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Bacteria from cat fleas: 1st Australian case

Australia’s fist case of a human infected with bacteria from cat fleas has been reported by a Newcastle doctor who says the disease may be more common than the GPs thought. The case study appeared in the Medical Journal of Australia that documents a Victorian family infected with Rickettsia felis after exposure to a kitten infested with fleas. Murdoch University scientists confirmed the presence of R. felis in cat fleas on cats and dogs in WA for the first time in 2006.

3 Jan 2011

Celera seeks FDA premarketing approval for KIF6 Genotyping Assay

Celera Corporation today announced that it has submitted a Premarket Approval Application (PMA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its KIF6 Genotyping Assay, a new molecular In Vitro diagnostic (IVD) test designed to detect a marker for risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) independent of traditional risk factors and aid clinical evaluation when statin treatment is being considered.

3 Jan 2011

Researchers study molecular mechanisms in early stages of IPN virus infection

Infectious pancreatic necrosis is a serious disease that leads to enormous losses in the salmon industry each year. The virus that causes the disease, IPN, is very prevalent in farmed salmon and trout in Norway. The virus attacks a wide diversity of hosts and has been found to occur in many different fish species, in addition to shellfish and molluscs.

30 Dec 2010

Clinical Data closes sale of genetic, pharmacogenomic testing and biomarker development business

Clinical Data, Inc. today announced that the Company has closed the sale of its genetic and pharmacogenomic testing and biomarker development business to Transgenomic, Inc. for $15.5 million. The sale completes Clinical Data's transformation into a pharmaceutical company with a deep product pipeline, including two promising late-stage compounds, the most advanced of which is vilazodone, a new treatment in development for Major Depressive Disorder.

30 Dec 2010

New study confirms pancreas disease infects horizontally from population to population in seawater phase

Researchers and the salmon industry have been debating whether fingerling from freshwater farms can be a source of the virus that causes pancreas disease: salmonid alfavirus. The results of a new doctoral study show that this is not the case: pancreas disease transmits horizontally in the seawater phase and infection in fresh water has little bearing on how the disease spreads.

29 Dec 2010

Researchers develop breath-analysis technology for rapid detection of biomarkers

Researchers have overcome a fundamental obstacle in developing breath-analysis technology to rapidly diagnose patients by detecting chemical compounds called "biomarkers" in a person's respiration in real time.

29 Dec 2010

Chindex announces joint venture deal with Fosun Pharma

Chindex International, a leading independent American provider of Western healthcare products and services in the People's Republic of China, and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical, a leading manufacturer and distributor of western and Chinese medicine and devices in China, today announced the formation of the previously-proposed joint venture to independently operate certain combined medical device businesses, including Chindex's Medical Products division.

28 Dec 2010

NIIT Technologies forays into US health care segment with acquisition of Preferr EHR

NIIT Technologies Limited, a leading IT solutions organization has acquired an electronic health records and referral management platform to initiate its foray into the lucrative health care segment in the US. The platform called "Preferr" (Patient Referral System)" enables seamless collaboration between all providers namely physicians, hospitals, diagnostic facilities, and laboratories.

28 Dec 2010

Researchers receive $6.78 million NIH grant for community-based study on heart disease

Researchers at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center in Houston were recently awarded a $6.78 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to extend a 23-year-old large-scale, community-based study of heart disease.

27 Dec 2010

Cancer survival rates improving

Survival rates for cancers of the bowel, breast, lung and ovary that were diagnosed between 1995 and 2007 were compared between Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the UK. Overall, survival rates improved in all six countries. However, survival was found to be “persistently lower” in Denmark, England, Northern Ireland and Wales. This was particularly the case after the first year of diagnosis and for patients aged 65 and over. In UK cancer survival rates have improved significantly. Breast cancer survival at five years, for example, increased from 74.8% in 1995-9, to 81.6% in 2005-7. Despite this, the UK still has the lowest breast cancer survival rate at five years.

27 Dec 2010

Exiqon announces introduction of GLP compliant services for miRNA biomarker screening

Exiqon A/S, a leading provider of technologies for biomarker detection, today announced the introduction of GLP compliant services for miRNA biomarker screening and diagnostic assay development for clinical trials.

27 Dec 2010

Silencing of specific genes of germinal cell lines reduces brain tumors

Scientists at IRB Barcelona have discovered that some brain tumours in larvae of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster use the genetic programme of germline cells to grow. The removal of some of these genes leads to healthy brains. This finding demonstrates that these genes are crucial for tumour development. The study, headed by ICREA researcher Cayetano Gonz-lez, is published today in the prestigious journal Science.

