Blood Weekly articles from April 2004

Blood Weekly archives from April 2004

Fetal cytokine production during MLRs determined.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Fetal cytokine production during mixed lymphocyte reactions (MLRs) has been characterized. "Umbilical cord blood transplants are associated with a lower incidence of graft-versus-host disease...

Effects of cryopreservation on cord blood cell immunogenicity determined.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The effects of cryopreservation on cord blood cell immunogenicity have been determined. According to scientists in Australia, "[c]ryopreservation is the accepted method for long-term storage of cord...

Immature myeloid DCs predominant in umbilical cord blood.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Immature myeloid DCs are predominant in umbilical cord blood from healthy newborns. "It has been suggested lately that some types of antigen presenting cells-myeloid dendritic (DC-1) cells can...

Effects of class I HLA NK epitopes on haploidentical SCT outcome determined.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The effects of class I HLA NK epitopes on the outcome of haploidentical stem-cell transplantation have been characterized. "HLA allele mismatches will provoke T-cell alloreactivity after allogeneic...

Olfactory bulb neural stem cells lack hematopoietic potential.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Olfactory bulb neural stem cells lack hematopoietic potential. "Neural stem cells giving rise to neurons and glia cells have been isolated from the embryonic and adult central nervous system,"...

SOCS3 negatively regulates granulopoiesis and G-CSF receptor signaling.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- SOCS3 negatively regulates granulopoiesis and G-CSF receptor signaling. According to recent research from Japan, the "suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (SOCS3/CIS3) has been shown to be an...

Detecting vitamin B12 deficiency prevents anemia and memory loss.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Vitamin B12 is essential to human life. The body cannot make its own supplies, and without an adequate dietary supply from animal sources or enriched cereals, up to 20 million people can suffer anemia,...

Progress in development of blood substitutes reported.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists are making progress in the development of blood substitutes. "Chemically modified or genetically engineered hemoglobins (Hbs) developed as oxygen therapeutics (often termed 'blood...

SdFFF system aids study of PFC emulsion particle stability.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A sedimentation field-flow fractionation (SdFFF)-based system facilitates the study of PFC emulsion stability in whole blood. Researchers in California conducted a study to determine if SdFFF...

Atorvastatin and fluvastatin have plasma antioxidative activity.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Atorvastatin and fluvastatin have plasma antioxidative activity in addition to their lipid-lowering effects. In a recent study, scientists in Poland "estimated the effect of atorvastatin and...

Agreement signed for Chagas disease blood screening technology.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Abbott Laboratories (ABT) and Corixa Corporation announced they have entered into an agreement under which Corixa has granted to Abbott non-exclusive rights to Corixa's recombinant TcF antigen for...

Study tests healing power of laughter.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital want to know whether adding therapies like massage, humor and relaxation training to the standard drug regimen does more than provide short-lived...

Yoga offers tranquility for cancer patients.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Many Americans who have cancer have rushed through their daily grind until they are brought up short by a disease which wreaked havoc on their physical and emotional lives. A growing number of...

Positive results reported in phase III autologous cellular therapy study.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Isolagen, Inc., (ILE), a specialty pharmaceutical company specializing in the development and commercialization of autologous (a patient's own) cellular therapy for hard and soft tissue regeneration...

Report: Coating technology is a key in the growth of the medical device sector.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Advances in medical devices have greatly improved diagnostic and therapeutic practices in medical care. But numerous undesirable complications such as bacterial infections, blood clots, host...

Gamewood's EMR enhancements help with nephrology reimbursement.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Gamewood, Inc., announced the availability of enhancements to its web-based electronic medical records (EMR) solution that enable nephrology practices to document and capture higher levels of clinical...

Washington, DC, to recheck schools with high lead levels.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The [Washington, DC] Water and Sewer Authority said it plans retest all city elementary schools for lead and would retest secondary schools that have turned up high levels. Of the 700 samples taken...

Hepatitis C virus type 1 is the most prevalent genotype in central Italy.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Hepatitis C virus type 1 is the most prevalent genotype in central Italy. According to published research from Italy, "hepatitis C virus (HCV) exposure is due mainly to infected human blood. Most...

New drug application submitted for Sanvar IR.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- H3 Pharma, Inc., a Montreal, Quebec-based pharmaceutical product development company, announced the submission of a new drug application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Washington, DC, for...

Biotechnology company reports reduced net loss for 2003.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- V.I. Technologies, Inc., (VITX) (Vitex) announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 27, 2003. For the fourth quarter of 2003, Vitex reported a net loss of $2.7...

Factive maker reports net losses for fourth quarter and fiscal year 2003.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Genome Therapeutics Corp. (GENE) reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2003. For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2003, the company reported a net loss...

Gene for vitamin K epoxide reductase identified.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have identified the gene for vitamin K epoxide reductase. According to recent research from the United States, "Vitamin K epoxide reductase (VKOR) is the target of warfarin, the most...

