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Treatment helps 26% of black Americans with chronic hepatitis C

Twenty-six percent (26%) of black Americans (BA) with chronic hepatitis C who received treatment with Pegasys plus Copegus (peginterferon alfa-2a plus ribavirin) achieved a sustained virological response (SVR), according to study results published in the June 2004 issue of Hepatology.

1 Jun 2004

Discovery of a key marker in breast cancer tumors

Cancer researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have discovered a key marker in breast cancer tumors that may help determine which women with early stage breast cancer have a better chance of survival. The research appears in the June 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

31 May 2004

Possible new second-generation multiple sclerosis therapy

Scientists from Genencor International, Inc., have demonstrated in an in vivo model that a new variant of recombinant interferon-beta reduces the immunological response to the protein.

25 May 2004

GenoMed adds to management team

GenoMed, Inc., a Next Generation Disease Management™ company that uses its expertise in genes to improve patient outcomes, said today that it has hired three additional full-time employees: a Chief Financial Officer, a Vice President for Marketing, and a Chief Technical Officer.

11 May 2004

A new prognostic marker has shown potential to predict recurrence in certain colon cancer patients

In the study, a team of researchers led by Veridex, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson company, used gene expression profiling to identify the new marker – a 23-gene signature – which may predict disease recurrence in patients initially diagnosed with Dukes' B colon cancer.

29 Apr 2004

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) overview

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is an atypical form of pneumonia that first appeared in November 2002 in Guangdong Province, China.

24 Apr 2004

Daycare and siblings increase likelihood of contracting respiratory syncytial virus and rhinovirus

Daycare attendance and siblings are associated with viral-induced wheezing in children. Pre-existing immunologic factors may influence the expression of viral infections in infancy, and in turn, recurrent infections may influence the development of immune responses.

17 Apr 2004

Comparative genomics to cast new light on other spirochete microbes

Three centuries after a pioneering Dutch microbiologist first observed the spiral-shaped oral pathogen Treponema denticola, scientists have deciphered the bacterium’s entire DNA sequence and used comparative genomics to cast new light on other spirochete microbes.

29 Mar 2004

Halting the development of certain pancreatic, ovarian, colon and lung cancers may be possible with new therapy

By investigating a single molecule that influences cell growth, a research group in the Purdue Cancer Center, including Brian S. Henriksen, has gained new insight into the chain of events that make some cancer cells divide uncontrollably, insight that may eventually lead to a way to break that chain, stopping cancer in its tracks. The molecule, known as Icmt, has a critical role in the development of Ras, an ordinarily beneficial protein that tells a cell to divide. The research group has determined how to inhibit Icmt's influence on Ras, without which the protein cannot develop effectively into an instigator of cell growth.

28 Mar 2004