Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Killer coating destroys bacteria and fungi on contact

Better than antibiotics, it is being used in contact lenses to prevent infections and biomedical products are the next stage

11 May 2012

New insights into how body's innate immunity is triggered to create effective immune response

Singapore scientists from Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) under the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have for the first time, identified the molecular 'switch' that directly triggers the body's first line of defence against pathogens, more accurately known as the body's "innate immunity".

11 May 2012

Most deaths in children under 5 from preventable infectious causes, study suggests

"Most deaths of young children around the world are from mainly preventable infectious causes," according to a study published in the Lancet on Friday, BBC News reports.

11 May 2012

Interim results from Seattle Genetics’ ADCETRIS phase II trial on CTCL

Seattle Genetics, Inc. today announced that interim results from an investigator-sponsored phase II clinical trial of ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) in patients with relapsed cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) were presented at the Society for Investigative Dermatology annual meeting being held May 9-12, 2012 in Raleigh, NC.

11 May 2012

NEJM publishes results from Celgene’s REVLIMID phase III studies on MM

Celgene International Sàrl, a subsidiary of Celgene Corporation, today announced that results from three phase III studies evaluating the use of continuous REVLIMID(lenalidomide) treatment in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) patients or maintenance treatment with lenalidomide following autologous stem cell transplant were published online in the May 10, 2012 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

11 May 2012

Efforts to stem childhood mortality in Ghana will not be enough to reach MDG, UNICEF official says

Anirban Chatterjee, chief of health and nutrition for UNICEF in Ghana, said the country "is doing a lot" to fight child mortality -- referring to a recently launched vaccination campaign and an initiative to educate mothers about nutrition -- but "I don't think it's enough" to reach the fourth U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds by 2015, Inter Press Service reports.

11 May 2012

Review finds 74% decline in annual ICU admissions for asthma

A review of 30 years of life-threatening asthma cases in a San Antonio intensive care unit found that annual ICU admissions for the condition have dropped 74 percent. The study, by UT Medicine San Antonio physicians who reviewed cases at University Hospital between 1980 and 2010, also showed intubation in the emergency department to help patients breathe did not result in longer hospital stays.

11 May 2012

Hospital midwife inadvertently spreads whooping cough to up to 170 people

A Middlemore Hospital midwife could have infected up to 170 people with whooping cough. If passed onto babies or women in the last three months of pregnancy, the disease can lead to severe illness or even death. Whooping cough is a highly infectious disease caused by bacteria which is easily spread through coughing and sneezing, much like the common cold. Also known as pertussis, it is distinguishable by a “whooping” sound at the end of coughing attacks.

10 May 2012

Examining the need for WHO today

Responding to an opinion piece published in Nature Medicine last week in which Tikki Pang, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore and former director of research policy and cooperation at the WHO, and Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, argue the case for reforming and improving the WHO, KPLU's Tom Paulson writes in a post on KPLU 88.5's "Humanosphere" blog.

10 May 2012

Sunovion announces results from LATUDA open-label study for schizophrenia

Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. today announced results from an open-label study that switched clinically stable, but symptomatic adult outpatients with schizophrenia from other antipsychotic agents to LATUDA.

10 May 2012

Researchers use clever screening methods to speed vaccine production

Infectious diseases-both old and new-continue to exact a devastating toll, causing some 13 million fatalities per year around the world. Vaccines remain the best line of defense against deadly pathogens and now Kathryn Sykes and Stephen Johnston, researchers at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, along with co-author Michael McGuire from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center are using clever functional screening methods to attempt to speed new vaccines into production that are both safer and more potent.

10 May 2012

Cross Country Healthcare first quarter revenue increases 4% to $126.7M

Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. today reported revenue of $126.7 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2012, a 4% increase from revenue of $122.0 million in the prior year quarter and a 2% increase sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2011.

10 May 2012

Janssen submits XARELTO sNDA with FDA to reduce risk of stent thrombosis in ACS patients

Janssen Research & Development, LLC announced today that it has submitted a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval for the use of XARELTO, an oral anticoagulant, to reduce the risk of stent thrombosis in patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome.

10 May 2012

Inovio first quarter total revenue decreases to $1.7 million

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2012.

10 May 2012

ArcDia completes € 2.7 million funding round

ArcDia Ltd, the manufacturer of world's only multianalyte point-of-care diagnostic system for respiratory tract infections, completed today € 2.7 million funding round to expand its mariPOC diagnostics system.

9 May 2012

Grade 12 researcher wins top honors at 2012 Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada

An Ontario girl, 16, who invented a disease-fighting, anti-aging compound using nano-particles from trees, won top national honours today in the 2012 Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada.

9 May 2012

Free whooping cough vaccine cut concerns experts

Heath experts are concerned that parents and carers of newborn babies will stop getting the whooping cough vaccine after the state government cut its free immunisation program in the midst of a fatal epidemic.

9 May 2012

Viewpoints: Taking aim at 'superbugs'; Friending organ donations; Ariz. and Kansas abortion efforts hurt women

In the battle between humans and infectious bacteria, humans have had the advantage, at least since antibiotics were introduced into our arsenal 70 or so years ago. Now, however, our weapons appear to be turning against us as germs have found ways to outfox antibiotics…. A second challenge is to keep a steady stream of new antibiotics in the pipeline, and this is where the big pharmaceutical companies based in Europe and the U.S. come in….

9 May 2012

BioDiem announces new vaccine research collaboration with French-based VIVALIS

Australian vaccine development company BioDiem Ltd (ASX: BDM) today announced that it has begun a research collaboration with France-based VIVALIS (Euronext code: VLS), a biopharmaceutical company with expertise in vaccine production technologies.

9 May 2012

Psychopaths’ brains differ from healthy non-offenders: Study confirms

Approximately half of male prisoners in England and Wales will meet diagnostic criteria for ASPD. The majority of such men are not true psychopaths (ASPD-P). They are characterized by emotional instability, impulsivity and high levels of mood and anxiety disorders. They typically use aggression in a reactive way in response to a perceived threat or sense of frustration.

8 May 2012