AIDS-associated oral plasmablastic lymphomas linked to HHV8, EBV infection.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) and EBV infection often underlie oral plasmablastic lymphomas in AIDS patients. HHV8 "has been strongly associated with Kaposi sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma (PEL),...

Novel anti-HIV lentiviral vector efficiently selects transduced stem cells.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Stem cells transduced with a novel anti-HIV MGMT lentiviral vector can be efficiently selected in vivo and ex vivo. In a recent study, scientists in Maryland "developed an HIV-based lentiviral...

HIV coreceptor expression determined in exposed but uninfected infants.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Expression of HIV coreceptors on cord blood cells from exposed but infected infants has been elucidated. According to published research from South Africa, "Cross-sectional analysis of human...

Medical injections do not spread HIV in rural Uganda.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Medical injections do not contribute to the spread of HIV in rural Uganda. In a recent study from that country, the "incidence of HIV associated with medical injections was assessed in a cohort of...

Dacogen shows activity in hematological malignancy patients, study shows.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- SuperGen, Inc., (SUPG) announced that results from a clinical study of a low-dose outpatient dosing schedule of the investigational anticancer drug Dacogen (decitabine) for injection showed impressive...

Antisense knockdown in zebrafish models mammalian prothrombin deficiency.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Antisense knockdown in zebrafish models mammalian prothrombin deficiency. "Thrombin is a serine protease generated from its zymogen, prothrombin, and plays a central role in the coagulation cascade....

Hepatic infiltration of leukemia cells leads to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Hepatic infiltration of leukemia cells leads to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. According to a study from Japan, "a 54-yr-old female having chronic neutrophilic leukemia (CNL) associated with severe...

Mechanisms downstream of P2Y[subscript]12 ADP-receptor described.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists describe the Gi-dependent and -independent mechanisms downstream of the P2Y[subscript]12 ADP-receptor in a recent issue of the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. "The...

Prostaglandin E[subscript]1 enhances inhibition of platelet aggregation.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Inhibition of ADP-induced intracellular Ca[superscript]2+ responses and platelet aggregation by the P2Y[subscript]12 receptor antagonists AR-C69931MX and clopidogrel are enhanced by prostaglandin...

Protein 4.2 critical to CD47-membrane skeleton attachment in red cells.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Protein 4.2 is critical to CD47-membrane skeleton attachment in human red blood cells. According to recent research published in the journal Blood, "The reduction in expression of the integral...

Therapy containing adeno-associated virus type 8 corrects murine hemophilia A.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Therapy containing adeno-associated virus type 8 corrects murine hemophilia A. "Despite the popularity of adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) as a vehicle for gene transfer, its efficacy for...

Marketing authorization granted from EC for Advate.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Baxter Healthcare S.A. announced that the European Commission has issued a marketing authorization for Advate (Octocog Alfa Recombinant Coagulation Factor VIII). Advate is indicated for the...

Hepatitis B surface antigenemia occurs after hepatitis A and B vaccination.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Hepatitis B surface antigenemia may occur following vaccination with a combined vaccine against hepatitis A and B. "We report a case of transient hepatitis B surface antigenemia (HBsAg) following...

Company presents ATryn safety and efficacy data.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc., (GTC, GTCB) presented safety and efficacy data from its recently completed multinational trial of ATryn (recombinant human antithrombin) in the treatment of patients with...

Patient demographics influence granulocytic surface antigen markers.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Patient demographics influence granulocytic surface antigen markers. According to recent research from the United States, "there is a growing interest in the use of granulocytic surface markers for...

IBD is a risk factor for thrombosis.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- People with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are more than three times as likely to develop blood clots in their veins (venous thromboembolism), finds new research. Thromboembolism is a serious and...

Effects of tPA and PAI-1 on blood vessel tone described.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The in vitro and in vivo effects of tPA and PAI-1 on blood vessel tone have been described in a recent issue of the journal Blood. "Tissue type plasminogen activator (tPA) is a key enzyme in the...

Bone marrow transplant from partially mismatched family donor is feasible.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Study finds that for patients with acute leukemia with characteristics indicating a reasonable expected outcome, bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from partially mismatched related donors is a...

Sibling donor for Ph- bone marrow transplantation does not increase survival.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers report that the availability of a sibling donor for bone marrow transplantation in younger patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) did not lead to a better clinical outcome in...

TLX1 overexpression indicates a good prognosis for adults with T-cell ALL.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Study finds that overexpression of TLX1 in adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia is an indictor of more prolonged survival. According to a study from the United States, "The activation of...

E2a/Pbx1 triggers proliferation of SCF-dependent pro-T cells.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- E2a/Pbx1 triggers the uncontrolled proliferation of SCF-dependent T-cell progenitors in mice. "Oncoprotein E2a/Pbx1 is produced by the t(1;19) chromosomal translocation of human pre-B acute...

