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New process can create LEDs that produce light in the UV range

A multinational team of scientists has developed a process for creating glass-based, inorganic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that produce light in the ultraviolet range. The work, reported this week in the online Nature Communications, is a step toward biomedical devices with active components made from nanostructured systems.

27 Feb 2012

Administration releases new health IT 'meaningful use' rules

Officials with the Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services published the second stage of "meaningful-use" rules for adoption of electronic medical records Thursday, laying out requirements for better digital communication among doctors and expanded patient access to records, in order for doctors and hospitals to get incentive payments.

24 Feb 2012

Study looks at link between family members' behaviours and hoarders

People collect things all the time: books, newspapers, stamps. But when a casual hobby turns into an incessant need to hoard, it becomes a disorder that requires intervention. But how much of hoarders' behaviours are influenced by their loved ones? Ryerson researchers are investigating these relationships in a new study looking at the link between family members' behaviours and individuals who hoard.

24 Feb 2012

New insurance coverage option may have negative effects on veteran's health care

While the Affordable Care Act will expand health insurance coverage for low-income persons through Medicaid and state health-insurance exchanges, including much-needed care for 1.8 million uninsured veterans in the U.S., the new insurance coverage option also may have a number of unintended negative effects on health care for veterans, said Kenneth W. Kizer, director of the Institute for Population Health Improvement at UC Davis Health System.

24 Feb 2012

UBC develops algorithm to predict how and when proteins misfold

Several neurodegenerative diseases - including Alzheimer's and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) - are caused when the body's own proteins fold incorrectly, recruit and convert healthy proteins to the misfolded form, and aggregate in large clumps that gum up the works of the nervous system. "For Star Trek fans, this is like the Borg, a fictional race of cyborgs that abduct and assimilate humans and other species," says Steven Plotkin, a biophysicist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver who studies the process of protein misfolding.

24 Feb 2012

Children of immigrant parents more likely to develop autism with intellectual disability

A major register study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet shows that children born to certain groups of immigrants in Sweden had an increased risk of developing autism with intellectual disability. The study includes all children in Stockholm County from 2001 to 2007, and brings the question of the heredity of autism to the fore.

23 Feb 2012

Inven2, OGT enter license agreement for 12 colorectal cancer biomarkers

Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), provider of innovative clinical genetics and diagnostic solutions to advance molecular medicine, announced today that it has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Inven2, the technology transfer office at Oslo University Hospital (OUS) and University of Oslo (UiO), for 12 highly promising colorectal cancer tissue biomarkers.

From Oxford Gene Technology 23 Feb 2012

Laboratory Supply Company raises $16,000 to benefit Kosair Children's Hospital

Laboratory Supply Company (LABSCO), the largest privately held supplier of diagnostic instrumentation and clinical laboratory products to hospitals, physician office laboratories, reference labs and other non-acute care settings in the United States, raised more than $16,000 to benefit Kosair Children's Hospital through the Children's Hospital Foundation.

23 Feb 2012

CT colonography effective in diagnosing colorectal cancer in adults over 65

Computed tomography (CT) colonography can be used as a primary screening tool for colorectal cancer in adults over the age of 65, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.

23 Feb 2012

First molecular evidence links body's natural circadian rhythms to SCD

A fundamental discovery reported in the March 1st issue of the journal Nature, uncovers the first molecular evidence linking the body's natural circadian rhythms to sudden cardiac death (SCD). Ventricular arrhythmias, or abnormal heart rhythms, are the most common cause of sudden cardiac death: the primary cause of death from heart disease.

23 Feb 2012

New microfluidic device can rapidly isolate target cells

Separating complex mixtures of cells, such as those found in a blood sample, can offer valuable information for diagnosing and treating disease. However, it may be necessary to search through billions of other cells to collect rare cells such as tumor cells, stem cells or fetal cells. "You're basically looking for a needle in a haystack," says Sukant Mittal, a graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

23 Feb 2012

China's SFDA approves Dynex DS2 ELISA analyzer

Dynex Technologies announced today it has received approval from China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) to market the DS2 automated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analyzer in China.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 22 Feb 2012

Gluten-free diet more of a fad than absolute necessity for many

Many people claim that gluten sensitivity is on the rise and consequently gluten-free products are more popular than ever. A study explores whether shunning gluten is really necessary and finds that in most cases it is not.

22 Feb 2012

Hoarders are mentally ill and need help

According to experts people who are compulsive hoarders are ill with a serious mental disorder and need help. Hoarding is affecting between 400,000 and 1.1 million Australians, a conference in Sydney heard this week, and can affect more than just elderly people living alone. Yet it is only now gaining acceptance as a clinical condition with its inclusion this year in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

22 Feb 2012

Academic and industry leaders team up to develop next generation medical imaging technology

For over a decade, GE Healthcare has partnered with academic researchers from Purdue, Notre Dame and Michigan, and experts from Intel, to develop Veo – the world’s first Model-Based Iterative Reconstruction (MBiR) technique. Available on GE’s Discovery CT750 HD, Veo changes the rules of CT imaging by helping physicians provide accurate diagnoses with high quality images while enabling them to lower patients’ radiation dose levels.

22 Feb 2012

Study aims to achieve early detection of heart disease

With the month of February designated as Heart Health Month, physician-researchers in the Division of Cardiology at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) - Dr. Matthew Budoff and Dr. Ronald Oudiz - continue to pave the way with their efforts to develop treatments and therapies for conditions affecting the heart, and to help improve overall heart health.

22 Feb 2012

First prospective study of ethnic differences in symptoms of autism in toddlers

The first prospective study of ethnic differences in the symptoms of autism in toddlers shows that children from a minority background have more delayed language, communication and gross motor skills than Caucasian children with the disorder. Researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute concluded that subtle developmental delays may be going unaddressed in minority toddlers until more severe symptoms develop.

22 Feb 2012

VTT participates in two new EU projects that focus on type 2 diabetes

VTT is participating in two new European projects focusing on type 2 diabetes. The projects aim at identifying new therapeutic choices and strategies for preventing the disease. Focus is on obtaining information on cellular dysfunction in diabetes and the effects of changes in lifestyle. The goal includes planning individual lifestyle instructions for people at high risk of diabetes and exploiting the results in a major European health insurance system.

22 Feb 2012

OGF-OGFr axis discovery provides new insights into ovarian cancer

Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania have discovered that the presence and integrity of the opioid growth factor receptor (OGFr), which mediates the inhibitory action of opioid growth factor (OGF) on cell proliferation, is a key to understanding the progression and treatment of human ovarian cancer.

22 Feb 2012

FDA grants Priority Review for Repligen's SecreFlo NDA

Repligen Corporation announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing and granted Priority Review to the Company's new drug application (NDA) for SecreFlo for the improved detection of pancreatic duct abnormalities in patients with pancreatitis.

21 Feb 2012