Bioscience Technology Online - News

France's Total Q2 profit up 43 percent

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:36:36 GMT

French oil company Total SA said Friday its second-quarter profit jumped 43 percent thanks to rising production and improving refinery activity after a rough 2009, and said it is reviewing drilling and accident policies after the BP spill.Europe's third-largest oil company reported €3.1 billion...

Transforaminal steroid injection for lumbar radicular pain proves superior to placebo

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:42:26 GMT

(Wiley-Blackwell) A recent study from Australian researchers determined that transforaminal injection of steroids was a viable alternative to surgery for lumbar radicular pain due to disc herniation. Full details of the study appear in the August issue of Pain Medicine, a journal...

Clinical trials can be improved by managing the learning curve

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:42:21 GMT

(Duke University Medical Center) Researchers at Duke University Medical Center looked for a learning curve phenomenon in the data record of a large, multi-site clinical trial. Their findings point to ways to improve the quality of future trials through better training and simulation exercises.

30 million women to benefit from health reform law

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:42:14 GMT

(Commonwealth Fund) Thirty million women will benefit from the new health reform law over the next decade, either through new or strengthened insurance coverage, according to a new report from The Commonwealth Fund. The law will stabilize and reverse the growing exposure to health costs...

Rocks on Mars may provide link to evidence of living organisms roughly 4 billion years ago

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:42:59 GMT

(Elsevier) A new article in press of the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters unveils groundbreaking research on the hydrothermal formation of clay-carbonate rocks in the Nili Fossae region of Mars. The findings may provide a link to evidence of living organisms on Mars, roughly 4...

Gen-Probe 2Q net income rises 42 percent on sales

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:36:30 GMT

Diagnostic test maker Gen-Probe Inc. said Thursday its second-quarter net income jumped 42 percent on higher revenue from blood screening and women's health products.The company earned $28.1 million, or 57 cents per share, up from $19.8 million, or 38 cents per share, during the same period a...

Highlight of the Polarstern expedition

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:44:37 GMT

(Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association for the first time sent its autonomous underwater vehicle on an under-ice mission at about 79 degrees North.

Amgen 2Q net income slips on higher taxes

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:36:28 GMT

Biotechnology company Amgen Inc. said Thursday that its second-quarter net income slipped 5 percent, mainly on higher taxes, but the results topped Wall Street expectations.Still, the company warned that a weaker Euro could cut into full-year revenue.The Thousand Oaks, Calif., company earned...

Signs of reversal of Arctic cooling in some areas

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:42:54 GMT

(Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) Parts of the Arctic have cooled clearly over the past century, but temperatures have been rising steeply since 1990 also there. This is the finding of a summer temperature reconstruction for the past 400 years produced by tree rings from...

Playing with pills

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:42:42 GMT

(University of Stavanger) Drug calculations is a particularly hard course for many nursing students. A specially made computer game, developed at the University of Stavanger, is set to help students pass this vitally important exam.

Western diet link to ADHD

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:42:00 GMT

(Research Australia) A new study from Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research shows an association between ADHD and a "Western-style" diet in adolescents. The research findings have just been published online in the international Journal of Attention Disorders. Leader of...

FDA Drug Safety Communication: Ongoing safety review of Evamist (estradiol transdermal spray) and unintended exposure of children and pets to topical estrogen

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:42:17 GMT

[07-29-2010] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing reports of adverse effects from Evamist in children who may have been unintentionally exposed to the drug through skin contact with women using this product.

Today; Charles Rangel Facing Ethics Committee on Capitol Hill; New Studies on CPR May Eliminate Mouth-to-Mouth, CBS

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:36:35 GMT

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Graphene exhibits bizarre new behavior well suited to electronic devices

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:42:24 GMT

(University of California - Berkeley) Graphene, a sheet of pure carbon, has been touted as a possible replacement for silicon-based semiconductors because of its useful electronic properties. Now, UC Berkeley physicists have shown that graphene has another unique and amazing property that...

UCLA scientists for the first time identify a cell-of-origin for human prostate cancer

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:41:23 GMT

(University of California - Los Angeles) UCLA scientists have identified for the first time a cell-of-origin for human prostate cancer, a discovery that could result in better predictive and diagnostics tools and the development of new and more effective targeted treatments for the disease.

