Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Patients with history of skin infection more likely to develop surgical site infections

Johns Hopkins scientists have engineered cells that behave like AND and OR Boolean logic gates, producing an output based on one or more unique inputs. This feat, published in the May issue of Nature Chemical Biology, could eventually help researchers create computers that use cells as tiny circuits.

30 May 2012

FDA accepts NDA filing for KYNAMRO to treat HoFH

Genzyme, a Sanofi company, and Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted for filing the New Drug Application for KYNAMRO (mipomersen sodium) for the treatment of patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH).

29 May 2012

Short hairpin RNAi gene silencing technology receives CSIRO's foundational patents

Australia's leading science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), has been granted foundational patents in the US and Europe for short hairpin RNAi (shRNA) gene silencing technology.

29 May 2012

Abbott to highlight latest investigational research findings on HUMIRA at EULAR 2012

Abbott scientists and independent researchers will highlight the latest investigational research findings on HUMIRA (adalimumab) at the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Congress in Berlin, Germany, from 6-9 June, 2012.

29 May 2012

Single test developed that detects all known strains of H5N1

The close collaboration between scientists from the Experimental Therapeutics Centre (ETC) under the Agency for Science and Technology Research (A*STAR) and clinicians from Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) has enabled the successful development of the most comprehensive and rapid H5N1 bird flu test kit available to date.

29 May 2012

Sixty-fifth World Health Assembly covers some of the biggest challenges facing public health

The Sixty-fifth World Health Assembly concluded Saturday after adopting 21 resolutions and three decisions on a broad range of health issues. The six days of discussions involved nearly 3000 delegates, including health ministers and senior health officials from amongst the 194 WHO Member States, as well as representatives from civil society and other stakeholders.

28 May 2012

Preoperative opportunity to control blood glucoses

Patients with diabetes mellitus experience significantly higher rates of surgical and systemic complications, higher mortality and increased length of stay during hospitalization following 11 major elective procedures, according to research presented today at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) 21st Annual Meeting & Clinical Congress in Philadelphia.

28 May 2012

Rwanda accelerates fight against rotavirus

Rwanda today accelerated its fight against rotavirus, the primary cause of deadly diarrhea in young children, when it became the fourth African country to introduce new rotavirus vaccines only recently made available to developing countries. Rotavirus is the primary cause of diarrhea in children. In Rwanda, diarrhea accounts for approximately 23% of child deaths.

28 May 2012

PSI interviews Gates Foundation official about child health

In this post in PSI's "Healthy Lives" blog, "PSI's Nutrition Research Adviser Dr. Abel Irena talks with Saul Morris, senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, about progress that has been made in child health."

25 May 2012

EMA CHMP adopts positive opinion for Pfizer’s axitinib to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma

Pfizer announced today that the Committee for Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has adopted a positive opinion regarding the marketing authorization of axitinib in the European Union (EU), for the treatment of adult patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a type of advanced kidney cancer, after failure of prior treatment with sunitinib or a cytokine.

25 May 2012

European CHMP issues positive opinion to Vertex's KALYDECO for treatment of CF

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced today that the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued a positive opinion by consensus recommending the approval of KALYDECO (ivacaftor) for people with cystic fibrosis (CF) ages 6 and older who have at least one copy of the G551D mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene.

25 May 2012

Takeda signs agreement to acquire Multilab

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Multilab Indústria e Comércio de Produtos Farmacêuticos Ltda. today jointly announced that both parties have signed an agreement whereby Takeda Farmacêutica Brasil Ltda., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda, aims to acquire Multilab.

25 May 2012

MIT researchers engineer new jet-injection system

MIT researchers have engineered a device that delivers a tiny, high-pressure jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a hypodermic needle. The device can be programmed to deliver a range of doses to various depths - an improvement over similar jet-injection systems that are now commercially available.

25 May 2012

Fever during pregnancy associated with autism or developmental delay

A team of UC Davis researchers has found that mothers who had fevers during their pregnancies were more than twice as likely to have a child with autism or developmental delay than were mothers of typically developing children, and that taking medication to treat fever countered its effect.

25 May 2012

Pacific Shore Holdings to donate Thermal-Aid Bears to City of Hope in California

Pacific Shore Holdings, Inc. spokesman Andre Ethier, all-star right fielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, announced today that the company will be donating Thermal-Aid Bears to the City of Hope in Duarte, California.

25 May 2012

Human olfactory bulb differs from that of other mammals

Research from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows that the human olfactory bulb - a structure in the brain that processes sensory input from the nose - differs from that of other mammals in that no new neurons are formed in this area after birth. The discovery, which is published in the scientific journal Neuron, is based on the age-determination of the cells using the carbon-14 method, and might explain why the human sense of smell is normally much worse than that of other animals.

25 May 2012

LVRC safe and effective choice for patients with severe heterogeneous emphysema

A tiny, resilient metal wire designed to gather and compress diseased lung tissue may offer relief to patients with severe heterogeneous emphysema, a subtype of the disease that involves specific, usually isolated areas of the lungs, according to the results of a multicenter international trial conducted in the Netherlands, Germany and France. The wire, called a lung volume reduction coil (LVRC), can be easily implanted and is designed to take the place of more invasive procedures used to improve the lung function of emphysema patients.

24 May 2012

ICS may prevent parapneumonic effusion in patients with CAP

Prior treatment with inhaled corticosteroids in patients with respiratory disorders who develop community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is associated with a lower incidence and severity of parapneumonic effusion, according to a new study from researchers in Spain.

24 May 2012

Chronic diseases, bloodstream infections on the rise among HIV+ ICU patients

The expanded use of antiretrovirals, potent drugs used to treat retroviral infections such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has been linked to significant decreases in hospital mortality rates among severely ill HIV-positive (HIV+) patients nationwide, primarily due to a decrease in opportunistic infections, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University.

24 May 2012

Many women not screened for gonorrhea and chlamydia infection during pregnancy

Many women are not screened for chlamydia and gonorrhea infection during their pregnancy, and follow-up testing is not always performed as medically recommended for those who test positive for chlamydia, according to a study published online in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

From Quest Diagnostics 24 May 2012