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Alnylam Pharmaceuticals initiates ALN-RSV01 Phase IIb trial in adult lung transplant patients for RSV infection

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has initiated a Phase IIb trial in adult lung transplant patients with ALN-RSV01, an RNAi therapeutic for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. RSV infection in lung transplant patients represents an important unmet medical need; the condition is associated with significant morbidity, including the development of acute lung transplant rejection in 10% to 20% of infected patients.

22 Feb 2010

Elsevier to celebrate medical education innovation at 60th AMSA convention

Elsevier, the leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information, today announced it is celebrating medical education innovation at the American Medical Student Association's 60th Annual Convention, March 11-14, 2010, at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California.

22 Feb 2010

Effective e-waste management needed

Issued at a meeting of Basel Convention and other world chemical authorities prior to UNEP's Governing Council meeting in Bali, Indonesia, the report, "Recycling - from E-Waste to Resources," used data from 11 representative developing countries to estimate current and future e-waste generation - which includes old and dilapidated desk and laptop computers, printers, mobile phones, pagers, digital photo and music devices, refrigerators, toys and televisions.

22 Feb 2010

Cord Blood America announces aim to be world's largest stem cell storage facility

Cord Blood America, Inc., the umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company focused on bringing the life saving potential of stem cells, a biological insurance policy, for families nationwide and internationally, said today in an interview of Matthew Schissler, co-founder and CEO, by analyst Francis Gaskins, that its goal is to be the world's largest stem cell storage facility.

22 Feb 2010

Researchers use new technology to reveal different genetic patterns of neuroblastoma

Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and Karolinska Institutet have used novel technology to reveal the different genetic patterns of neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of childhood cancer. This discovery may lead to significant advances in the treatment of this malignant disease, which mainly affects small children.

22 Feb 2010

New gene locus influencing risk for atrial fibrillation identified

Atrial fibrillation is a cardiac arrhythmia - a chronic irregularity of heartbeat - which affects an estimated 1 million people in Germany. Although the condition is not acutely life-threatening, it does increase the risk of developing more serious illnesses, such as cardiac insufficiency, stroke and dementia. In the third of a series of genomewide asssociation studies, an international team of researchers, led by LMU physician PD Dr. Stefan K--b, now reports the identification of a new gene locus that has a significant influence on risk for atrial fibrillation.

22 Feb 2010

Researchers identify common gene variant associated with atrial fibrillation

An international research team has identified a common gene variant associated with a form of the irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation. In their report in the journal Nature Genetics, being published online, the investigators describe finding that variations affecting a protein that may help control the heart's electrical activity appear to increase the risk of what is called lone atrial fibrillation (AF), a type seen in younger individuals with no other form of heart disease.

22 Feb 2010

U.S. government's decision helped stem-cell researchers concentrate on science, but limitations remain

The United States government's decision last year to lift restrictions on federally-funded stem cell research has helped the nation's stem-cell researchers concentrate on science, but limitations remain - even under the new policy, according to George Daley, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Children's Hospital Boston.

22 Feb 2010

Research paves way for building tabletop X-ray laser that can be used for high-resolution imaging

For nearly half a century, scientists have been trying to figure out how to build a cost-effective and reasonably sized X-ray laser that could, among other things, provide super high-resolution imaging. And for the past two decades, University of Colorado at Boulder physics professors Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn have been inching closer to that goal.

22 Feb 2010

Study proposes potential molecular mechanism at play in mild TBI

Douglas Smith, MD, director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair and professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, will present information on the molecular mechanism at play in mild TBI (mTBI), commonly called concussions. Although mTBI affects over 1 million people each year in the United States, it is generally ignored as a major health issue. However, this 'mild' form of injury induces persisting neurological and cognitive problems in many of these patients, exacting an enormous emotional and financial toll on society.

22 Feb 2010

Children born through assisted reproduction at greater risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes related defects

More than three million children have been born as a result of assisted reproductive technologies since the birth of the first "test tube baby" in 1978. While the majority of these children are healthy and normal, as a group they are at greater risk of certain kinds of birth defects and being low birth weight, which is associated with obesity, hypertension and type 2 diabetes later in life.

22 Feb 2010

Researchers develop new tool to understand how cancer grows

Researchers have a new tool to understand how cancers grow -- and with it a new opportunity to identify novel cancer drugs. They've been able to break apart human prostate tissue, extract the stem cells in that tissue, and alter those cells genetically so that they spur cancer.

22 Feb 2010

Scientists develop new mathematical model to understand CML better

Doctors can now understand better chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), including how it responds to therapy, thanks to a new mathematical model for the disease, developed by scientists in Portugal, Belgium and the United States. The work, to be published in the June edition of the journal Haematologica, also reveals that current therapies - which are not believed to cure CML - with the right protocol can actually get rid of the disease, and provides guidelines on how to do that.

21 Feb 2010

Enzyme can allow nerve cells in brain to grow and form complex networks: Study

Brain researcher Hiroshi Kawabe has discovered the workings of a process that had been completely overlooked until now, and that allows nerve cells in the brain to grow and form complex networks. The study shows that an enzyme which usually controls the destruction of protein components has an unexpected function in nerve cells: it controls the structure of the cytoskeleton and thus ensures that nerve cells can form the tree-like extensions that are necessary for signal transmission in the brain.

20 Feb 2010

Ways of stem cells division linked to development of cancer

Changes in the way that stem cells divide in the gut could lead to cancer, according to a new study funded by the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK.

20 Feb 2010

Quidel acquires Diagnostic Hybrids for $130 million

Quidel Corporation, a leading provider of rapid diagnostic tests, has completed its previously announced acquisition of Diagnostic Hybrids, Inc. for approximately $130 million in cash.

20 Feb 2010

Amgen's Prolia Complete Response submission: FDA classifies and sets PDUFA date

Amgen Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has evaluated the content of the Company's Complete Response submission for Prolia™ (denosumab) in the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis and classified it as a Class 2 resubmission. With the Class 2 designation, the FDA set a corresponding Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date of July 25, 2010.

20 Feb 2010

National poll examines public health response to anthrax attack

In a national poll aimed at helping with planning efforts for a public health response to a possible bioterrorism attack, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that, in response to a fictional scenario describing a significant anthrax attack in their city or town, most Americans (89%) will likely follow public health recommendations to obtain prophylactic antibiotics.

20 Feb 2010

Genoptix signs multi-year licensing agreement with HistoRx for AQUA technology

Genoptix, Inc., a specialized laboratory service provider, and HistoRx, Inc. (privately held), a diagnostics company, today announced a multi-year licensing agreement for AQUA® technology and several diagnostic assays based on it.

19 Feb 2010

Polyphor discovers new class of antibiotics effective against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria

Today, Polyphor Ltd published the discovery of a new class of antibiotics with a novel mode of action (Science, VOL 327, ISSUE 5968). This proprietary new class of antibiotics is effective against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria, opening up new treatment options for serious and often life-threatening infections. The most advanced drug candidate in this new class, POL7080, selectively kills the dangerous bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

19 Feb 2010