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Angle-resolved low coherence interferometry can diagnose pre-cancerous colon cells

After demonstrating that light accurately detected pre-cancerous cells in the lining of the esophagus, Duke University bioengineers turned their technology to the colon and have achieved similar results in a series of preliminary experiments.

12 Oct 2011

Study finds experimental vaccine protects monkeys from blinding trachoma

"An attenuated, or weakened, strain of Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria can be used as a vaccine to prevent or reduce the severity of trachoma, the world's leading cause of infectious blindness, suggest findings from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study in monkeys," an NIH press release reports.

12 Oct 2011

FDA grants Advaxis pre-IND meeting for ADXS-HER2 cancer immunotherapy

Advaxis, Inc., a leader in developing the next generation of immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases, has been granted a pre-Investigational New Drug meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on November 22nd, 2011 to discuss the initial clinical development plan for ADXS-HER2, a construct for the treatment of HER2 expressing cancers.

12 Oct 2011

GOP candidates prepare for debate; Romney appears to be everyone's target

The Republican presidential hopefuls will face off Tuesday evening in New Hampshire. Even before the event begins, candidates are staking their ground. Texas Gov. Rick Perry went on the offensive, releasing a web video attacking former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney's health care positions. Meanwhile, the debate will be very important to Herman Cain, who has been climbing in the polls, and Michele Bachmann, who has fallen precipitously.

12 Oct 2011

AFFiRiS receives MJFF grant for clinical study of AFFITOPE PD01

The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) today announced that it has awarded $1.5 million to AFFiRiS AG, a Vienna, Austria-based biotech company, for a clinical study of AFFITOPE PD01, a first-of-its-kind Parkinson's disease (PD) vaccine.

12 Oct 2011

Democrats and Republicans agree: Super committee's work should be less secret

The New York Times reports that both parties are calling for a window into the deficit-reduction panel's deliberations. Meanwhile, Politico Pro offers scenarios regarding how the committee could potentially address Medicare's "doc-fix" issue.

12 Oct 2011

NCCN Oncology Research Program wins two GSK grants

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network Oncology Research Program (ORP) has been awarded $4 million in the form of two research grants from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to develop studies to scientifically evaluate and define GSK2118436, a BRAF inhibitor, and GSK1120212, a MEK1 and MEK2 inhibitor. Previous research has indicated that BRAF mutations are strong targets for therapies in the treatment of advanced melanoma.

12 Oct 2011

Liberty University asks high court to review health-law ruling

This Virginia university became the latest party to ask the Supreme Court to intervene and to resolve the questions regarding the constitutionality of the health law.

12 Oct 2011

Idera announces new data on novel gene-silencing oligonucleotide technology

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today presented new data on its novel gene-silencing oligonucleotide (GSO) technology at the Cell Symposium on Regulatory RNAs in Chicago, IL.

12 Oct 2011

A 'one-size-fits-all' approach to mental health leads to global 'diagnostic inflation'

In this Globalist opinion piece, Ian Dowbiggin, an author and professor of history at the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada, examines the issue of "diagnostic inflation" within the psychiatry field in the last half century and how, "as Ethan Watters and others have argued, lately American psychiatry has been exporting its diagnoses and treatments to other cultures, 'homogenizing how the world goes mad.'"

12 Oct 2011

Smoking could cause 18M more cases of TB worldwide over next 40 years

Smoking could cause 18 million more cases of tuberculosis worldwide over the next 40 years and 40 million additional deaths.

12 Oct 2011

India's Aurobindo Pharma first major generic drugmaker to Join UNITAID's Medicines Patent Pool

"India's Aurobindo Pharma has become the first major generic drugmaker to join" the Medicines Patent Pool, launched by the UNITAID health financing system and "designed to make HIV/AIDS treatments more widely available to the poor," Reuters reports.

12 Oct 2011

Vitamin D plays an essential role in the body's fight against TB

Not just important for building strong bones, an international team of scientists has found that vitamin D also plays an essential role in the body's fight against infections such as tuberculosis.

12 Oct 2011

WFP launches phone cash program to help Ivory Coast residents

"Working with a local telecommunications company, the World Food Programme (WFP) has developed a program in the Ivory Coast to facilitate cash transfers that can be used by thousands of Ivorians to buy food despite a climate of political violence," according to a Foreign Policy Association blog post.

12 Oct 2011

Endocrine Society releases clinical practice guideline on continuous glucose monitoring

Patients with diabetes face daily challenges in managing their blood glucose levels, and it has been postulated that patients could benefit from a system providing continuous real-time glucose readings. Today, The Endocrine Society released a clinical practice guideline (CPG) providing recommendations on settings where patients are most likely to benefit from continuous glucose monitoring.

12 Oct 2011

Roundup: Calif. insurer's Avastin decision; Kansas dental care; Gov. Brown vetoes nursing bill

Blue Shield of California will stop covering new Avastin prescriptions for breast cancer patients starting Oct. 17. Patients already on the drug will still be covered, and exceptions could be made for individual cases reviewed by a panel of cancer experts. The not-for-profit insurer cited an unprecedented vote by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel that found the drug was not effective enough against breast cancer to risk its potentially dangerous side effects.

12 Oct 2011

Life Technologies launches Ion AmpliSeq Cancer Panel

Life Technologies Corporation today announced the launch of the Ion AmpliSeq Cancer Panel, enabling scientists to sequence dozens of genes in cancer research samples using a simple workflow.

12 Oct 2011

U.S. donates record $56M to WFP for nutrition programs in Ethiopia

The U.S. has pledged a record $56 million donation from PEPFAR to the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) aimed to "dramatically increase resources for programs in Ethiopia providing vital nutrition assistance to people living with HIV (PLHIV)," according to a WFP press release.

12 Oct 2011

NIH, Genesis Biopharma enter Patent License Agreement for adoptive cell therapy

Genesis Biopharma, Inc., a biotechnology company developing targeted cancer immunotherapies, today announced it has entered into a Patent License Agreement with the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Public Health Service within the Department of Health and Human Services

12 Oct 2011

Evidence suggests mosquitos in Kenya have developed chemical resistance, KEMRI official says

Speaking at a national malaria forum in Nairobi on Monday, Charles Mbogo of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) presented new evidence showing that malaria-causing mosquitos in Kenya have developed resistance to the most common chemicals derived from pyrethroids and DDT, which "could be a major blow to the country's strategy to eradicate malaria by 2017," Nigeria's the Nation reports.

12 Oct 2011