Biotech Business Week articles from May 2009

Biotech Business Week archives from May 2009

Effect of 18F-FDG PET/CT in esophageal cancer patients with early recurrence lesions.
May 4, 2009... In the initial staging of esophageal cancer, preoperative PET scan may be useful in detecting additional cases of metastatic disease before costly and toxic definitive therapy. Currently, 18F-FDG PET and PET/CT also seem to be the best...

What is the effect of tea polyphenols on hepatic drug metabolizing enzymes?
May 4, 2009... Paracetamol is one of the most widely used, studied, and arguably the most notorious hepatotoxic drugs, which is safe at therapeutic doses but causes liver failure when overdosed. When administered at normal doses, paracetamol is metabolized...

Studies from F.J.C. Vandenbroek and colleagues yield new information about adenoma.(Report)
May 4, 2009... "Endoscopic trimodal imaging (ETMI) incorporates high-resolution endoscopy (HRE) and autofluorescence imaging (AFI) for adenoma detection, and narrow-band imaging (NBI) for differentiation of adenomas from nonneoplastic polyps. The aim of this...

Pittsburgh Hospital Teams with Pirates Baseball Club in Unique Effort to Encourage Teen Handwashing, Prevent Spread of MRSA.
May 4, 2009... Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), in partnership with the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball club and the city's Northside Leadership Conference, announced the launch of a new campaign designed to raise awareness among teenagers about the dangerous...

Research from A.R. Desilets and co-authors in the area of Alzheimer disease published.
May 4, 2009... "To review the role of huperzine A in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). A literature search was conducted through MEDLINE (1950-September week 2, 2008), EMBASE (all years), Google Scholar, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and a...

HydroCision Announces Launch of the SpineJet DL Handpieces and Entry into the Double Digit Growth Lateral Spinal Fusion Market.
May 4, 2009... HydroCision, Inc. (www.hydrocision.com) announced the launch of the SpineJet® DL fusion handpieces for the new minimally invasive direct lateral fusion procedure. With this launch the company will capitalize on the double digit growth of...

Orthofix International Announces New Agreement To Expand Distribution of Spine Implants in the U.K.
May 4, 2009... Orthofix International N.V. (NASDAQ: OFIX) (the Company) announced it has signed an agreement with the MBA Group (MBA) to expand the distribution of the Company's spine implant and biologic devices in the United Kingdom (see also Orthofix...

Orthofix International Announces Q109 Preliminary Results and Release Date for Final Results.(Financial report)
May 4, 2009... Orthofix International N.V., (NASDAQ:OFIX) (the Company) announced preliminary results for the first quarter of 2009, indicating that the Company expects to report total revenue of approximately $129.0 million and earnings in the range of $0.14...

Study suggests new target for treatment of depression.
May 11, 2009... A brain protein involved in fear behavior and anxiety may represent a new target for depression therapies, according to a study by researchers at the University of Iowa and the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The results appear in...

Tentacles of venom: New study reveals all octopuses are venomous.
May 11, 2009... Once thought to be only the realm of the blue-ringed octopus, researchers have now shown that all octopuses and cuttlefish, and some squid are venomous. The work indicates that they all share a common, ancient venomous ancestor and highlights...

Are we cherry picking participants for studies of antidepressants?
May 11, 2009... Findings from clinical studies used to gain Food and Drug Administration approval of common antidepressants are not applicable to most patients with depression, according to a report led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public...

Findings from University of Heidelberg provide new insights into acid reflux disease.
May 11, 2009... According to a study from Heidelberg, Germany, "The present randomised pilot trial was designed to compare robot-assisted (RALF) and conventional laparoscopic fundoplication (CLF) focussing on post-operative quality of life (QOL) and functional...

Studies from E. Palombokinne et al have provided new data on acne vulgaris.(Report)
May 11, 2009... According to recent research from Jena, Germany, "Acne is a multifactorial disease characterized by androgenic stimulation of sebaceous glands. Therefore, combined oral contraceptives (COCs) containing anti-androgenic progestogens are suitable...

New nature biotechnology study findings have been published by scientists at Harvard University, Medical Department.
May 11, 2009... "Studies of epigenetic modifications would benefit from improved methods for high-throughput methylation profiling. We introduce two complementary approaches that use next-generation sequencing technology to detect cytosine methylation,"...

Research data from D.A. Bachovchin and colleagues update understanding of nature biotechnology.
May 11, 2009... According to a study from the United States, "High-throughput screening to discover small-molecule modulators of enzymes typically relies on highly tailored substrate assays, which are not available for poorly characterized enzymes. Here we...

Research from B. Wollscheid and colleagues provide new insights into nature biotechnology.
May 11, 2009... "Although the classification of cell types often relies on the identification of cell surface proteins as differentiation markers, flow cytometry requires suitable antibodies and currently permits detection of only up to a dozen differentiation...

E*Trade Computer Glitch Grants Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. Dividend Ahead of Ex-Dividend Date.
May 11, 2009... Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. (OTCBB:KBLB) has been informed that E*Trade customers who purchased the company's common stock prior to today have received the recently announced dividend, even though the ex-dividend date is April 27, 2009....

Roche Honored with a MarketingSherpa Award.
May 11, 2009... The Roche Applied Sciences Imaginality e-mail campaign took top honors at this year's MarketingSherpa Awards in Miami, winning the gold medal for the "Best Limited Series Email Newsletter for Marketing Purposes". The MarketingSherpa Awards...