Evamist (estradiol transdermal spray): Drug Safety Communication - Unintended Exposure of Children and Pets to Topical Estrogen

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:41:14 GMT

Reports of adverse effects in children who may have been unintentionally exposed to the drug through skin contact with women using this product.

SD to get $155,000 in drug company settlement

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:36:36 GMT

Attorney General Marty Jackley says South Dakota will receive about $155,000 from a national settlement with a subsidiary of pharmaceutical manufacturer Johnson & Johnson over allegations the company illegally marketed an anti-seizure drug.The settlement states that the subsidiary,...

'Linc-ing' a noncoding RNA to a central cellular pathway

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:44:30 GMT

(Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) The recent discovery of more than a thousand genes known as large intergenic noncoding RNAs (or "lincRNAs") opened up a new approach to understanding the function and organization of the genome. That surprising breakthrough is now made even more...

Chances of hurricane hitting Texas discussed at UH conference

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:43:35 GMT

(University of Houston) University of Houston researchers are doing things a little differently with a new model they developed to predict the number of hurricanes that could strike Texas this year. This and other hurricane-related topics will be discussed at a public conference from 8...

Endologix says FDA approves new stent

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:36:16 GMT

Medical device maker Endologix Inc. said Thursday it received Food and Drug Administration approval for its PowerFit Aortic Extensions stent.Stents are mesh-wire tubes that are used to prop arteries open after they have been surgically cleared of fatty plaque. The device is used in surgery to...

Next generation sequencing establishes genetic link between two rare diseases

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:43:25 GMT

(Cell Press) Scientists have successfully used "next generation sequencing" to identify mutations that may cause a rare and mysterious genetic disorder. The research, published by Cell Press on July 29 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, demonstrates that sequencing an affected...

Researchers find new translocation; weak spots in DNA lead to genetic disease

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:43:19 GMT

(Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) A pediatric research team at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia continues to discover recurrent translocations -- places in which two chromosomes exchange pieces of themselves, and can lead to genetic disease and disability. Originating in...

Study finds respiratory symptoms more reliable indicator of H1N1, not fever alone

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:43:11 GMT

(Elsevier Health Sciences) New research shows that individuals with mild H1N1 infection may go undetected using standard diagnostic criteria, according to a study in the August issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for...

Male breast cancer in family leads to high perception of risk, low likelihood of genetic counseling

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:43:07 GMT

(University of Louisville) People with a family history of male breast cancer perceive themselves to be at higher risk of developing the disease than do patients with a family history of female breast cancer; however those with male breast cancer in their families are less likely to know...

FDA Drug Safety Communication: Eosinophilic pneumonia associated with the use of Cubicin (daptomycin)

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:41:48 GMT

FDA Drug Safety Communication: Eosinophilic pneumonia associated with the use of Cubicin (daptomycin)

Safety Announcement

Magellan Health 2Q profit rises 90 percent

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:36:34 GMT

Magellan Health Services Inc. said Thursday that its second-quarter profit nearly doubled, and the health care outsourcing company raised its profit estimate for the year.Magellan's profit jumped 90 percent to $35.1 million, or $1.05 per share, from $18.5 million, or 53 cents per share, in the...

A breakthrough in tuberculosis research

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:46:22 GMT
(McGill University) The key to the fate of the macrophages is the balance between two kinds of eicosanoids. Eicosanoids are molecules that contribute to the control of our immune system. The genetic code of TB bacteria enables it to tip this balance in favor of necrosis, and human genetic...

Good and bad in the hands of politicians

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:46:17 GMT
(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) "In laboratory tests, right- and left-handers associate positive ideas like honesty and intelligence with their dominant side of space and negative ideas with their non-dominant side," says Daniel Casasanto of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in...

The evolution of melanoma diagnosis: 25 years beyond the ABCDs

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:45:33 GMT
(American Cancer Society) Twenty-five years after publishing the mnemonic "ABCD" to facilitate the early diagnosis of melanoma, the group who came up with that moniker says early detection remains a key factor in lowering mortality from malignant melanoma.

Cubicin (daptomycin): Drug Safety Communication - Risk of Eosinophilic Pneumonia

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:43:54 GMT
Cases of serious, potentially fatal pneumonia associated with the IV antibacterial drug Cubicin.