Technology News and Research

RSS

Meditation associated with increased cortical thickness

Meditation is known to alter resting brain patterns, suggesting long lasting brain changes, but a new study by researchers from Yale, Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows meditation also is associated with increased cortical thickness.

13 Nov 2005

Support for heart implants to be returned to manufacturers after death

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is throwing it's weight behind a policy that would mean implantable heart defibrillators would be returned to their manufacturers to be studied for possible defects after the patient dies.

9 Nov 2005

Nanogen issued patent relating to synthetic polymer hydrogels

Nanogen has announced it was issued Patent No. 6,960,298, "Mesoporous permeation layers for use on active electronic matrix devices" by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

8 Nov 2005

LGC licenses first DNA test for response to schizophrenia treatment from the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London

LGC, Europe's leading independent analytical laboratory providing advanced chemical, biochemical and forensic analysis, has announced an exclusive agreement with King’s College London to offer the first pharmacogenetic screening service which will predict whether a patient with schizophrenia will respond positively to the antipsychotic drug clozapine.

8 Nov 2005

Public health service to fund live liver transplants

An announcement that new organ transplant technology will now allow adult patients to receive liver transplants from a living relative for the first time on the NHS, marks a new era in public health services.

8 Nov 2005

New Flu Chip can determine the genetic make-up of types of flu virus in 11 hours

A novel "Flu Chip" developed at the University of Colorado at Boulder that can determine the genetic signatures of specific influenza strains from patient samples within hours may help world health officials combat coming epidemics and pandemics.

7 Nov 2005

Gene doping is a real danger - but anti-doping science is making progress

Gene therapy research has reached a critical phase. Already practised on humans as part of strictly controlled experiments, gene therapy promises to become a widely available form of treatment for injury and disease.

7 Nov 2005

Ultrasound to view heart's interior in three dimensions

Duke University engineers are developing technology that may enable physicians to someday use high frequency ultrasound waves both to visualize the heart's interior in three dimensions and then selectively destroy heart tissue with heat to correct arrhythmias.

7 Nov 2005

Genetic profile of ovarian cancer

A newly identified gene expression profile could help predict how patients with advanced ovarian cancer will respond to chemotherapy treatment.

7 Nov 2005

America will not have a high-quality health system if equal attention is not given to mental health issues and substance-use problems

Without a comprehensive strategy to improve the quality of health care for people with mental conditions and alcohol or drug problems, high-quality care in the nation's overall health system and better health for the public are goals that will remain unmet

7 Nov 2005

Rapid screen-and-treat methods significantly reduce cervical cancer precursor lesions

A new study led by Columbia University Medical Center researchers demonstrates the safety and efficacy of two low-tech diagnostic tools to significantly reduce the prevalence of cervical cancer precursor lesions.

3 Nov 2005

New targeted cancer drug delivery system

Prostate, breast and other cancer patients may be offered a new, stauncher targeted drug delivery system to treat their diseases in the next decade.

3 Nov 2005

DN-101 may protect against major side effects of chemotherapy

Men with advanced prostate cancer who take an experimental, high-dose vitamin D pill with chemotherapy live about eight months longer than those receiving chemotherapy and placebo, according to a new study.

3 Nov 2005

Targeted drug delivery now possible using nanoparticle-apatamer conjugates

Ground-breaking results from researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, disclosed at the 13th European Cancer Conference (ECCO) have shown for the first time that targeted drug delivery is possible using nanoparticle-apatamer conjugates.

3 Nov 2005

New findings on bacterial vaginosis

Despite being one of the most common infections among women, scientists and doctors know little about the causes of bacterial vaginosis (BV), a usually benign disease that is also linked to serious health problems including pelvic inflammatory disease

3 Nov 2005

"Screen and treat” cervical cancer programs effective in poorly resourced areas

According to a new study two "screen and treat" cervical cancer prevention programs developed for high-risk women in low-resource settings resulted in a lower prevalence of precancerous cervical lesions and cervical cancer, according to a study in the November 2 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

2 Nov 2005

Bush wants $7bn to fight bird flu

U.S. president George Bush has called on Congress to approve $7.1 billion in emergency spending to pay for a strategy to prepare America for the danger of a pandemic bird flu outbreak.

2 Nov 2005

Targeted drug delivery achieved with nanoparticle-aptamer bioconjugates

Ground-breaking results from researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, disclosed at the 13th European Cancer Conference (ECCO) in Paris have shown for the first time that targeted drug delivery is possible using nanoparticle-apatamer conjugates.

1 Nov 2005

New way to generate genetically altered influenza virus

In the event of an influenza pandemic, the world's vaccine manufacturers will be in a race against time to forestall calamity.

1 Nov 2005

Canadian surgeons successfully implant a new kind of mechanical heart

Surgeons at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) have successfully implanted a new kind of mechanical heart in two patients, the first time this new technology has been used in Canada.

1 Nov 2005