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Immunocore, GSK partner for cancer targeting ImmTACs

Immunocore Limited, the Oxford-based biotechnology company developing novel biological drugs called ImmTACs to treat cancer and viral disease, today announced it has entered into a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for multiple novel targets not addressable using antibody-based technologies. This is Immunocore’s second major partnership this year.

10 Jul 2013

Lawson Farm of Irasburg shut down for selling animals with illegal drug residues for food

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that the United States District Court for the District of Vermont entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Lawson Farm of Irasburg, Vermont, its owner, Robert Lawson, and its manager, George R. Lawson, for selling cows and bull calves for human food that contain illegal drug residues in violation of federal law.

10 Jul 2013

Cheerful people are less likely to suffer heart attack

Johns Hopkins researchers link positive outlook to reduction in cardiac events such as heart attacks. People with cheerful temperaments are significantly less likely to suffer a coronary event such as a heart attack or sudden cardiac death, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

10 Jul 2013

Curetis starts prospective clinical trial for Unyvero P50 pneumonia application

Curetis AG today announced the start of an additional prospective, multicenter clinical trial of its marketed Unyvero™ P50 Pneumonia Application to demonstrate its clinical and health economic value.

10 Jul 2013

Health insurance exchanges: Vermont announces rates, state marketing efforts take shape

Vermont regulators on Monday announced monthly rates for health insurance to be sold under Vermont Health Connect, the health insurance exchange being set up to comply with the federal Affordable Care Act. Middle- and upper-class consumers who begin buying through Vermont Health Connect when it takes hold of Vermont's individual and small-group health insurance markets in January won't notice much difference in costs of insurance and benefits provided (Gram, 7/8).

10 Jul 2013

Study confirms role of MAPK mutations in pilocytic astrocytomas

Brain cancer is the primary cause of cancer mortality in children. Even in cases when the cancer is cured, young patients suffer from the stress of a treatment that can be harmful to the developing brain. In a search for new target structures that would create more gentle treatments, cancer researchers are systematically analyzing all alterations in the genetic material of these tumors.

10 Jul 2013

Study examines whether better sleep lowers risk of heart disease

The University of South Florida College of Nursing is conducting research to improve sleep in those caring for people with dementia and Alzheimer's disease, with the aim of determining if better sleep affects heart health.

10 Jul 2013

Obama touts health care in government technology push

President Obama says government should do what his administration did with the new healthcare.gov and health insurance application -- make better use of technology to make government more efficient.

10 Jul 2013

Weight loss interventions deliver via conference calls by primary care provider staff are effective

Weight loss interventions delivered via conference calls by primary care provider staff are effective. An intensive lifestyle intervention, proven to help people lose weight to prevent diabetes, also works in primary care when delivered over the telephone to obese patients with metabolic syndrome. Group telephone sessions appear to be particularly effective for greater weight loss, according to a new study by Drs. Paula Trief and Ruth Weinstock from SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York, and colleagues.

10 Jul 2013

New approach delivers RNA drugs to silence malfunctioning genes

Silencing genes that have malfunctioned is an important approach for treating diseases such as cancer and heart disease. One effective approach is to deliver drugs made from small molecules of ribonucleic acid, or RNA, which are used to inhibit gene expression. The drugs, in essence, mimic a natural process called RNA interference.

10 Jul 2013

Study reveals that contaminated ultrasound gel causes healthcare-associated infection

After a 2011 outbreak of P. aeruginosa, investigators at Beaumont Health System near Detroit, Michigan determined contaminated ultrasound gel was the source of bacteria causing the healthcare-associated infection.

10 Jul 2013

Children with SPD have quantifiable differences in brain structure, reveals study

In a groundbreaking new study from UC San Francisco, researchers have found that children affected with sensory processing disorders (SPD) have quantifiable differences in brain structure, showing a biological basis for the disease that sets it apart from other neurodevelopmental disorders.

10 Jul 2013

Innovative vaccine could offer hope to patients with advanced ovarian cancer

Loyola University Medical Center is conducting a clinical trial of an innovative vaccine that could offer hope to patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

10 Jul 2013

Psychologists find that bad night's sleep worsens relationship conflicts

Relationship problems can keep us awake at night. But new research from UC Berkeley suggests that sleepless nights also can worsen lovers' fights.

10 Jul 2013

Sorrento Therapeutics, BGN partner to develop therapeutic antibodies for Hepatitis C Virus

Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. and B.G. Negev Technologies and Applications Ltd., the technology transfer company of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, have announced an option and license agreement to develop therapeutic products to treat Hepatitis C Virus.

10 Jul 2013

Researchers identify risk factor for maternal antibody-related autism in subset of children

Researchers with the UC Davis MIND Institute have found that prenatal exposure to specific combinations of antibodies found only in mothers of children with autism leads to changes in the brain that adversely affect behavior and development.

10 Jul 2013

NSF provides $150,000 for device to assist blind and visually impaired

The National Science Foundation is providing $150,000 for a device developed by a Magnolia-based company with input from University of Arkansas at Little Rock experts and facilities.

10 Jul 2013

RUB chemists track interaction of enkephalin messengers with opioid receptor

"Pain begone!" In order to send out this signal, the human body produces tiny messenger molecules that dock to certain receptors. Using traditional biochemical methods, this interaction between the messengers, so-called enkephalins, and opioid receptors is very difficult to study.

10 Jul 2013

Administration defends Obamacare, employer mandate delay decision

Sebelius is on the defensive more than ever now that the White House has delayed a major provision of the law that requires larger employers to offer health insurance to full-time employees. Republicans say she has given a far too rosy picture of progress in carrying out the law. And they are demanding that she explain why people should be required to carry insurance next year if employers are not required to offer it. In her zeal to make the health care law work, Ms. Sebelius has tested the limits of her authority. After Congress refused to provide as much as she wanted for a nationwide campaign publicizing the new insurance options, she shuffled money between government accounts and sought cash from outside groups (Pear, 7/8).

10 Jul 2013

Rising unemployment rates stop upward trend of fertility in European countries

The largest effect was seen in young adults. Europeans under the age of 25 have especially refrained from having children in the face of rising unemployment rates. The drop of children per woman was strongest for first births. That means, over the last decade young Europeans have particularly postponed family formation.

10 Jul 2013