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Personalized risk assessment tools can help improve smoking cessation

Giving smokers information about their own individual risk of serious illness helps motivate them to quit smoking, according to a paper published in the current issue of Postgraduate Medical Journal.

5 Feb 2010

Access Pharmaceuticals initiates Cobalamin technology program for targeted delivery of siRNA therapies

ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. announced today that it initiated an internal pre-licensing program to confirm the utility of its proprietary Cobalamin (vitamin B12) platform technology for targeted delivery of siRNA therapies. The program is considered important because, despite the widely publicized potential of RNA therapy, researchers up to now have been stymied in their efforts to design a pharmaceutical product that efficiently transports siRNA therapeutics into the cells they are designed to inhibit or kill.

5 Feb 2010

World Heart consortium awarded $5.6M NIH contract for developing PediaFlow VAD

World Heart Corporation ("WorldHeart") announced today that it was part of a consortium awarded a $5.6 million, 4-year contract by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further develop the PediaFlow™ VAD to clinical trial readiness.

5 Feb 2010

Pazopanib drug slows the progression of RCC in patients by 54%

The drug pazopanib (Votrient) slowed the progression of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a form of kidney cancer, in patients by 54% percent, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

5 Feb 2010

Implanted ventricular assist heart pump for infants project awarded $5.6M federal contract

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and their collaborators have been awarded a $5.6 million federal contract to pursue the continued development of an implanted ventricular assist heart pump for infants and small children with congenital or acquired heart disease. The project aims to provide much-needed access to the sophisticated technologies that have saved the lives of older heart failure patients.

5 Feb 2010

NHLBI awarded four contracts to test new devices to help children with congenital heart defects

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded four contracts totaling $23.6 million to begin preclinical testing of devices to help children born with congenital heart defects or those who develop heart failure.

5 Feb 2010

Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute offers new blood test to predict heart disease

Just in time for American Heart Month, Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute is offering a new blood test that can predict if a patient is at high risk for heart disease. Vanderbilt is among the first institutions in the country, and the only one in Tennessee, to offer this test.

5 Feb 2010

New class of compound could become effective antidepressant with minimal side effects

Chemists at Oregon State University have discovered and synthesized a new compound that in laboratory and animal tests appears to be similar to, but may have advantages over one of the most important antidepressant medications in the world.

5 Feb 2010

Early stage trial finds malaria vaccine effectively protected young children, study says

An experimental vaccine was found to effectively protect young children from malaria in Mali, Reuters reports. According to the news service, "The vaccine, which uses an immune system booster called an adjuvant from British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, targets the malaria parasite as it is actively infecting red blood cells and causing fever and illness" (Steenhuysen, 2/3).

5 Feb 2010

Bioheart initiates REGEN Phase I Clinical Trial for testing genetically modified MyoCell in CHF patients

Bioheart, Inc., announced today that the company has commenced work on its REGEN trial, a Phase I Clinical Trial to test genetically modified MyoCell® in patients suffering from Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). Bioheart’s MyoCell® is a regenerative cell therapy that uses myoblasts, or muscle stem cells,that are grown from a patient’s own muscle. MyoCell® has been tested successfully on patients in four clinical trials.

5 Feb 2010

Use of laparoscopic hepatectomy in treating HCC patients achieves complete resection

Conventional hepatectomy is an effective way to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, it is invasive and stressful. Laparoscopic surgery, a kind of minimally invasive surgery, has recently gained considerable advances.

5 Feb 2010

American Heart Month aims to spread awareness of women and heart disease

More than five times as many women are diagnosed with heart disease each year than with breast cancer. American Heart Month in February aims to spread awareness of women and heart disease, and one Alabama company has found the quickest way to a woman's heart might be through her gynecologist.

5 Feb 2010

ThermoGenesis announces distribution agreement with GE Healthcare for its AXP System

ThermoGenesis Corp., a leading supplier of innovative products for processing and storing adult stem cells, today announced a new enhanced distribution agreement with GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company, for its AXP® AutoXpress ™ (AXP) System used in the processing of cord blood.

5 Feb 2010

St. Jude Medical receives European approval for Fortify ST ICD and Unify CRT-D defibrillators

St. Jude Medical, Inc. today announced European CE Mark approval and first implants of its Fortify™ and Fortify ST implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) and Unify™ cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D). The devices will be fully launched in Europe later this spring, and U.S. versions of the Fortify ICD and Unify CRT-D are expected to be launched later this year. The reduced size of these new devices compared to those of previous generations creates the smallest available device footprint in the industry.

5 Feb 2010

Polymedco's automated immunoassay fecal occult blood test system receives FDA clearance

Polymedco, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted 510(k) clearance of the OC-Sensor Diana, a high throughput automated system for the immunoassay fecal occult blood test (FIT) used for detecting gastrointestinal bleeding associated with disorders such as colorectal cancer, polyps and colitis.

5 Feb 2010

Texas Health Dallas offers heart and vascular screening program for women

When Mary Gill went to bed that night, nothing would have made anyone think heart disease — not even Mary. She was thin and 42 years old. She exercised regularly, ate a healthy diet and never smoked.

4 Feb 2010

Toshiba America Medical Systems' Viamo laptop ultrasound system receives FDA clearance

Designed to meet the needs of today’s hospitals by combining portability with high-end radiology features, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc.’s new ViamoTM laptop ultrasound system has received FDA clearance.

4 Feb 2010

State of Michigan keeps lethal hospital infections in check

The state of Michigan, which used a five-step checklist developed at Johns Hopkins to virtually eliminate bloodstream infections in its hospitals' intensive care units , has been able to keep the number of these common, costly and potentially lethal infections near zero — even three years after first adopting the standardized procedures. A report on the work is being published in the February 20 issue of BMJ (British Medical Journal).

4 Feb 2010

Genes of mother and fetus linked to risk of preterm labor and birth

New evidence that genetics play a significant role in some premature births may help explain why a woman can do everything right and still give birth too soon.

4 Feb 2010

Neuroscience research and clinical care launched at UT Medical School

Innovative neuroscience research and expanded clinical care have been launched at the new Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

4 Feb 2010

Blood News and Research

Personalized risk assessment tools can help improve smoking cessation

Access Pharmaceuticals initiates Cobalamin technology program for targeted delivery of siRNA therapies

World Heart consortium awarded $5.6M NIH contract for developing PediaFlow VAD

Pazopanib drug slows the progression of RCC in patients by 54%

Implanted ventricular assist heart pump for infants project awarded $5.6M federal contract

NHLBI awarded four contracts to test new devices to help children with congenital heart defects

Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute offers new blood test to predict heart disease

New class of compound could become effective antidepressant with minimal side effects

Early stage trial finds malaria vaccine effectively protected young children, study says

Bioheart initiates REGEN Phase I Clinical Trial for testing genetically modified MyoCell in CHF patients

Use of laparoscopic hepatectomy in treating HCC patients achieves complete resection

American Heart Month aims to spread awareness of women and heart disease

ThermoGenesis announces distribution agreement with GE Healthcare for its AXP System

St. Jude Medical receives European approval for Fortify ST ICD and Unify CRT-D defibrillators

Polymedco's automated immunoassay fecal occult blood test system receives FDA clearance

Texas Health Dallas offers heart and vascular screening program for women

Toshiba America Medical Systems' Viamo laptop ultrasound system receives FDA clearance

State of Michigan keeps lethal hospital infections in check

Genes of mother and fetus linked to risk of preterm labor and birth

Neuroscience research and clinical care launched at UT Medical School

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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