Unrelated cord blood transplantion feasible for adult AML patients.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Unrelated cord blood transplantation (CBT) is feasible for adult AML patients. In a recent study, hematologists in Japan evaluated the outcomes of unrelated CBT "for 18 adult patients with de novo...

European approval granted for once weekly NeoRecormon.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Roche announced that European marketing approval has been granted for a new NeoRecormon (epoetin beta) 30,000 IU pre-filled syringe for patients with lymphoid malignancies who are suffering from anemia....

Post-SCT immunological recovery similar in CLL, NHL patients.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Immunological recovery after stem-cell autotransplantation is comparable in CLL and NHL patients. In a recent study from Italy, the "kinetics of immune reconstitution after autologous peripheral...

Reduced-intensity BEAM-alemtuzumab SCT effective.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Reduced-intensity BEAM-alemtuzumab stem-cell transplantation is safe and effective for patients suffering from lymphoproliferative disorders. In a recent study, hematologists in England evaluated...

No Plasmodium infection found in donated blood from Turkey.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Blood products from Turkey are free from plasmodial infection, even those collected in malaria-endemic areas. "Malaria is a parasitic infection caused by Plasmodium species and it is especially...

Biotech company initiates mergers and acquisitions plan for cord blood bank.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pluristem Life Systems, Inc., (PLRS) announced that the company has initiated an aggressive mergers and acquisitions plan targeting cord blood banks in the U.S. The company is presently in...

Revlimid receives orphan drug designation by the European Commission.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Celgene Corporation (CELG) announced that Revlimid has been granted orphan drug designation for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) by the European Commission (EC) following the favorable opinion of the...

Long-term chemotherapy in children with NHL adversely affects teeth.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers find that children with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) receiving longer term chemotherapy frequently have orodental defects. According to recent research from Turkey, "The aim of this study...

Pivotal trial initiated for Pixantrone.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cell Therapeutics, Inc., (CTI, CTIC) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has provided guidance through the Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) process for a randomized pivotal trial of...

Biochemical inhibitors may be able to prevent diabetic retinopathy.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Biochemical inhibitors may be able to prevent diabetic retinopathy. According to a study from the United States, "diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of acquired visual loss. Current treatment...

HIV patients could donate organs to others with the virus under Illinois bill.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A bill in the Illinois Legislature aimed at letting people with HIV donate their organs to others who have the virus is getting support from some organ donor experts and physicians. If approved,...

Regulatory group seeks to caution living organ donors.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Living organ donors sometimes aren't told about risks that accompany the procedures, a hospital regulatory group said March 10, 2004, in launching a campaign to raise awareness about them. ...

Company receives third ISA247 patent.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Isotechnika, Inc., has received a notice of allowance for its U.S. patent application titled, "Deuterated Cyclosporine Analogs and their Use as Immunomodulating Agents." This notice of allowance,...

Antithrombins suppress angiogenesis by down-regulating perlecan.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Antithrombins suppress angiogenesis by down-regulating perlecan. According to a study from the United States, "antithrombin, a key serpin family regulator of blood coagulation proteases, is...

Inhibition of myocardial cytochrome C oxidase involved in sepsis.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Competitive and noncompetitive inhibition of myocardial cytochrome C oxidase are involved in sepsis. According to a study from the United States, "Sepsis is the most common cause of death in...

Endothelial progenitor cells are detected in infantile hemangioma.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Endothelial progenitor cells are detected in infantile hemangioma. According to a study from the United States, "infantile hemangioma is an endothelial tumor that grows rapidly after birth but...

Four-color immunofluorescence enables mesenchymal stem cell identification.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A four-color immunofluorescence assay facilitates the identification of mesenchymal stem cells. "In stem-cell research a major difficulty is caused by the lack of distinctive features that allow...

New human embryonic cell lines to be made available to researchers.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers at Harvard University have derived 17 new human embryonic stem-cell lines. The new cell lines will be made available to researchers, although at this time...

OLIG2 inhibits astrocyte differentiation.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- OLIG2 inhibits astrocyte differentiation from neural stem cells. "In the developing vertebrate nervous system, multipotent neural stem cells produce both neurons and glia," scientists in Japan...

PU.1 supports proliferation of immature erythroid progenitors.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The transcription factor PU.1 is needed for the efficient proliferation of immature erythroid progenitor cells. "Despite normal levels of erythropoiesis in PU.1[superscript]-/- embryos,...

TRAIL regulates erythroid maturation via ERK signaling.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- TRAIL regulates the maturation of erythroid cells through ERK signaling. According to recent research from Italy, "In order to investigate the biologic activity of tumor necrosis factor-related...

