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Guardian's 'Development Talk Point' series asks readers to weigh in on family planning, development

In this post in the Guardian's "Development Talk Point" series, contributors Claire Provost and Jaz Cummins ask readers to weigh in on the issue of family planning and development, asking, "How has such a taboo topic become a global priority? What's driving world leaders' growing interest in women's bodies? And what's at stake in these debates?"

21 Jun 2012

Distinct brain regions organize objects based on their physical size

The human brain can recognize thousands of different objects, but neuroscientists have long grappled with how the brain organizes object representation; in other words, how the brain perceives and identifies different objects. Now researchers at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) and the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences have discovered that the brain organizes objects based on their physical size, with a specific region of the brain reserved for recognizing large objects and another reserved for small objects.

21 Jun 2012

Blocking Sigma-1 receptor can reduce binge eating

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have demonstrated in experimental models that blocking the Sigma-1 receptor, a cellular protein, reduced binge eating and caused binge eaters to eat more slowly.

21 Jun 2012

FDA grants Orphan Drug Designation to Medgenics’ INFRADURE Biopump

Medgenics, Inc., the developer of Biopump, a novel technology for the sustained production and delivery of therapeutic proteins in patients using their own tissue, today announced that its INFRADURE Biopump has received Orphan Drug Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Orphan Products Development (OOPD) for the treatment of hepatitis D.

21 Jun 2012

Age no barrier to disordered eating

Eating disorders are commonly seen as an issue faced by teenagers and young women, but a new study reveals that age is no barrier to disordered eating. In women aged 50 and over, 3.5% report binge eating, nearly 8% report purging, and more than 70% are trying to lose weight.

21 Jun 2012

Ceram publishes white paper on multi-substituted hydroxyapatite

As part of its ongoing work on biocompatibility and bioactivity of Hydroxyapatite (HA), Ceram, the materials technology company, has published a new white paper, ‘Multi-Substituted Hydroxyapatites and the Role They Can Play in Enhanced Bone Replacement Solutions’.

21 Jun 2012

Celebrating the true birthday of PEPFAR

"Ten years ago today President Bush stepped into the Rose Garden to announce a $500 million program to stop the transmission of HIV passed from mothers to children during birth," an announcement that "led the way to PEPFAR," which Bush announced in his 2003 State of the Union address, John Donnelly, correspondent for GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog, writes in this commentary in the blog.

21 Jun 2012

Researchers discover distinct differences in how muscle affects two layers of bone in men, women

Researchers have long been aware that the progressive loss of muscle mass and bone density is a natural part of aging. But little work has investigated how muscle tissue affects the inner and outer layers of bone microstructure.

21 Jun 2012

One in eight people with heart attack experience significant symptoms of PTSD

One in eight people who suffer a heart attack or other acute coronary event experience clinically significant symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a meta-analysis of 24 studies led by Columbia University Medical Center researchers.

21 Jun 2012

Mayo Clinic receives $60 million from CMMI to improve health care delivery

Mayo Clinic and its collaborators have been awarded nearly $60 million from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to improve health care delivery.

21 Jun 2012

Researchers can silence mutated gene responsible for Huntington's with single drug treatment

With a single drug treatment, researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine can silence the mutated gene responsible for Huntington's disease, slowing and partially reversing progression of the fatal neurodegenerative disorder in animal models.

21 Jun 2012

Family planning summit offers opportunity to integrate reproductive services with HIV, other health initiatives

Noting that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.K. government will co-host an international family planning summit in London in July, Gavin Yamey of the Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco; Craig Cohen, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive services at the University of California; and Elizabeth Bukusi, chief research officer and deputy director of research and training at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, write in a BMJ commentary, "More than 120 million women worldwide aged 15-49 years have an unmet need for family planning, which is due a renaissance after years of neglect."

21 Jun 2012

PPMD, AVI to participate in Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon & Half Marathon

AVI BioPharma is teaming up with Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD)'s endurance program, Run For Our Sons, to participate in the Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon & Half Marathon on June 23, 2012. The goal is to raise money and awareness to help end Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Duchenne), the most common form of muscular dystrophy.

21 Jun 2012

Spinach consumption can partially offset damaging effects of carcinogen

Researchers at Oregon State University for the first time have traced the actions of a known carcinogen in cooked meat to its complex biological effects on microRNA and cancer stem cells.

21 Jun 2012

Illumina launches RapidTrack WGS service

Illumina, Inc. today launched the RapidTrack Whole Genome Sequencing Service, a new offering in its FastTrack Sequencing Services operation that delivers a whole human genome in less than two weeks.

From Illumina, Inc. 21 Jun 2012

Authors propose mathematical model to study malaria transmission

Malaria affects over 200 million individuals every year and kills hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. The disease varies greatly from region to region in the species that cause it and in the carriers that spread it. It is easily transmitted across regions through travel and migration. This results in outbreaks of the disease even in regions that are essentially malaria-free, such as the United States.

21 Jun 2012

Review describes new classes of drugs that target androgens in novel ways

Prostate cancer cells require androgens including testosterone to grow. A recent review in the British Journal of Urology International describes new classes of drugs that target androgens in novel ways, providing alternatives to the traditional methods that frequently carry high side effects.

21 Jun 2012

FDA ODAC votes in favor of Onyx’s Kyprolis

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) determined by a vote of 11-0 with 1 abstention that, in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior lines of therapy that included a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent (IMiD), the benefit-risk assessment is favorable for the use of Kyprolis.

21 Jun 2012

New Lifescript Asthma Health Center for women and children

Lifescript.com, a women's health and wellness website headquartered in Mission Viejo, Calif., has launched a new online Asthma Health Center designed to help women and children diagnose and manage asthma symptoms.

21 Jun 2012

New robotic device can improve detection of breast cancer

One in eight women in the United States will develop breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. Lorraine G. Olson, professor of mechanical engineering at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, was diagnosed in 2005 at the age of 45. Fortunately, her breast cancer was caught early from a routine mammogram, but like many women, she was prodded by her physician to do the exam.

21 Jun 2012