24 Dec 2010

Scientific American examines efforts to increase influenza virus monitoring in pigs to prevent pandemics in humans

Scientific American examines how, in an attempt to improve early recognition of viruses that could give rise to pandemics in people, such as last year's H1N1 swine flu, scientists are looking to better understand "the viruses that infect the estimated 941 million domesticated pigs around the world." However, as the article notes, "[i]ntensive monitoring of pig viruses is unlikely to come any time soon … Most pork-producing countries do not test their pigs at all, and in some that do - such as the U.S. - the testing is done on behalf of the pork producers.

24 Dec 2010

InfraReDx to receive $862,000 as part of MLSC Tax Incentive Program

InfraReDx, Inc., a medical device company developing intelligent cardiovascular diagnostic imaging technologies, today announced that it has been selected to receive an award of nearly $862,000 as part of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Tax Incentive Program. In conjunction with the award, InfraReDx has committed to create 32 new jobs during 2011.

24 Dec 2010

EMCTO 2011 to provide update on treatment of thoracic malignancies

The number of diagnostic and therapeutic options for patients with thoracic malignancies has markedly increased, allowing for an individualized approach based on the clinical situation and molecular characteristics of the tumor. How to best select among these options for the benefit of the patients within an integrative treatment approach will be at the core of the conference.

23 Dec 2010

Procognia grants Euro-Diagnostica license to provide diagnostic services for gastric cancer

Procognia is proud to announce that yesterday it signed a binding memorandum of understanding with Euro-Diagnostica (ED), a European diagnostic company that currently operates in the Scandinavian and Benelux markets, and is expected to expand its activity into other markets which may include Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the UK in the near future.

23 Dec 2010

GE Healthcare announces completion of tender offer for Clarient

GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company announced today that it has completed the tender offer by GE's wholly owned subsidiary, Crane Merger Sub, Inc., for all outstanding shares of common and preferred stock of Clarient Inc., a leading player in the fast-growing molecular diagnostics sector. Clarient provides pathologists and oncologists with access to key diagnostic tests that shed light on the complex nature of various cancers.

23 Dec 2010

New nanoparticle-based diagnostic platform provides rapid detection of sepsis

Blood poisoning can be fatal. If you suffer from sepsis, you used to have to wait as much as 48 hours for laboratory findings. A new diagnostic platform as big as a credit card will now supply the analysis after as little as an hour. This system is based on nanoparticles that are automatically guided by magnetic forces.

22 Dec 2010

RadNet to acquire Imaging On Call

RadNet, Inc., a national leader in providing high-quality, cost-effective, fixed-site outpatient diagnostic imaging services through a network of 198 fully-owned and operated outpatient imaging centers, today reported it has executed a definitive agreement to acquire Imaging On Call, LLC for $5.5 million plus contingent compensation of up to an additional $2.5 million if Imaging On Call achieves certain 2011 performance milestones.

22 Dec 2010

Therapies to target self-renewing population of chemotherapy-resistant cells needed

Leukemia patients whose cancers express higher levels of genes associated with cancer stem cells have a significantly poorer prognosis than patients with lower levels of the genes, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The finding is among the first to show that the cancer stem cell hypothesis - which posits that some cancers spring from and are replenished by a small, hardy population of self-renewing cells - can be used to predict outcomes in a large group of patients and one day to tailor treatments in the clinic.

22 Dec 2010

Diagnostic News and Research

Bacteria from cat fleas: 1st Australian case

Celera seeks FDA premarketing approval for KIF6 Genotyping Assay

Researchers study molecular mechanisms in early stages of IPN virus infection

Clinical Data closes sale of genetic, pharmacogenomic testing and biomarker development business

New study confirms pancreas disease infects horizontally from population to population in seawater phase

Researchers develop breath-analysis technology for rapid detection of biomarkers

Chindex announces joint venture deal with Fosun Pharma

NIIT Technologies forays into US health care segment with acquisition of Preferr EHR

Researchers receive $6.78 million NIH grant for community-based study on heart disease

Cancer survival rates improving

Exiqon announces introduction of GLP compliant services for miRNA biomarker screening

Silencing of specific genes of germinal cell lines reduces brain tumors

Scientific American examines efforts to increase influenza virus monitoring in pigs to prevent pandemics in humans

InfraReDx to receive $862,000 as part of MLSC Tax Incentive Program

EMCTO 2011 to provide update on treatment of thoracic malignancies

Procognia grants Euro-Diagnostica license to provide diagnostic services for gastric cancer

GE Healthcare announces completion of tender offer for Clarient

New nanoparticle-based diagnostic platform provides rapid detection of sepsis

RadNet to acquire Imaging On Call

Therapies to target self-renewing population of chemotherapy-resistant cells needed

Industry Focus eBook - Analytical Chemistry (2nd Edition) eBook

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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