SUSS MicroTec Test Systems Named Exclusive Supplier of 300 mm Characterization and Reliability Test Solutions.
May 11, 2009... SUSS MicroTec Test Systems has announced that it has once again won a head-to-head evaluation with its unique PA300PS with ProbeShield® Technology, the 300 mm wafer-level probe system for device characterization and reliability test. The...

Waters Corporation Reports Increased First Quarter 2009 Earnings.(Financial report)
May 11, 2009... Waters Corporation (NYSE/WAT) reported first quarter 2009 sales of $333 million, a decrease of 10% versus sales of $372 million in the first quarter of 2008. These quarterly sales include an adverse foreign currency translation impact of...

UCLA scientists reveal how deadly pediatric disorder develops in brain.
May 18, 2009... A deadly brain disorder in toddlers may find its first treatment in drugs for Alzheimer's disease (see also University of California - Los Angeles). UCLA scientists have discovered how a form of the rare genetic disease known as Sanfilippo...

Controlling our brain's perception of emotional events.
May 18, 2009... Research performed by Nicole Lauzon and Dr. Steven Laviolette of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at The University of Western Ontario has found key processes in the brain that control the emotional significance of our experiences...

Acorda Therapeutics Announces FDA Acceptance of Fampridine-SR New Drug Application for Filing.
May 18, 2009... Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOR) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the Fampridine-SR New Drug Application (NDA) for filing, assigning Priority Review and a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA)...

Research findings from Royal Children's Hospital update understanding of addiction medicine.
May 18, 2009... In this recently published article, scientists in Parkville, Australia conducted a study "To assess the value of drinking guidelines applied in adolescence for predicting alcohol-related outcomes in young adulthood. We conducted an eight-wave,...

Research on addiction medicine published by N. Hawkins et al.
May 18, 2009... In this recent study, researchers in Newcastle, Australia conducted a study "To determine the level of support by licensees, police and the general public for interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm associated with licensed premises and...

Recent findings in biomedical engineering described by researchers from McMaster University.(Report)
May 18, 2009... "Fox and Lu derived an algorithm based on stochastic differential equations for approximating the kinetics of ion channel gating that is simpler and faster than ''exact'' algorithms for simulating Markov process models of channel gating....

Findings from G.X. Yan and co-authors broaden understanding of biotechnology.
May 18, 2009... According to recent research published in the journal Biotechnology Letters, "A genetically-engineered Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) strain, 3A-HBF, with a broad insecticidal spectrum was constructed by introducing the recombinant plasmid pSTK-3A...

Findings from Tianjin University in biotechnology reported.
May 18, 2009... According to recent research from Tianjin, People's Republic of China, "Genome shuffling can improve complex phenotypes; however, there are several obstacles towards its broader applicability due to increased complexity of eukaryotic cells."...

New research on biotechnology from Zhejiang University summarized.(Report)
May 18, 2009... "Protein phosphotase Cdc14 (Cell division cycle gene 14) is a key regulator of late mitotic events in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However the function of human Cdc14 (HsCdc14A & B) and its regulatory network are still elusive," scientists in...

Recent findings from T. Salaj and co-authors highlight research in biotechnology.
May 18, 2009... "A genetic transformation system has been developed for selected embryogenic cell lines of hybrids Abies alba x A. cephalonica (cell lines AC2, AC78) and Abies alba x A. numidica (cell line AN72) using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The cell lines...

Research conducted at Chosun University has updated our knowledge about biotechnology.
May 18, 2009... "Analysis of the structural properties of pCC3, a cryptic plasmid from Leuconostoc citreum C4 isolated from kimchi, determined its length as 3,338 bp and revealed three open reading frames (ORFs): ORF1-ORF3. ORF3 showed high homology with a...

Research data from J.A. Renye and colleagues update understanding of biotechnology.
May 18, 2009... According to recent research from the United States, "An integrative vector was constructed for inserting heterologous genes within a non-functional open reading frame (ORF) on the chromosome of Streptococcus thermophilus." "The vector,...

Research in the area of biotechnology reported from A. Calinski and colleagues.(Report)
May 18, 2009... "To explore the feasability of larch (Larix decidua Mill.) embryogenic cell culture as alternative plant expression system, protein stability in fresh and conditioned medium was characterized in this study and compared to tobacco BY2 suspension...

Researchers' work from University of Saarland focuses on biotechnology.
May 18, 2009... "We show the application of a novel optical on-line sensor fixed in spinner flasks for the online monitoring of dissolved O-2 concentrations during mammalian cell growth. Using this sensor that requires only minute changes to the flask to be...

Studies from University of Kentucky add new findings in the area of biotechnology.
May 18, 2009... "To engineer a multifunctional xylan-degrading enzyme, a chimera was created by fusing the xylanase domain of the Clostridium thermocellum xylanase (xynZ) and a dual functional arabinofuranosidase/xylosidase (DeAFc; from a compost starter...

Study findings from China University broaden understanding of biotechnology.
May 18, 2009... "A battery of Pichia pastoris transformants, G1, G6, A2, A3, C3, carrying 1, 6, 12, 18 and 29 copies of porcine insulin precursor (PIP) gene, were employed to investigate the genetic stability of these multi-copy P. pastoris strains. Both G6...

Medtronic Introduces the Vertex Select[TM] Reconstruction System Occipitocervical Module.
May 18, 2009... Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) announced the U.S. launch of the VERTEX SELECT™ Reconstruction System Occipitocervical Module (see also Medtronic, Inc.). When a patient has a serious spinal condition that requires the base of the skull...