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New test to assess viral load of cytomegalovirus

Roche announced today the commercial availability of a new test to assess a patient's viral load of cytomegalovirus (CMV). Physicians use information from the test to help them manage patients who have been diagnosed with CMV disease, specifically patients with an immune system that has been suppressed for solid organ transplantation.

From Roche Sequencing and Life Science 17 Sep 2012

Facebook and other social media can enhance organ and tissue donation

When Facebook introduced a feature that enables people to register to become organ and tissue donors, thousands did so, dwarfing any previous donation initiative, write Blair L. Sadler and Alfred M. Sadler, Jr., in a commentary in Bioethics Forum, the blog of the Hastings Center Report, which analyzes the "Facebook effect" on donation.

12 Sep 2012

Study finds excellent outcomes for patients with acute liver failure after LDLT

Patients in Japan who underwent living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for acute liver failure (ALF) were classified as having excellent outcomes, with ten-year survival at 73%.

7 Sep 2012

State Senator honors UCLA lung transplant doctors during special ceremony

Dr. Abbas Ardehali, professor of cardiothoracic surgery and director of the UCLA Heart and Lung Transplant program, and Dr. David Ross, professor of pulmonology and medical director of the UCLA Lung Transplant program, were honored by State Senator Sharon Runner (R-Antelope Valley) during a special ceremony at the State Senate Chamber in Sacramento on Aug. 21.

24 Aug 2012

Medical ethics: an interview with Anita Silvers

Medical ethics assists healthcare professionals to make decisions respectful of persons who happen to be their patients.

13 Aug 2012

Organ donation: an interview with David Shaw

Most donors die in intensive care units, frequently after car accidents. Once it is clear that recovery is out of the question, families will be told that further treatment is futile and the issue of donation can be sensitively raised.

9 Aug 2012

Organ donation wishes should not be allowed to be vetoed by families says ethicist

Families should not be allowed to veto dead relatives’ organ donation wishes, argues an ethicist on bmj.com today.

8 Aug 2012

Pediatric liver transplant recipients have increased risk of death when from obese donors

Children undergoing liver transplantation are at greater risk of graft loss and death from adult organ donors who are severely obese according to research published in the August issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. The study, funded in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), found that pediatric donor body mass index (BMI) did not increase mortality risk in this pediatric population.

1 Aug 2012

Biomimetic bioartificial livers and cell toxicity assays: an interview with Dr. Joris Braspenning, CEO Medicyte

Biomimetic bioartificial livers are liver organoids based on synthetic equivalents of the human extracellular matrix (ECM) which will be seeded with human cells.

1 Aug 2012

Child who received first stem cell trachea transplant functioning well two years on

The first child stem cell-supported trachea transplant is functioning well two years on, according to an Article published Online First in The Lancet today. The follow-up of the procedure, carried out in 2010 at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), shows that the new organ has strengthened and does not appear to have induced any signs of rejection. The 13-year-old boy who received the transplant continues to breathe normally, has grown 11 cm in height and has returned to school. He does not require any anti-rejection therapy.

26 Jul 2012

IBMP delivers 11,000 ounces of donor breast milk to South African infants

The US-based International Breast Milk Project (IBMP), Prolacta Bioscience and Quick International Courier in a joint humanitarian effort delivered 11,000 ounces (2,375 bottles) of donor breast milk to South Africa, this week.

17 Jul 2012

Smokers at risk for recurrent hepatitis post-liver transplantation

Transplant recipients who smoke or have smoked increase their risk of viral hepatitis reinfection following liver transplantation according to new research available in the July issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

12 Jul 2012

Hepatitis C levels higher among males and African Americans

Epidemiologists have determined that levels of hepatitis C virus (HCV) found among injection drug users (IDUs) were higher in individuals who are male or African American even after differences in other factors were considered.

10 Jul 2012

European collaboration to design a biomimetic bioartificial liver

Medicyte, The Electrospinning Company and the Universities of Manchester and Pisa launch a European wide unique project with the aim to design a biomimetic bioartificial liver (Re-Liver). The company GABO:mi ensures professional project management.

2 Jul 2012

UCLA Heart Transplant Program performs 2,000th heart transplant surgery

The UCLA Heart Transplant Program performed its 2,000th heart transplant surgery earlier this month, becoming the first program in the western United States and only the second in the world to achieve this remarkable milestone.

28 Jun 2012

State roundup: Mass. grapples with EHR privacy issues

Providers in separate networks are preparing to share patients' records more widely online -- to better coordinate care and cut wasteful spending. This will probably intensify the debate about what should and should not be shared, as well as fears about the unauthorized release of patient information.

22 Jun 2012

Transplantation of tissue-engineered vein is a success and offers hope for patients who lack suitable veins for dialysis or bypass surgery

The first biologically tissue-engineered vein grown from a patient’s own stem cells has been successfully transplanted into a 10-year-old girl with portal vein obstruction, dramatically enhancing her quality of life.

15 Jun 2012

Successful pregnancies common for female liver transplant recipients

New research confirms that successful pregnancies are common for female liver transplant recipients. The study appearing in the June issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, found miscarriage risk was lower and the live birth rate higher among women following liver transplantation than in the general U.S. population.

7 Jun 2012

Viewpoints: Wis. vote cements walker plan to raise state workers' health costs; Treating addiction; Obama's silence on insurance mandate

Many of those voters also expect that, going forward, the dividends for Wisconsin residents, their school districts and other governments will continue to grow. As old labor contracts expire, public officials will write into the new contracts the other Walker-inspired personnel provisions -; such as higher (but still relatively inexpensive) employees' contributions to their pension and health plans -; that have lowered government expenses. New labor pacts, that is, should keep reducing government costs across Wisconsin.

7 Jun 2012

Omixon Target, a next generation sequencing analysis software for targeted sequencing, released by Omixon

Today Omixon – a genomic software company - announced the commercial release of Omixon Target, a next generation sequencing analysis software for targeted sequencing. Omixon built its new software Target with the vision of helping diagnostic labs to adopt next generation sequencing to replace and complement traditional capillary Sanger sequencing.

30 May 2012