Bone News and Research

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Stem cells to repair damaged heart muscle

In the first trial of its kind in the world, 60 patients who have recently suffered a major heart attack will be injected with selected stem cells from their own bone marrow during routine coronary bypass surgery.

22 Jun 2007

Myeloma cancer drug gets the green light from the EU

The European Union has given the green light to a drug which doubles the survival rates for people with myeloma.

21 Jun 2007

Calcium from food best for protecting bone health

Women who get most of their daily calcium from food have healthier bones than women whose calcium comes mainly from supplemental tablets, say researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

20 Jun 2007

New target for therapies for retinopathy

A protein long thought to be one of the body's supporting players has quietly been taking a lead role in healthy eyesight, a discovery that could rapidly lead to treatments for babies born before their eyes are finished growing, University of Florida and Harvard Medical School researchers have found.

19 Jun 2007

People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have greater arterial stiffness

The researchers also found that those COPD patients with osteoporosis, a common complication of the respiratory disease, had even greater arterial stiffness. These premature signs of aging may explain why COPD patients are at greater risk for cardiovascular disease.

19 Jun 2007

Faster, less expensive technique for mutating large, non-gene stretches of DNA

Genes account for only 2.5 percent of DNA in the human genetic blueprint, yet diseases can result not only from mutant genes, but from mutations of other DNA that controls genes.

19 Jun 2007

Women infected with bacteria known to cause periodontal disease more likely to have more severe oral bone loss

A study conducted in a large sample of postmenopausal women by University at Buffalo epidemiologists has provided new information on the prevalence of certain gum-disease-causing oral bacteria in this population and the association of the bacteria with oral bone loss.

19 Jun 2007

Genzyme announces results of clinical trials of Renvela and Renagel

Genzyme Corp. has announced the results of two new studies comparing a powder form of Renvela (sevelamer carbonate) to Renagel tablets (sevelamer hydrochloride), including one trial in which patients received the powder form three times per day, and one in which it was administered once per day.

19 Jun 2007

Otosclerosis gene identified

A gene responsible for the single most common cause of hearing loss among white adults, otosclerosis, has been identified for the first time, a scientist told the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Nice, France.

19 Jun 2007

Bone erosion reduced by denosumab

Treatment with denosumab 60 mg and 180 mg (with background methotrexate) reduces the progression of bone erosion according to results of a 227 patient Phase II trial presented at EULAR 2007, the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology in Barcelona, Spain.

19 Jun 2007

50 million Europeans suffer from neurological diseases

About 50 million people in the EU suffer from neurological diseases such as epilepsy, migraines, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, strokes and dementia.

18 Jun 2007

Solvay Pharmaceuticals submits supplemental NDA for AndroGel

Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has announced that it submitted a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for AndroGel (testosterone gel) 1% CIII to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment in male adolescents ages 13-17 years old with primary or secondary hypogonadism.

17 Jun 2007

Researchers culture blood-forming stem cells from human fat tissue

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have successfully isolated and cultured human hematopoietic stem cells from fat, or adipose, tissue, suggesting that they have found another important source of cells for reconstituting the bone marrow of patients undergoing intensive radiation therapy for blood cancers.

17 Jun 2007

Bone marrow microenvironment can contribute to blood cell disorder

Disorders of blood cells may begin in the biological environment where the cells develop, not just with the cells themselves, according to a study from researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center (Peter Mac) in Melbourne, Australia.

17 Jun 2007

Periodontal diseases are a threat to women of all ages

Two new studies in the June issue of the Journal of Periodontology (JOP) suggest that periodontal diseases are a threat to women of all ages due to hormonal fluctuations that occur at various stages of their lives.

15 Jun 2007

Nanosized bioceramic particles could function as efficient gene delivery vehicles with target specificity for the spleen

A detailed comparison of different types of ceramic nanoparticles has found that those made of silica can efficiently transport therapeutic genes to the spleen and trigger a potent immune response capable of attacking tumors.

14 Jun 2007

New genetic risk factor for coeliac disease

An international research consortium investigating the genetic causes of intestinal inflammatory conditions has identified a new genetic risk factor for coeliac disease.

14 Jun 2007

FDA releases report on Human Tissue Task Force

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a report that concludes there are no significant industrywide problems in the recovery of human tissues used for transplantation.

14 Jun 2007

Study compares cord blood to bone marrow for transplants

Umbilical cord blood transplants may offer blood cancer patients better outcomes than bone marrow transplants, according to an analysis of outcome data performed at the Statistical Center, Center for Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR), Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

14 Jun 2007

Tiny electronic hearing devices

More than three decades ago, scientists pursued the then-radical idea of implanting tiny electronic hearing devices in the inner ear to help profoundly deaf people.

14 Jun 2007