New vaccine to fight multiple influenza strains

A universal vaccine effective against several strains of influenza has passed its first phase of testing, according to Dr. Christine Turley of the University of Texas at Galveston.

21 Aug 2008