Bioterrorism Week articles from December 2003

Bioterrorism Week archives from December 2003

New systems could find chemical residues, mad cow disease and SARS.
December 1, 2003... 2003 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The University at Buffalo (UB) has established the Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors, (CUBS) a new cross-disciplinary center that takes a unique approach to developing technologies in...

Open-access publishing: The debate continues.
December 1, 2003... 2003 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Authors of an article on the merits of open-access publishing claim that in an era of rapid electronic access to information, the four-centuries-old publishing model based on user fees now hinders...

Bioterrorism vaccination is contraindicated in some drug-allergic patients.
December 1, 2003... 2003 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Bioterrorism vaccination is contraindicated in some drug-allergic patients. According to a study from the United States, "The threat of bioterrorism continues to be a very real one. Regularly, there...

Domestic animals may be bioterrorism targets; broad health, economic damage possible.
December 1, 2003... 2003 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Domestic animals may be bioterrorism targets; broad health, economic damage possible. According to a study from France, "after a brief historical introduction, the authors describe a list of...

Anthrax-laden USPS facility successfully fumigated.
December 1, 2003... 2003 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Sabre Technical Services, LLC, has successfully fumigated the anthrax-contaminated USPS facility in Hamilton, New Jersey, with gas-phase chlorine dioxide. Sabre was selected to perform the...

Midwest research looks at cows to produce vaccines.
December 1, 2003... 2003 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Research to help defend against diseases that could be spread by bioterrorists is being carried out in the pastures of northwest Iowa. Calves have been genetically engineered to produce human...

Team developing "Flu Chip" for fast, accurate diagnosis.
December 1, 2003... 2003 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A team of researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder is developing a "Flu Chip" that will aid physicians in swiftly diagnosing respiratory illness for future flu seasons. The Flu Chip...

U.S. plans to grade states' bioterrorism plans.
December 1, 2003... 2003 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. government soon will begin grading how well states are prepared for bioterrorism and other health emergencies, including how many could immediately open mass-vaccination clinics if a single...

Immune memory from vaccination lasts more than 50 years.
December 1, 2003... 2003 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Immune memory after smallpox vaccination persists for at least 50 years in immunized people, according to research conducted by scientists at the Emory Vaccine Center and Emory University School of...

Urban area bioagent monitor under development for homeland defense department.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- QT 5, Inc., (QTFV) announced it is a key participant in a recent Homeland Defense Department proposal to develop a robust compact system capable of autonomously monitoring outdoor urban areas for a...

Studies describe heart disease following vaccination.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Heart-related complications can occur after the smallpox vaccine, but symptoms are usually mild, according to three studies presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2003 in...

$9.2 Million grant enables scientists to design antitoxin nanosponges.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A large, multicenter program project grant has been awarded to a team of scientists at the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), Harvard Medical School, and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies to...

Pathology is critical in investigation of cutaneous anthrax.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pathology is critical in the investigations of bioterrorism-related cutaneous anthrax. According to published research from the United States, "Cutaneous anthrax is a rare zoonotic disease in the...

Naegleria fowleri common in Arizona kitchens, bathrooms.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Naegleria fowleri is frequently found in domestic water in kitchens, bathroom fixtures in Arizona presenting risk of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. According to recent research published in...

Metalloproteolytic action of anthrax lethal factor substrate inhibited.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The metalloproteolytic activity of the anthrax lethal factor is substrate inhibited. According to a study from Italy, "The anthrax lethal factor (LF) is a Zn[superscript]2+ endopeptidase specific...

Company receives exclusive rights to medical testing devices, supplies 10-minute HIV test.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- QT 5, Inc., (QTFV) has finalized the exclusive worldwide rights to market an innovative line of rapid-result blood and urine test products. The diagnostic platform has been specifically designed for...

Human trials start on Ebola vaccine.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A volunteer has received the first human inoculation of an experimental vaccine designed to prevent infection by Ebola, a highly lethal African virus that some officials fear could be used as a weapon...

Host range of feline leukemia virus A could include human, as seen in vitro.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Host range of feline leukemia virus A (not B or C) can include human, in vitro: embryonic kidney cells are susceptible to infection if entry barrier is broken. According to published research from...

Bacterial separation, concentration from food can eliminate need for enrichment.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Culture enrichment can be forgone in food samples with small amounts of contaminating bacteria if separation and concentration of bacteria present is done. According to published research from the...

Borna disease virus nucleoprotein may be wrapped by RNA, fit ssRNA in a channel.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- X-ray crystallography shows Borna disease virus nucleoprotein may be wrapped by RNA or fit ssRNA in a channel. According to recent research from Germany, "Borna disease virus (BDV) causes an...

Insurance giants scan millions of files for terrorism suspects.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Aetna have scoured the records of millions of patients, employees, and healthcare providers in search of terrorists. Representatives of the insurance companies...

Test may predict adverse reaction to smallpox vaccinations.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The ability to predict which individuals would respond adversely to smallpox (variola major) vaccination may be possible, according to data presented by Malka Rais, MD, Georgetown University, at the...

Eosinophilic-lymphocytic myocarditis proven after smallpox vaccination.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have confirmed the occurrence of eosinophilic-lymphocytic myocarditis after smallpox vaccination. "Smallpox is an eradicated viral disease that has re-emerged as a potential...

Safer smallpox vaccination regimen modeled for HIV-1-infected patients.
December 8, 2003... 2003 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have modeled a safer smallpox vaccination regimen, for human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected patients, in immunocompromised macaques. According to a study from an international...

Tests in animals show drug may protect against anthrax.
December 15, 2003... 2003 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cengent Therapeutics announced the successful demonstration in animals of protection against anthrax toxin-induced disease processes that lead to death from anthrax infection. Unlike other protein...

