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Therapeutic potential of iPS cells may be limited by reprogramming errors and genomic instability

In the past few months, a slew of papers have indicated that the therapeutic potential of a promising type of stem cell, called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, might be limited by reprogramming errors and genomic instability. iPS cells are engineered by reprogramming fully differentiated adult cells, often skin cells, back to a primitive, embryonic-like state.

9 Mar 2011

Autoimmune response mediated by T lymphocytes may play vital role in pathogenesis of biliary atresia

Biliary atresia (BA) is an inflammatory obliterative cholangiopathy with unknown etiology, leading to progressive fibrosis and cirrhosis. Microarray technology, emerged as an indispensable research tool for gene expression profiling, has been used to study the mechanism underlying BA, and allows the simultaneous analysis of thousands of transcripts within a single experiment.

9 Mar 2011

HHS unveils format for consumer notices of insurance rate increases

Meanwhile, in other policy news related to the health law, Stateline examines how, for some states, waivers really are a big deal.

9 Mar 2011

Colonoscopy can serve as effective tool to reduce colorectal cancer death

In recognition of National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month during March, GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy has published a special issue for March on colonoscopy and colorectal cancer.

9 Mar 2011

Karolinska Institutet, LUMC coordinate largest European program on RA

Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands will coordinate the largest European program so far, aimed at developing new therapies against Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). The program, named Be The Cure (BTCure), is funded for the next 5 years by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), and will bring together academic rheumatology research and research in pharmaceutical companies in Europe.

9 Mar 2011

Pulse Health's Revelar device helps minimize free radical damage

Pulse Health announces Revelar the first non-invasive device to help healthcare professionals and their patients measure aldehydes and help minimize free radical damage. Revelar is breakthrough breath technology that accurately detects and measures the presence of aldehydes, which are indicators of free radical damage in the body.

9 Mar 2011

LRI announces 12 new research grants to drive innovation in lupus

The Lupus Research Institute today announced the award of 12 new research grants, building on its decade-long commitment to drive innovation and discover novel approaches to understand and treat one of the world's most confounding and elusive diseases - lupus.

9 Mar 2011

Study: Mass. health law has not staunched medical bankruptcies

The 2006 Massachusetts law that required nearly everyone to buy health insurance has not significantly staunched residents' pain from medical bankruptcies, according to a new study.

9 Mar 2011

FDA removes clinical hold for Amicus' AT2220 IND for treatment of Pompe disease

Amicus Therapeutics today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has removed the clinical hold for the AT2220 (1-deoxynojirimycin HCI) Investigational New Drug Application (IND). AT2220 is a pharmacological chaperone in development as a treatment for Pompe disease.

9 Mar 2011

Brain implant surgery can improve life for people with cervical dystonia

Implanting electrodes into a pea-sized part of the brain can dramatically improve life for people with severe cervical dystonia - a rare but extremely debilitating condition that causes painful, twisting neck muscle spasms - according to the results of a pilot study led by Jill Ostrem, MD and Philip Starr, MD PhD at the University of California, San Francisco.

9 Mar 2011

Brain's learning capacity recharges during light, dreamless slumber

Scientists have long puzzled over the many hours we spend in light, dreamless slumber. But a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests we're busy recharging our brain's learning capacity during this traditionally undervalued phase of sleep, which can take up half the night.

9 Mar 2011

New report outlines positive impact of ending poverty

According to a new report released by the Health Promotion Clearinghouse, ending poverty is not only possible, it is necessary. "The report outlines the positive impact that ending poverty would have for everybody," says Caroline Ploem, Executive Director of the Health Promotion Clearinghouse.

9 Mar 2011

Next Generation Identification System to process fingerprint transactions more effectively

New technology designed to revolutionize law enforcement's ability to process fingerprints has reached its initial operating capability, the FBI announced today.

9 Mar 2011

Allergy Asthma Research Institute, Forest Labs join SAFE-BioPharma

In a move to improve efficiency by reducing paper in their respective operations, Forest Laboratories and the Allergy Asthma Research Institute have joined SAFE-BioPharma Association. They now have access to the SAFE-BioPharma® digital identity and signature standard, used throughout the biopharmaceutical industry to verify and manage digital identities involved in electronic transactions and to apply digital signatures to electronic documents.

9 Mar 2011

Opinion pieces address International Women's Day

Government and business leaders worldwide should "see investing in women as a strategy for job creation and economic growth," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton writes in a Bloomberg Businessweek opinion piece, supporting her statement by noting "there are more than 200 million women entrepreneurs worldwide," women's incomes are expected to increase to more than $15 trillion annually over the next few years, and "women's incomes are growing faster than men's" in many developing countries.

9 Mar 2011

Several states weigh new rules on abortion

Legislatures in several states, including Georgia, Texas and Minnesota, are considering new measures on abortion.

9 Mar 2011

USPTO grants new patent to Intellect's Alzheimer's vaccine

Intellect Neurosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company with an internal preclinical and clinical-stage pipeline and licenses with major pharmaceutical companies covering products in late-stage clinical trials, announced today that it has received a new patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office in relation to the Company's RECALL-VAXTM technology platform.

9 Mar 2011

ITMNs can reduce Japanese Encephalitis transmission to humans

A new study revealed that using treated mosquito nets could drastically reduce the transmission of Japanese Encephalitis to humans.

9 Mar 2011

Psychosocially hazardous neighborhood may influence cognitive function in older age

Residing in a psychosocially hazardous neighborhood is associated with worse cognitive function in older age for persons with the apolipoprotein E ε4 allele, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

9 Mar 2011

NHMRC awards $38.4M for cancer and blood cell research

Institute research into how cancer develops and blood cell production and function will today be awarded $38.4 million under the National Health and Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) program grants scheme.

9 Mar 2011