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MediciNova announces $15 million senior secured term loan with Oxford Finance

MediciNova, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Global Market and the Hercules Market of the Osaka Securities Exchange, today announced that it has entered into a $15 million senior secured term loan with Oxford Finance Corporation.

11 May 2010

Limiting fat intake to below 20% can reduce risk of breast cancer recurrence by 24%

When one of the country's foremost physicians—people like Dr. Andrew Weil—need someone to care for their friends and family dealing with cancer, the man they turn to is Keith Block, M.D. "I believe in Keith's program and would head to the Block Center if I were facing a diagnosis of cancer. It is where I have and will continue to send my friends and family," said Dr. Weil.

11 May 2010

Globe and Mail special issue examines Africa, includes look ahead at G20 meeting, interview with Pres. Obama

The Globe and Mail examines Ethiopia and Malawi's role in next month's G20 talks in Toronto, Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has invited both countries to participate in the meeting, which could significantly affect Africa because it has become the "premier forum for confronting global economic problems and for co-ordinating solutions," according to the Globe and Mail.

11 May 2010

Scancell signs worldwide licensing agreement with NIH for TRP-2 and gp100 melanoma antigens

Scancell Holdings Plc,, the developer of therapeutic cancer vaccines, is pleased to announce it has signed a worldwide non-exclusive licensing agreement with the National Institutes of Health ('NIH'), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for use of the melanoma antigens TRP-2 and gp100, key components of Scancell's lead ImmunoBody® vaccine for melanoma, SCIB1.

11 May 2010

Unotron keyboards prevent sample contamination, germ spread at UNC Gene Therapy Center

The Gene Therapy Center at the University of North Carolina (UNC) asserts that Unotron's ruggedly designed, airtight SpillSeal® technology offers an optimal solution for use where a sterile environment is critical. Unotron, creator of hermetically-sealed, dishwasher safe, medical grade washable computer keyboards, scroll wheel mice, and smartcard readers, announced today that its keyboards provided to the UNC Gene Therapy Center offer an optimal solution for preventing contamination to samples and the spread of the germs.

11 May 2010

Potential new drug therapies for treatment of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) has been present in humans since ancient times. The origins of the disease date back to the first domestication of cattle, and skeletal remains show prehistoric humans (4,000 B.C.) had TB. Although relatively rare in the United States, it is the single leading bacterial cause of death worldwide. Approximately 8 million people are infected each year and 2 million people die from TB.

11 May 2010

RIKEN OSC to purchase CLC bio's high-throughput sequencing analysis solution

Today, RIKEN and CLC bio Japan announced an agreement for the purchase of CLC bio's enterprise platform software by RIKEN Omics Science Center (OSC). CLC bio's high-throughput sequence analysis infrastructure will empower both OSC's scientists and OSC's Genome Network Analysis Service (GeNAS) with a user-friendly and fast workflow to efficiently manage and analyze large quantities of genomics data.

11 May 2010

CINJ nurses to present at Oncology Nursing Society's 35th Annual Congress

Florence Nightingale once stated that nursing is an art that requires as much devotion and preparation as any painting or sculpture. This sentiment is echoed in the work of today's nurses and their pursuit of both clinical knowledge and technical expertise. Nurses from The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) and throughout the country, will be doing their part in contributing to the art of nursing when presenting at the Oncology Nursing Society's 35th Annual Congress being held this week in San Diego, California.

11 May 2010

Cancer costs double in 20 years but are still in line with overall health spending, study finds

USA Today: "The cost of treating cancer has doubled over the past 20 years, but those costs are in line with overall trends in health spending. And while more people are getting cancer as the U.S. population ages, treatment has shifted away from hospitals to outpatient settings, finds a study in Monday's edition of the journal Cancer.

11 May 2010

Medtronic announces new M-Link cellular accessory

Medtronic, Inc. announced today that it now offers the new Medtronic M-Link™ cellular accessory, which provides cardiac device patients with an option to securely send information stored in their implanted devices to their clinics via the CareLink® Network using cellular signals, rather than a telephone landline. This simplified connection to the CareLink® Network enables clinicians to remotely monitor more patients who are implanted with cardiac devices.

11 May 2010

One-quarter of young adults use waterpipes

As fewer people puff on cigarettes, a new smoking trend may be gaining popularity among North American youth. A study published in the journal Pediatrics has found that almost one-quarter of young adults in Montreal had used waterpipes (also known as shishas or hookahs) in the past year.

11 May 2010

Pathway Genomics personal genetic testing kits to be sold at Walgreens

Pathway Genomics, a U.S.-based genetic testing company, today announced that Pathway's personal genetic testing kits will be available at Walgreens. Starting in mid-May the Pathway Genomics Insight™ Saliva Collection Kit will be sold at many of Walgreens' nearly 7,500 stores nationwide (with the exception of New York, due to a New York state law). The Insight™ Saliva Collection Kit will retail in the $20 to $30 price range.

11 May 2010

LifeWatch Services to launch remote iPad ECG report TeleViewer application

LifeWatch Services, Inc., a subsidiary of LifeWatch AG, will announce the launch of their remote ECG report TeleViewer™ application for the Apple iPad. The iPad application integrates with and enhances the advanced reporting and workflow management capabilities present in their web based applications for all product offerings.

11 May 2010

Gene variations may increase risk of developing schizophrenia: Study

By analyzing the genomes of patients with schizophrenia, genetics researchers have discovered numerous copy number variations—deletions or duplications of DNA sequences—that increase the risk of developing schizophrenia. Significantly, many of these variations occur in genes that affect signaling among brain cells.

11 May 2010

New multicenter trial achieves 71% survival in AML children

More individualized therapy and better supportive care helped push the survival for children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) to 71 percent three years after diagnosis, according to new research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators and reported in the medical journal The Lancet Oncology. The survival rate of 71 percent is 20 percent better than previously reported U.S. rates and is similar to the success achieved in a 2009 Japanese study, said Jeffrey Rubnitz, M.D., Ph.D., a member of the St. Jude Oncology department.

11 May 2010

USP panel recommends to establish universal standards for prescription medication labels

To promote the establishment of universal standards for prescription medication labels-and to address the widespread problem of patient misinterpretation of medication instructions-an advisory panel formed by the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) recently issued a set of recommendations to bring consistency to labeling on dispensed prescription packaging.

11 May 2010

Increased cholesterol levels can affect microenvironment of bone marrow

Increased cholesterol levels are being increasingly recognised as risk factors for the onset and progression of several cancers. Now researchers in Portugal show that high levels of cholesterol can affect the microenvironment of the bone marrow, so that more cells move from the bone marrow to peripheral, circulating blood.

11 May 2010

New bacterial species in tsete fly may help control African sleeping sickness

A new bacterial species, found in the gut of the fly that transmits African sleeping sickness, could be engineered to kill the parasite that causes the disease. The study, published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, could lead to new approaches to control this fatal infection that is becoming resistant to drug therapy.

11 May 2010

Transition Therapeutics reports increased revenue in third-quarter 2010

Transition Therapeutics Inc., a product-focused biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for disease indications with large markets, today announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2010.

11 May 2010

Health law's 'grandfather' clause could deprive consumers of key benefits

Kaiser Health News staff writers Phil Galewitz and Mary Agnes Carey write about a term that will be central to how health reform is implemented: "Under the law, existing, or 'grandfathered' health plans are exempt from several consumer protections, including a requirement that beginning as early as September prohibits health plans from charging co-payments

11 May 2010