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FDA approves absorbable polymer suture that uses DNA technology

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced it has cleared for marketing in the U.S. the TephaFLEX Absorbable Suture - the first absorbable polymer suture made from material isolated from bacteria modified by recombinant DNA technology.

12 Feb 2007

Natural molecules to create pseudo-cell factories

Carnegie Mellon University's Philip LeDuc predicts the use of artificially created cells could be a potential new therapeutic approach for treating diseases in an ever-changing world.

7 Feb 2007

Three-dimensional fabric "scaffold" to repair cartilage damage

Using a unique weaving machine of their design, Duke University Medical Center researchers have created a three-dimensional fabric "scaffold" that could greatly improve the ability of physicians to repair damaged joints with the patient's own stem cells.

7 Feb 2007

Calpain-mediated mGluR1-alpha truncation

Tricking a key enzyme can soothe over-excited receptors in the brain, say neuroscientists, calling this a possible strategy against stroke, Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

31 Jan 2007

Creatine could help people with muscular dystrophies

Creatine, a popular nutritional supplement used by weightlifters and sprinters to improve athletic performance, could lend muscle strength to people with muscular dystrophies.

30 Jan 2007

Probing proteins can lead to better understanding of anti-tumor agents

There are a number of naturally occurring chemicals that are used in phototherapy of skin diseases. Hypocrellin A (HA), which can be extracted from a parasitic fungus, has been taken orally as a folk medicine for several centuries in China.

29 Jan 2007

Potential protection against failed back surgery syndrome

Texas researchers believe that they have discovered how to prevent many cases of the most common problem encountered by patients undergoing spine surgery: failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS).

29 Jan 2007

Brown seaweed may provide protective ingredient against skin cancers

Substances extracted from a marine seaweed may protect against skin cancer caused by too much sun, new research suggests.

28 Jan 2007

New guidelines for assessing lymphoma response to treatment

The guidelines will provide clinicians worldwide with uniform criteria to compare and interpret clinical trials of lymphoma treatments and should facilitate the development of new therapies.

23 Jan 2007

New treatment technique for decontaminating flood water

Engineers have developed a system that uses a simple water purification technique that can eliminate 100 percent of the microbes in New Orleans water samples left from Hurricane Katrina. The technique makes use of specialized resins, copper and hydrogen peroxide to purify tainted water.

10 Jan 2007

A fully integrated microfluidic genetic analysis system with sample-in-answer-out capability

In an accomplishment that represents a significant step toward an era of rapid, inexpensive, bedside testing for cancer, researchers at the University of Virginia have developed a microfluidic device that can process human blood samples and yield diagnostic results within an hour.

8 Jan 2007

Stem cells grown into brain cells on a new 3D scaffold of tiny protein fragments

An MIT engineer and Italian colleagues will report the invention-which may one day replace the ubiquitous Petri dish for growing cells-in PLoS ONE.

2 Jan 2007

Taste may give a clue in how to treat depression

Researchers in the UK have found that taste tests could determine the cause of depression in patients and also indicate which is the best drug to treat the illness.

6 Dec 2006

Human embryonic stem cells show potential in treating rats with Parkinson's symptoms

Brain cells derived from human embryonic stem cells improved the condition of rats with Parkinson's-like symptoms dramatically, but the treatment caused a significant problem - the appearance of brain tumors - that scientists are now working to solve.

2 Dec 2006

Guanfacine no more effective than a placebo

Guanfacine, a medication commonly prescribed to alleviate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, is no more effective than a placebo, according to a study led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.

2 Dec 2006

New World Health Organization publication - "Fluoride in Drinking-water"

Millions of people are exposed to excessive amounts of fluoride through drinking water contaminated from natural geological sources. As a result, many suffer conditions ranging from mild dental fluorosis to crippling skeletal fluorosis.

21 Nov 2006

Templated self-assembly of quantum dots from aqueous solution using protein scaffolds

Quantum dots are rapidly becoming biomedical researchers' tool of choice for adding a fluorescent label to a wide variety of biomolecules.

20 Nov 2006

Painkiller in saliva stronger than morphine

A team of French researchers say they have found that the human body produces a natural painkiller several times more potent than morphine.

15 Nov 2006

Lifestyle decisions that may stave off onset of cancer

Personal choices, such as smoking and consumption of fatty foods, have long been linked to increased cancer risk. During recent years, scientists have been seeking to isolate a variety of lifestyle decisions that may stave off the onset of cancer or even reduce tumor formation in their early stages.

14 Nov 2006

Scientists discover how androgen plays a role in the development of prostate cancer

Scientists have discovered for the first time a specific biochemical pathway by which the sex hormone, androgen, increases levels of harmful chemicals called reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the prostate gland that play a role in the development of prostate cancer.

8 Nov 2006