Technology News and Research

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Safer and improved technologies for detecting and treating scoliosis

Calgary researchers, healthcare providers and local patients are working together to develop a high-tech imaging system for detecting and treating of scoliosis – a mysterious spinal condition that affects about one out of every 200 people, especially children.

17 Jul 2004

First medical waste traceability testing in Asia Pacific

Kureha Environmental Engineering Co. Ltd., a leading waste management company in Japan, will begin verification tests on the traceability of medical waste using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags.

17 Jul 2004

New type of cryogenic catheter

A U.S. clinical study is just getting under way that, if successful, could lead to a non-surgical "cure" for the most common type of cardiac arrhythmia. The study is evaluating a new type of cryogenic catheter co-developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

16 Jul 2004

Online database of AIDS-related protein structures

Researchers who are either developing drug treatments for AIDS or studying the virus that causes the disease have a new resource - an online database of AIDS-related protein structures just unveiled for public use by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

16 Jul 2004

Funding improves the quality of the fish we eat

The quality of the fish that ends up in the shops, and eventually on our dining tables, is set to improve following a three and a half year research project into the monitoring techniques available to the fish processing industry.

15 Jul 2004

Effective treatment for soft tissue sarcoma (rhabdomyosarcoma)

Rhabdomyosarcoma is a highly malignant aggressive form of soft tissue cancer in children, the causes of which are currently unknown. Although the fibrous growths can be found all over the body they commonly develop around the head, neck, bladder and testes in young boys.

15 Jul 2004

Novel tool that can be used to visualize single neurons in living brain tissue

Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientist Alison Barth has developed the first tool to identify and study individual neurons activated in a living animal.

15 Jul 2004

Scientists determine structure of staph, anthrax enzyme

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago have determined the crystal structure of sortase B, an enzyme found in the bacteria that cause staph and anthrax. While an antibiotic is probably five to seven years away, the structure could provide the first clue in developing a treatment for the infections.

15 Jul 2004

Animal bone implants that resemble natural bone

A team of researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) has moved one step closer to developing an ideal bone scaffold for reconstructive surgery.

15 Jul 2004

Immunotherapeutic strategy allowing patients to use their own immune system to fight their cancer

Scientists affiliated with the Harvard University Medical School have devised ways of bolstering patients' immune response against kidney and breast cancer.

15 Jul 2004

FDA approval for computer aided detection (CAD) software to analyze CT images

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new image analysis system designed to help radiologists review computed tomography (CT) images of the chest to aid in the detection of solid nodules in the lungs.

13 Jul 2004

Study shows that in older age, myelin insulation breaks down, resulting in a decline in the speed and efficiency of our brain

UCLA neuroscientists using a new MRI analysis technique to examine myelin sheaths that insulate the brain's wiring report that as people age, neural connections that develop last degenerate first.

12 Jul 2004

World Bank has approved a US$68 million credit to the Indian government for the Integrated Disease Surveillance project

India has made major gains in control of a number of communicable diseases and in improving overall health of its population. Nevertheless, with the increasing age profile of the population, India is in transition with the double burden of significant communicable diseases and increasing non-communicable diseases such as cardio-vascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and cataract blindness, maladies that usually affect higher income countries.

11 Jul 2004

New rotavirus vaccines could reduce mortality from the disease by up to 60 percent

Health officials from 16 countries today asked for budgetary support "to ensure the sustainability of the existing vaccination programs and the introduction of new vaccines," at the conclusion of a global symposium on rotavirus, a diarrheal disease that kills over 600,000 children worldwide every year.

10 Jul 2004

ATS receives a US $3.8 million order for a manufacturing system for new drug delivery technology

ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc.has announced it has received a US $3.8 million (CDN $5.0 million) order from one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to provide a manufacturing system for a new drug delivery technology.

10 Jul 2004

Recent tuberculosis research holds promise for developing a more effective vaccine

Tuberculosis, a mycobacterium that infects human lungs, still claims the lives of about 2 million people every year. Existing vaccines provide questionable protection, and they can even cause disease in individuals with compromised immune systems.

9 Jul 2004

Sunscreen to protect the skin's genetic material, or DNA

A new company, DNAcare Systems, is to be formed at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, based on research by skin cancer expert Dr Mark Birch-Machin and colleagues.

8 Jul 2004

Chromatin array a new technology for examining DNA

A new technique for examining DNA is giving scientists a more detailed picture of which genes have the propensity for activation, offering a new tool for understanding how genes function and possibly for diagnosing disease.

8 Jul 2004

Brazilian Government approves DuPont system that detects salmonella

The BAX® system, a genetics-based diagnostic tool developed by DuPont Qualicon, has been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture in Brazil as an Official Reference Method to detect Salmonella in food, water and environmental samples.

8 Jul 2004

Prosthetic devices operated by brain activity

In the July 9 issue of the journal Science, California Institute of Technology neuroscientists Sam Musallam, Brian Corneil, Bradley Greger, Hans Scherberger, and Richard Andersen report on the Andersen lab's success in getting monkeys to move the cursor on a computer screen by merely thinking about a goal they would like to achieve, and assigning a value to the goal.

8 Jul 2004