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iPrEx trial shows reduction in new HIV infections

Results of the world's first efficacy trial of an HIV-prevention approach called oral pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, were released online in the New England Journal of Medicine today.

24 Nov 2010

DFG announces establishment of eleven new Collaborative Research Centres

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) will establish eleven new Collaborative Research Centres (CRC) as of 1 January 2011. This decision was made recently by the responsible Grants Committee at its autumn meeting in Bonn. The new CRCs will receive a total of - 94.4 million (including a 20 percent programme allowance for indirect project costs) for an initial funding period of four years.

24 Nov 2010

Hepcidin hormone may be potential therapeutic tool for anemic blood disorders

A hormone made by the body may be a potential therapeutic tool for the treatment of two anemic blood disorders beta-thalassemia and hemochromatosis. The new research was led by scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College and published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation and the journal Blood.

24 Nov 2010

iPrEx oral PrEP study achieves major milestone in HIV prevention research

This is a great day in the fight against AIDS. The positive results of the iPrEx oral PrEP study are a major milestone in HIV prevention research and provide important information about how antiretroviral drugs might be used for prevention by HIV-negative people at high risk for HIV infection, said AVAC Executive Director Mitchell Warren.

24 Nov 2010

Researchers find link between acrolein and multiple sclerosis

Researchers have found evidence that an environmental pollutant may play an important role in causing multiple sclerosis and that a hypertension drug might be used to treat the disease.

24 Nov 2010

More salt in many holiday meals, cardiologist warns

There can be far more salt in many holiday meals than people realize, and the proof can be found at hospital emergency rooms. Heart problems aggravated or unmasked after ingestion of a significant amount of salt tend to make holidays such as Thanksgiving, Passover and Christmas very busy times for health providers like University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) cardiologist Marc Klapholz, M.D., F.A.C.C.

24 Nov 2010

New genomic approach to evaluate suspicious thyroid nodules

Doctors at the University of Colorado School of Medicine were concerned recently when they found a nodule in the thyroid of a 64-year-old Colorado man. They extracted cells from the nodule, hoping to determine whether the man had cancer. But the biopsy results were inconclusive.

24 Nov 2010

Daily oral antiretroviral reduces HIV infection risk in MSM by 44%, study finds

A study that included nearly 2,500 HIV-negative men and transgender women who have sex with men has shown that a daily dose of Truvada, a pill containing the AIDS drugs emtricitabine and tenofovir, "can reduce risk of contracting [HIV] by an average of 44% - and by more than 70% if the subjects" follow the regimen closely, Los Angeles Times reports (Maugh, 11/23).

24 Nov 2010

CONRAD congratulates Global iPrEx study team for HIV prevention trial

CONRAD is pleased to join in congratulating the Global iPrEx study team for their successful trial of oral tenofovir (TDF) with emtricitabine (FTC) for HIV prevention.

24 Nov 2010

Disrupting estrogen pathway can halt expansion of breast cancer stem cells: Research

Breast cancer stem cells (CSCs), the aggressive cells thought to be resistant to current anti-cancer therapies and which promote metastasis, are stimulated by estrogen via a pathway that mirrors normal stem cell development.

23 Nov 2010

Gilead submits Truvada/TMC278 single-tablet regimen NDA to FDA

Gilead Sciences, Inc. today announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for marketing approval of the single-tablet regimen of Truvada® (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) and Tibotec Pharmaceuticals' investigational non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor TMC278 (rilpivirine hydrochloride) for HIV-1 infection in adults. If approved, this would be the second product that contains a complete HIV treatment regimen in a single once-daily tablet.

23 Nov 2010

Vertex submits NDA for telaprevir for treating hepatitis C

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced that it has completed the submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval for telaprevir, Vertex's investigational treatment for people with hepatitis C.

23 Nov 2010

FDA clears BG Medicine's Galectin-3 test to identify high risk patients with cardiovascular disease

BG Medicine, Inc., a U.S.-based life sciences company, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the company's Galectin-3 test for use in conjunction with clinical evaluation as an aid to assess the prognosis of patients diagnosed with chronic heart failure. This marks the first time the FDA has cleared a test to measure galectin-3 blood levels, and is the first novel cardiac test cleared by the FDA in five years.

23 Nov 2010

Men failing to protect eyes from injuries: Experts

A review looking at patients attending a Melbourne hospital’s emergency department with a serious eye injury shows that most of them could be prevented by proper eye protection. Men’s particular lack of eye protection while using power tools and lawn mowers, usually during routine house maintenance, were the other major factors in the injury cases say the researchers.

23 Nov 2010

Ergothioneine international congress 2011 to be held at UCLA

OXIS International, Inc., today announced that the "First International Congress on Ergothioneine, Anti-Oxidants, and Age Management Medicine" will be held Friday to Sunday, July 15-17, 2011, in the DeNeve Auditorium at the University of California, Los Angeles.

23 Nov 2010

Scientists establish new biological links between early puberty and obesity

An international group of scientists, including researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC), has discovered 30 genes that control the age at which girls reach sexual maturity. They found that many of the genes responsible for puberty also play a strong role in how the body metabolises fat, establishing new biological links between going through puberty at a young age and being at increased risk of obesity.

23 Nov 2010

Loyola University professor suggests general travel tips for children with nut allergies

No matter the mode of transportation, holiday travel holds special challenged for parents. Either you're stuck in an enormous security line at an airport filled with cranky people or hearing the constant stream of "are we there yet" from the back seat of the car. It's enough to make a Scrooge out of even the most Tiny Tim of us. For many families adding to the chaos is the reality that their child has a dangerous nut allergy.

23 Nov 2010

Racial disparities in risk and survival among children with neuroblastoma: Study

Black, Asian, and Native American children are more likely than white and Hispanic children to die after being treated for neuroblastoma, according to new research on the pediatric cancer. The study, of more than 3,500 patients with the disease, is the largest ever to look at racial disparities in risk and survival for the most common solid cancer found in young children.

23 Nov 2010

Implanted devices to treat cardiac dysfunction show success in real world use

Implanted devices that treat cardiac dysfunction in heart failure patients are as successful in "real world" use as they are in controlled clinical trial settings, according to a large new study reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

23 Nov 2010

Photoacoustic tomography and gold nanobeacons help researchers view blood vessel formation

See it for yourself: a new breakthrough in imaging technology using a combination of light and sound will allow health care providers to see microscopic details inside the body. Access to this level of detail potentially eliminates the need for some invasive biopsies, but it also has the potential to help health care providers make diagnoses earlier than ever before-even before symptoms arise. Details describing this advance are published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org/content/early/2010/11/19/fj.10-171728.abstract).

23 Nov 2010