"Unprecedented" progress made in countering biological, chemical terrorism.
December 15, 2003... 2003 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Recent progress in technology development to counter biological and chemical terrorism has been "unprecedented," believe three Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers. In a review...

Heart attacks rose at Brooklyn hospital after terrorist attack.
December 15, 2003... 2003 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The number of heart attack cases surged at a Brooklyn, New York, hospital in the 2 months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, suggesting that psychological stress...

$5M equipment order to help CDC improve response to terrorism.
December 15, 2003... 2003 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Agilent Technologies, Inc., (A) announced that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has ordered more than $5 million in Agilent gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS)...

Deal signed with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
December 15, 2003... 2003 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Acacia Research Corporation (CBMX; ACTG) announced its CombiMatrix group has been notified that the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) has approved a Cooperative...

Company gets grant to develop DNA screening and diagnostic technologies.
December 15, 2003... 2003 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- NanoInk, Inc., announced that it has received the first award of a two-phase, $1.3 million small business innovation research grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant was...

Drug delivery firm closes private placement, ends 3Q with $5.3M.
December 15, 2003... 2003 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- DOR BioPharma, Inc., (DOR) recently filed the company's third quarter financial results. Following the successful closing on a private placement, DOR ended the quarter with a cash position in...

Group releases workforce report with new sense of urgency.
December 15, 2003... 2003 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The National Science Board (NSB) has released a report on the U.S. science and engineering (S&E) workforce following a 3-year study, saying that new figures on the proportion of foreign-born workers in...

Phase I SBIR grant awarded for the identification of RNase P inhibitors.
December 15, 2003... 2003 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- PTC Therapeutics, Inc., (PTC) was awarded a phase I Small Business Innovation Research Grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health to fund research that will lead to the identification of a new...

Company licenses technology from NIAID for vaccine for smallpox.
December 15, 2003... 2003 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- GeneMax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has obtained nonexclusive worldwide licenses from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the U.S. National Institutes of...

Professor wins CDC grant to combat emerging infections.
December 15, 2003... 2003 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A St. Louis University professor has received a $2.2 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to study emerging viruses that could threaten the U.S. population. ...

Promising vaccine may act quickly to halt disease.
December 22, 2003... 2003 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists at Weill Medical College of Cornell University have created a single-shot anthrax vaccine that could one day be used to rapidly protect people in the event of a bioterrorism attack. A...

Guidelines for managing smallpox vaccination complications outlined.
December 22, 2003... 2003 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have released guidelines for managing smallpox vaccination complications in a recent issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine. "In December 2002, the federal government began a program...

PCR assay developed for detection of varicella-zoster virus DNA.
December 22, 2003... 2003 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists have developed a real-time PCR assay for the detection of varicella-zoster virus DNA and differentiation of vaccine, wild-type, and control strains. "Varicella-zoster vaccine is a live...

Defense professional services company names new executive.
December 22, 2003... 2003 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- VERSAR, Inc. (AMEX: VSR), a professional services firm supporting government and industry in national defense programs, has named Paul W. Kendall as president, GEOMET Technologies, LLC, a wholly owned...

Licensing rights granted for antibody technologies that fight food pathogens.
December 22, 2003... 2003 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Dow AgroSciences has obtained worldwide licensing rights from the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) to market technologies that reduce the risk of food-borne pathogens. The agreement gives...

NewsRx expands to 100 titles in Health Law and Business.
December 22, 2003... 2003 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- NewsRx, publisher of professional health and medical newsletters and databases for 20 years, has moved into law and business publishing with the addition of 56 new titles for 2004. C.W. Henderson,...

Glass products prove bulletproof.
December 22, 2003... 2003 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- DWS Defense Systems, Inc., demonstrated the effectiveness of its glass products at the Westside Rifle and Pistol Range in New York City. After former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik opened...

Antibodies may provide option to vaccines, antibiotics.
December 29, 2003... 2003 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Avanir Pharmaceuticals (AVN) presented positive new data on its panel of human antibodies against the key toxin of the Class A biowarfare agent anthrax at the IBC Antibody Engineering Meeting held in...

RODS surveillance system effective at 2002 Winter Olympics.
December 29, 2003... 2003 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The hastily designed RODS infectious disease surveillance system was effective during its debut at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. "The 2002 Olympic Winter Games were held in Utah from...

ID Biomedical announces additional contract related to a subunit plague vaccine.
December 29, 2003... 2003 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- ID Biomedical announced that it has received additional funding from Dynport Vaccine Co., LLC, (DVC) relating to the development of a second-generation, subunit plague vaccine. The additional...

L. pneumophila acts on a protein kinase, stops macrophage IL-12 production.
December 29, 2003... 2003 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Legionella pneumophila acts on a protein kinase to stop macrophage IL-12 production, as an immune evasion method. According to recent research published in the journal Infection and Immunity, "a...

Franklin Berger, biotech analyst, joins board; Stephen Francis retires.
December 29, 2003... 2003 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Franklin M. Berger, CFA, a biotechnology industry analyst with more than 25 years of investment experience, has joined the board of directors of VaxGen, Inc., (VXGN). Berger replaces Stephen C....

Chelidonium majus CM-Ala may protect against radiation exposure.
December 29, 2003... 2003 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Chelidonium majus CM-Ala allows animal model to recover from radiation exposure and is prophylactically radioprotective. "We earlier reported that CM-Ala isolated from Chelidonium majus had...

Bacteria related to Sulfobacillus spp. can survive radiation from uranium.
December 29, 2003... 2003 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Bacteria related to Sulfobacillus spp. survive and thrive near radiation from uranium. According to recent research published in the journal Extremophiles, "the isolation and phylogenetic...