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GenoMed has announced that it successfully treated its thirteenth patient with presumed West Nile virus encephalitis

The patient is a previously healthy man from Aberdeen, South Dakota who developed fever and headache and was diagnosed by his physician as having West Nile virus on Monday of this week. South Dakota has about 50 times higher incidence of West Nile virus this summer than California.

1 Sep 2005

GlaxoSmithKline acquires vaccine R&D and manufacturing plant in the U.S.

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that it is expanding its ability to increase vaccines supplies for Americans by acquiring a vaccine research and production facility in Marietta, Pennsylvania.

1 Sep 2005

Domantis successful in patent opposition

Domantis Limited, the human Domain Antibody Therapeutics company, has successfully opposed European patent number EP0656946, leading to a major amendment of the main claim in the patent and a significant narrowing of the scope of 34 of the 41 other claims.

1 Sep 2005

One protein hardens enamel while the other weakens it, say USC researchers

A gene critical to tooth formation expresses a protein that is then cleaved into two proteins with seemingly opposite functions, according to a University of Southern California (USC)-led team of dental researchers.

1 Sep 2005

Study points to link to neurodegenerative disease target

A University of California - San Francisco (UCSF) study has found that a specific signaling link between neurons and muscles in the fruit fly is essential for keeping the insect's nervous system stable.

1 Sep 2005

Can a new combination treatment prevent a secondary stroke in children with sickle cell anemia?

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will lead a national Phase III clinical trial to investigate whether a new combination treatment can prevent a secondary stroke in children with sickle cell anemia (SCA) and eliminate the need for nightly injections with a drug that reduces iron overload in these patients.

1 Sep 2005

Been there, done that!

One of the neural oddities of "declarative" memory--the recall of past things and events--is that some experiments have shown that recognizing a familiar object is accompanied by a reduction in activity of the brain's memory centers in the medial temporal lobe. Such a reduction seems counterintuitive, since remembering seems to be a positive event.

1 Sep 2005

Scientists demonstrate power of new generalized screen to find function of noncoding RNAs

A team of investigators at The Scripps Research Institute and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have discovered a way to screen hundreds and potentially thousands of "noncoding" RNA molecules to discover their functions within cells.

1 Sep 2005

Attention doctors: Want patients to follow your advice? Treat them with dignity

In a national survey of more than 5,000 Americans, those who said they were treated with dignity during their last medical encounter were more likely to report higher levels of satisfaction with their care, adhere to therapy and get preventive services.

1 Sep 2005

C. elegans worm provides clues to dealing with human disease

A step towards understanding cell mutations that cause a variety of human diseases, particularly in children -- including that which brings about premature aging and early death -- has been taken by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Silberman Institute of Life Sciences and the John Hopkins University School of Medicine.

1 Sep 2005

Rev/Dex combo looks like a breakthrough treatment for multiple myeloma

Mayo Clinic Cancer Center investigators report that combination therapy with lenalidomide (Revlimid) and dexamethasone (combination is called Rev/Dex) looks like a breakthrough treatment for multiple myeloma. Results of a Phase II clinical trial were published online Aug. 23 in Blood.

1 Sep 2005

Treating nighttime heartburn improves sleep and boosts quality of life

The first major multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial addressing therapy for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) related sleep disorders is published in the September issue of The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

1 Sep 2005

Significant advance in the study of small ribonucleic acids

Scientists from the University of Delaware have made a significant advance in the study of small ribonucleic acids (RNAs), discovering 10 times more small RNAs in the plant Arabidopsis than previously had been identified. The advance is reported in the Sept. 2 issue of Science magazine.

1 Sep 2005

Two proteins for the diagnosis of lung diseases

Lung function pathology takes in some 200 diseases which have much radiological and pathological data in common, and which can greatly shorten the life of the patient, the last resort being a lung transplant.

1 Sep 2005

Researchers link individual preferences to neuronal activity in brain

Life is full of choices. But how do individuals know what their preferences are and how do they act on them? And what leads mothers to make choices that benefit or lead to neglect of her offspring? Based on research performed using laboratory rats, a team of neuroscience researchers at Rutgers University-Newark suggest that an intricate system exists within the brain for establishing individual preferences, which ultimately impacts choices.

1 Sep 2005

Legs For Life free national screening program can save legs

The screening is essential for diabetics in order to prevent amputation, heart attack and stroke, because one-third have PAD, but most do not present classic symptoms.

1 Sep 2005

Tools for studying the chemistry of the brain, neuron by neuron

The human brain is composed of billions of cells, each a separate entity that communicates with others. The chemical interaction of those cells determines personality, controls behavior and encodes memory; but much remains to be understood.

1 Sep 2005

Prostate cancer manipulates an important group of signaling proteins called Wnts to establish itself in bone

Prostate cancer is a cruel disease. Left untreated, prostate cancer cells often metastasize, or spread, to bone where they form fracture-prone tumors that are extremely painful.

1 Sep 2005

Complex chemotherapy cocktails offers pluses, minuses in advanced endometrial cancer

Complex chemotherapy cocktails offer about one extra month of life to patients with end-stage endometrial cancer but also can result in severe, possibly fatal, side effects, according to the first systematic review of studies addressing the topic.

1 Sep 2005

African-American women with mitochondrial DNA variant are at increased risk of breast cancer

African-American women who carry the 10398A mitochondrial DNA allele are 60 percent more likely to develop invasive breast cancer than African-American females without that genetic marker, according to research published in the September 1 issue of "Cancer Research."

1 Sep 2005