Jaundice News and Research

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Jaundice, also known as icterus (attributive adjective: icteric), is a yellowish discoloration of the skin, the conjunctival membranes over the sclerae (whites of the eyes), and other mucous membranes caused by hyperbilirubinemia (increased levels of bilirubin in the blood).

Bilirubin identified in Bird of Paradise plant

A research team led by Cary Pirone from the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University has identified bilirubin in the popular Bird of Paradise plant. The breakthrough study, published in the September 2010 issue of the American Society for Horticultural Science's journal HortScience, provides new insights into color production in this iconic tropical plant.

9 Sep 2010

Phase 3 REALIZE study shows milestone in treatment development for hepatitis C

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced that 65% of people overall achieved a sustained viral response (SVR or viral cure) with a telaprevir-based regimen in the pivotal Phase 3 REALIZE study, as compared to 17% of people in the control arm who received pegylated-interferon and ribavirin alone.

8 Sep 2010

Tamir Biotechnology's three compounds effective show potential for yellow fever

Tamir Biotechnology, Inc.(formerly Alfacell Corporation) announced today that scientists supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) confirmed that testing of three of our company's compounds showed in vitro results rarely seen before by the U.S. government for yellow fever.

11 Aug 2010

Vertex reports results from Phase 3 ILLUMINATE study of telaprevir-based therapy for hepatitis C

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced results from the Phase 3 ILLUMINATE study, which was designed to evaluate whether there was any benefit to extending therapy from 24 to 48 weeks in people whose hepatitis C virus (HCV) was undetectable at weeks 4 and 12 of treatment (extended rapid viral response or eRVR).

10 Aug 2010

New trend in management of post-liver transplantation biliary strictures

Endoscopic intervention has emerged to become the first line treatment for benign biliary strictures following liver transplantation. The current endoscopic approach involves repetitive dilatation of the stricture and placement of multiple large-diameter parallel plastic stents with frequent stent exchange to prevent biliary infection.

3 Aug 2010

VBDS secondary to nevirapine use in HIV-positive, pregnant female: Report

Vanishing bile duct syndrome refers to a group of disorders characterized by destruction and disappearance of intrahepatic (inside the liver) bile ducts. Multiple causes have been identified including infections, malignancies, autoimmune conditions and adverse effects of medications. The usual course of this condition is variable and many patients with VBDS respond to treatment of the underlying condition and/ or removal of the offending agent. However, others progress to cirrhosis and end stage liver disease requiring liver transplantation.

31 Jul 2010

Natus Medical second-quarter revenue increases to $52.7 million

Natus Medical Incorporated today announced financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2010.

29 Jul 2010

FDA clears IL's new point-of-care total bilirubin assay

Instrumentation Laboratory (IL) today announced that it has received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market the first-ever, rapid point-of-care, lab-quality blood test for measuring total bilirubin (tBili) in newborns.

28 Jul 2010

Cancer survivor to celebrate 100th birthday

Loyola University Hospital cancer patient Mary Cipolla was 89 years old when she underwent one of the most extensive operations in surgery, known as the Whipple procedure.

28 Jul 2010

Abbott presents 48-week PROGRESS study results at 28th International AIDS Conference

Abbott today presented 48-week findings comparing an HIV regimen of its protease inhibitor (PI), Kaletra® (lopinavir/ritonavir), and Merck's integrase inhibitor, Isentress® (raltegravir), to a traditional HIV regimen of Kaletra and the nucleotide/nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) in Truvada® (tenofovir and emtricitabine) in antiretroviral-naive adult patients. Efficacy data were collected over the first 48 weeks of the 96-week PROGRESS (PROtease/InteGRasE Simplification Study) study.

20 Jul 2010

Clivatuzumab tetraxetan shows promising results in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer

Immunomedics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer and other serious diseases, today announced that its proprietary antibody, clivatuzumab tetraxetan, labeled with yttrium-90 plus low-dose gemcitabine continues to produce promising efficacy results in patients with previously untreated, inoperable, locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.

7 Jun 2010

Study identifies potential link between Gilbert's Syndrome, childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Scientists from the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine, both in Detroit, and the Children's Hospital of Michigan/Detroit Medical Center, presented preliminary data that identified a potential link between Gilbert's Syndrome and the development of a specific subtype of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The findings were announced today at the 2010 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

7 Jun 2010

Vertex reports 75% patients with HCV achieve viral cure with 12-week telaprevir-based combination regimen

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced that 75% of people chronically infected with genotype 1 hepatitis C virus (HCV) who had not previously been treated achieved a sustained viral response (SVR or viral cure) after receiving a 12-week telaprevir-based combination regimen, followed by treatment with pegylated-interferon and ribavirin alone, in the Phase 3 ADVANCE trial.

26 May 2010

Natus Medical's revenue for first-quarter 2010 increased 47% to $49.2M

Natus Medical Incorporated today announced financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2010.

29 Apr 2010

Genetic test to predict newborns requiring hospital readmission shortly after birth

The results of two separate research studies taking place at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics will help physicians use genetic testing to prevent complications, and ease the worry of new parents by predicting in advance which newborns may require readmission to the hospital shortly after birth. The studies also will help physicians identify which of their young patients are likely to respond well - or not - to steroid therapy for asthma.

29 Apr 2010

ChronSeal multi-center study in Sweden and Norway finalized

The multi-center study in Sweden and Norway with ChronSeal® is now finalized and the data are being analyzed in Sweden and by Kringle in Japan. ChronTech and Kringle have jointly decided that the results will be publicly available on May 27th. At follow-up of the ChronVac-C® -study where patients now have started treatment according to standard-of-care (interferon and ribavirin) all patients (100%) were virus free at treatment week 12 and 5/6 (83%) had less than 50 copies of virus/mL blood already at treatment week four.

28 Apr 2010

Tamiflu and two other drugs used to treat influenza appear safe for pregnant women and babies: Study

Tamiflu and two other drugs used to treat influenza appear safe for pregnant women and their babies, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a retrospective study of 239 cases of women who received the medications during pregnancy.

28 Apr 2010

Natus Medical announces $50M revolving credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank

Natus Medical Incorporated today announced that it has entered into a $50 million revolving credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association. The credit facility, which matures on April 30, 2012, amends and restates the Company's existing $25 million credit facility that was scheduled to mature on April 30, 2010.

27 Apr 2010

Immunomedics' blood assay for PAM4-protein can detect pancreatic cancer and predict early relapse

Immunomedics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer and other serious diseases, today reported that a new blood test using the Company's proprietary humanized antibody, clivatuzumab or PAM4, predicted a partial response in an initial set of patients treated with a combination of the antibody labeled with yttrium-90 (Y-90) and gemcitabine. Results were presented at the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

21 Apr 2010

Results of study comparing REMICADE to azathioprine for Crohn's disease published

Findings published today in The New England Journal of Medicine from a first-of-its-kind comparator trial evaluating the anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha biologic treatment REMICADE (infliximab) in the treatment of moderately to severely active Crohn's disease in patients who were naive to immunomodulator and biologic therapy, showed that a significantly greater proportion of patients receiving REMICADE achieved steroid-free remission and mucosal healing compared with patients receiving azathioprine.

16 Apr 2010