Verotoxin and IFN-alpha have synergistic effect on erythropoiesis.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Bacterial verotoxin and IFN-alpha have a synergistic effect on erythropoiesis. According to recent research from the United States, "[p]revious studies have shown that the verotoxin receptor...

RIC SCT feasible for patients with advanced solid tumors.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- RIC allo-SCT is feasible for solid cancer patients with advanced and treatment-resistant tumors. In a "prospective multicenter program," scientists in France "investigated allogeneic stem cell...

Treosulfan-fludarabine conditioning regimen safe and effective.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A treosulfan-fludarabine conditioning regimen is safe and effective for bone marrow allograft recipients. According to scientists in Germany, "New conditioning regimens are being explored to reduce...

Depression is less common among married transplant recipients.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Depression is less common among married transplant recipients. "Depression is a frequent problem among end-stage renal disease patients and is closely associated with their physical well-being. We...

Living donor liver transplantations face technical challenges.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Living donor liver transplantations face technical challenges. "Liver transplantation for end-stage liver disease is the treatment of choice in current surgical practice. However, the shortage of...

Mediastinal stiffening and chest wall scarring can restrict lung inflation.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Asymmetrical lung inflation could be a factor when performing single-lung transplantation in patients with emphysema, researchers say. "The extent to which inflation of one lung increases pleural...

Percutaneous dilational tracheotomy is effective in solid-organ transplantation.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For recipients of solid organ transplants on prolonged ventilatory support, percutaneous dilational tracheotomy (PDT) is safe and effective, researchers report. According to a study from Turkey,...

Transplantation of tissues enhances quality of life in many patients.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Beyond organ transplantation, donation of skin, tendons, bone, and other tissues can benefit many patients, researchers say. Researchers from Turkey write, "While solid organs represent the...

Genetics may play part in miscarriages.
April 1, 2004... 2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Women with one of two genetic mutations that make them prone to blood clots are at increased risk of multiple miscarriages, a study suggests. Researchers recommended that women who have at least two...

Podocalyxin-like protein may be useful as hematopoietic stem cell marker.
April 8, 2004... 2004 APR 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Podocalyxin-like protein (PCLP) may be useful as a marker for hematopoietic stem cells. PCLP "is a sialomucin-type membrane protein structurally related to CD34 and endoglycan. It was first...

Young female bone marrow recipients have high risk of ovarian damage.
April 8, 2004... 2004 APR 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Bone marrow transplantation in young girls is associated with a heightened risk of ovarian damage and androgen deficiency in puberty. In a study from Finland, "[o]varian function and sex hormone...

Twice-daily CsA prophylaxis more effective than continuous infusion.
April 8, 2004... 2004 APR 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Twice-daily administration of CsA prevents GVHD more effectively than a continuous infusion of the immunosuppressant. In a recent study, scientists in Japan "retrospectively compared the incidence...

IFN-producing cytotoxic T cells may mediate stem-cell graft-vs-tumor effect.
April 8, 2004... 2004 APR 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cytotoxic T cells producing interferon (IFN)-gamma may mediate the antitumor effects of stem-cell grafts in renal cell cancer patients. According to scientists in the United States,...

Lipid amphotericin B formulations protect post-HSCT renal function.
April 8, 2004... 2004 APR 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- When used as first-line therapy, lipid amphotericin B formulations protect renal function in stem-cell graft recipients. In a recent study, scientists in the United States "assessed renal function...

Recombinant G-CSF indirectly suppresses T-cell activity.
April 8, 2004... 2004 APR 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Recombinant G-CSF has been found to have an indirect inhibitory effect on T-cell activity. "Whether recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) affects lymphocyte function...

Cloretazine receives Fast Track designation from FDA.
April 8, 2004... 2004 APR 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (VION) has received Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Cloretazine (VNP40101M) in relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia...

Positive phase Ib/II clinical trial results reported for Hemospan.
April 8, 2004... 2004 APR 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Sangart, Inc., announced positive results from its phase Ib/II clinical trial involving Hemospan (MP4), a hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier designed to serve as an alternative for blood transfusions. ...

Britain restricts blood donations as a precaution against mad cow's disease.
April 8, 2004... 2004 APR 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The British government said March 16, 2004, it would ban blood donations from people who had received transfusions since 1980, as a precaution against transferring the human form of mad cow's disease....

Initial letter agreement announced for adult stem cell bank.
April 8, 2004... 2004 APR 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Phase III Medical, Inc., (PHSM) has entered into an initial letter agreement to finalize a revenue sharing agreement with NeoStem, Inc. NeoStem will create adult stem cell banks and offer the...

Company announces a new name for point-of-care blood-analysis system.
April 8, 2004... 2004 APR 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- International Technidyne, Inc., (ITC), a subsidiary of Thoratec, Inc., (THOR), announced a new name for its recently acquired IRMA blood analysis system. The newly designated "IRMA TRUpoint"...