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80-unit patient housing facility for cancer patients and families

The SCCA House, an 80-unit patient housing facility for cancer patients and their families and caregivers, was dedicated today during ceremonies at its South Lake Union location. The facility is the second such "home away from home" building that is operated by the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Rooms are scheduled to be available to SCCA patients by the end of the month.

18 Sep 2009

Preventive treatment extension after kidney transplantation reduces the risk of CMV disease

For kidney transplant recipients, infection with a virus called cytomegalovirus (CMV) may lead to devastating complications. New research suggests that extending the period of preventive treatment after kidney transplantation can reduce the risk of CMV disease, according to an upcoming report in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

18 Sep 2009

Liver transplantation performed in a six-month old infant

Ila and her worried parents were referred to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, home of the busiest pediatric liver transplant team in the nation. The hospital's team performed more liver transplants in 2008 – the most recent reporting period – than any other U.S. children's hospital, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. They also did the largest number of surgeries in infants like Ila, who were younger than one year when they received a transplant.

17 Sep 2009

Successful eye surgery involves eyetooth implant in eye

Blind for nine years, Sharron “Kay” Thornton has just regained her sight through a first-in-the-U.S. surgical procedure at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. The procedure -- modified osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis (MOOKP) -- implanted her eyetooth in her eye, as a base to hold a prosthetic lens.

17 Sep 2009

Bioheart's MARVEL Phase II/III clinical trial successful

Bioheart, Inc. (OTCBB:BHRT), presented positive efficacy data from part 1 of its Phase II/III clinical trial at the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. Thomas Povsic, MD, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine at Duke University, presented the final data for Part 1 of the MARVEL Phase II/III Clinical Trial as a part of the Late Breaking Clinical Trials Session.

17 Sep 2009

Children's Hospital enrolls patients for ExCell clinical study

Children's Hospital of Colorado and the Gamida Cell-Teva Joint Venture announced today that Children's Hospital is enrolling patients for the ExCell study. Children's Hospital is the 24th in a series of cord blood transplant sites worldwide, five of which are children's centers, participating in the study in the U.S., Spain, Italy, Hungary and Israel.

16 Sep 2009

Checklists for improved patient safety

A new report, involving the University of Leicester, has called for greater understanding of how checklists can be used to improve safety. The report has been described as "counter-revolutionary" and providing a "a long overdue and desperately needed reality check for checklists in medicine" by Faculty of 1000 Medicine.

16 Sep 2009

Research study indicates presence of two stable bacterial ecosystems in the gut

Small-bowel transplant patients with an ileostomy -- an opening into their small bowel -- have a very different population of bacteria living in their gut than patients whose ileostomy has been closed, researchers from UC Davis and Georgetown University Medical Center have found. The results are published online Sept. 14 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

16 Sep 2009

AST meeting to review most recent developments in the field of organ transplantation

The American Society of Transplantation (AST) presents Transplantation: The Year in Review, Oct. 24-25, 2009 in Houston, Texas. The meeting features a review of the most recent developments in the field of organ transplantation from May 2008 up to and including the 2009 American Transplant Congress (ATC) that was held in May in Boston.

15 Sep 2009

Loyola University receives funds to renovate bone marrow transplant unit

Loyola University Medical Center has received a $2 million matching grant from The Coleman Foundation to renovate the hospital's nationally known bone marrow transplant unit. Intended to encourage private donations for the project, the grant will match gifts up to $2 million on a dollar for dollar basis, through August 2010.

15 Sep 2009

Phase 2b trial of Mpex's Aeroquin with PARI Pharma's eFlow Nebulizer System successful

Mpex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. reported positive top line results from a Phase 2b clinical trial with Aeroquin, a novel aerosol formulation of levofloxacin delivered by an optimized Investigational eFlow Nebulizer System from PARI Pharma. In the Mpex cystic fibrosis trial, nebulized Aeroquin met the primary endpoint of reducing bacterial counts of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in sputum after 28 days of dosing versus placebo.

15 Sep 2009

Common pain cream could serve as cardiac-protectant during heart attack: Study

New research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) shows that a common, over-the-counter pain salve rubbed on the skin during a heart attack could serve as a cardiac-protectant, preventing or reducing damage to the heart while interventions are administered.

15 Sep 2009

EGCG in green tea helps prolong preservation of stored blood platelets

In two separate studies, a major component in green tea, epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG), has been found to help prolong the preservation of both stored blood platelets and cryopreserved skin tissues.

15 Sep 2009

Clinical studies reveal treatment with pirfenidone is safe and well-tolerated

InterMune, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITMN) today announced that the results of a comprehensive review of safety data from four clinical studies were presented at the 2009 European Respiratory Society Annual Congress in Vienna, Austria by Dr. Ulrich Costabel of the Ruhrlandklinik, Essen, Germany.

14 Sep 2009

Gen-Probe to merge industrial testing assets into an independent company

Gen-Probe Incorporated announced today that it is spinning off its industrial testing assets into a new, independent company focused on developing rapid, highly accurate molecular assays for biopharmaceutical production, water and food safety testing, and other applications.

14 Sep 2009

First Edition: September 14, 2009

Today's headlines indicate that the momentum behind including a public option in health reform may be losing steam.

14 Sep 2009

Phase 2 MS clinical trial data continues to show durable reductions in relapse rate

Genzyme Corporation reported today that four-year follow-up data from its completed Phase 2 multiple sclerosis (MS) trial continued to show durable reductions in relapse rate and sustained accumulation of disability three years after the majority of patients received their last course of the investigational compound alemtuzumab.

14 Sep 2009

Scientists to get funding from The European Research Council

The European Research Council (ERC) expects to fund some 240 top researchers in its second prestigious ERC Starting Grant competition. This new wave of grantees follows the 299 researchers who received grants in the first Starting Grant competition in 2007.

11 Sep 2009

ERC funds DiaDrug project to study the link between insulin resistance and albuminuria

11 Sep 2009

Human neural stem cells to treat Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease

StemCells, Inc. (NASDAQ:STEM) announced today that it will soon initiate with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Children’s Hospital a Phase I clinical trial to evaluate the therapeutic potential of StemCells’ proprietary HuCNS-SC® product candidate (purified human neural stem cells) to treat Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease (PMD), a myelination disorder that primarily affects infants and young children.

10 Sep 2009