Life Sciences & Biotechnology Update articles from April 2001

Life Sciences & Biotechnology Update archives from April 2001

MENINGOCOCCAL DISEASE: OCCURRENCE, PREVENTION, AND CONTROL.
April 1, 2001... This (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) report summarizes and updates an earlier published statement issued by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices concerning the control and prevention of meningococcal disease, and...

SYMPTOMS, PATTERNS, AND LONG-TERM HEALTH OUTCOMES OF WAR SYNDROMES, FROM 1900 TO THE PRESENT.
April 1, 2001... This report from England (Kings College Hospital) summarizes the research undertaken of war syndromes, from 1900. The project is designed to answer two questions: (1) whether soldiers suffering from post-combat syndromes, in different wars at...

IMPACT OF MANAGED CARE ON AFRICAN-AMERICANS, WITH RESPECT TO ACCESS AND UTILIZATION OF HEALTH-CARE SERVICES.
April 1, 2001... This (University of Alabama) study investigates the impact of managed care on African-Americans, with respect to their access and utilization of health-care services. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey, the study estimates...

MANAGED CARE AND THE EVALUATION AND ADOPTION OF EMERGING MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES.
April 1, 2001... This (Bureau of Maternal and Child Health) report looks at managed care and the evaluation and adoption of emerging medical technologies. Selective adoption of new technologies -- the taking on of only those technologies for which the medical...

U.S. NURSING-HOME SURVEY.
April 1, 2001... This (National Center for Health Statistics) document presents the results of a 1997 national survey of nursing homes. Data are presented on facility characteristics, demographic characteristics, and utilization. It presents estimates of:...

CLINICIAN RESOURCES HELP FOR MOTHERS OF LOW-BIRTHWEIGHT INFANTS WITH LUNG DISEASE.
April 1, 2001... This (University of Wisconsin) study aims to help mothers of extremely low-birthweight infants with chronic lung disease to learn to use clinician resources. The primary objectives are to: (1) test the effectiveness of an intervention to help...

USING GLY-GIN, A NON-OPIOD BETA-ENDORPHIN PEPTIDE, TO CONTROL HEMORRAGHIC HYPOTENSION.
April 1, 2001... This (University of Missouri) project tests the hypothesis that Gly-Gin, a dipeptide synthesized from the opioid peptide beta-endorphin, inhibits hemorraghic hypotension in laboratory animals, and attempts to determine the physiological and...

THE CENTER FOR INNOVATIVE MINIMALLY-INVASIVE THERAPY.
April 1, 2001... This (Massachusetts General Hospital) report concerns the Center for Innovative Minimally-Invasive Therapy (CIMIT), which is a consortium of nonprofit Massachusetts-based institutions led by Massachusetts General Hospital, and includes Brigham...

MONITORING ASTRONAUT HEALTH AT THE NANOSCALE CELLULAR LEVEL THROUGH THE EYE.
April 1, 2001... This (NASA) report addresses a user-friendly goggles-like head-mounted device equipped with a suite of instruments for several non-invasive and quantitative medical evaluation of the eye, skin, and brain. It is suitable for monitoring the...

USING THE POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION FOR DNA-BASED DETECTION OF ETHANOL-PRODUCING MICROORGANISMS IN POSTMORTEM BLOOD AND TISSUES.
April 1, 2001... This (Civil Aeromedical Institute) report concerns DNA- based detection of ethanol-producing microorganisms in postmortem blood and tissues by the polymerase chain reaction. Forensic investigation of fatal aircraft accidents usually includes...

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLIOMYELITIS IMMUNIZATION PRACTICES IN THE U.S.
April 1, 2001... This (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) document has the following contents: Introduction; Background; Investigation and reporting of suspected poliomyelitis cases; Inactivated poliovirus vaccine; Recommendations for IPV vaccination;...

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INFLUENZA IMMUNIZATION PRACTICES.
April 1, 2001... This (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) report updates 1999 recommendations on the use of influenza vaccine and antiviral agents. The recommendations include five principal changes: (1) the age for universal vaccination is lowered...

SYSTEM AND MUCOSAL IMMUNIZATION AGAINST EQUINE ENCEPHALITIS USING BIODEGRADABLE VACCINE MICR0SPHERES.
April 1, 2001... The goals of this (University of Alabama) proposed study are to show that pulse-release microsphere vaccines, consisting of antigen and adjuvant, are an effective and efficacious method for inducing protective immune responses, and that: (1)...

USE OF COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES BY VETERANS UNDERGOING CANCER TREATMENT.
April 1, 2001... This (Air Force Institute of Technology) thesis details a study to identify patterns of complementary therapy use in veterans who receive either chemotherapy, radiation therapy, a combination of chemotherapy and radiation, or biotherapy...

SOCIAL SUPPORT FOR SCHOOL-AGE SIBLINGS OF CHILDREN HAVING CANCER: COMPARISON BETWEEN SIBLING AND PARENT PERCEPTIONS.
April 1, 2001... This (Air Force Institute of Technology) thesis details a descriptive exploratory study investigating the social support interventions received by siblings of children with cancer, and which of those interventions are perceived as being...

ISOLATION OF GENES INVOLVED IN HUMAN PROSTATE CANCER PROGRESSION, BY FUNCTIONAL EXPRESSION CLONING.
April 1, 2001... This (University of California) project has made great progress toward defining the molecular basis for androgen-independent prostate cancer progression. A key theme from the findings is the concept that the genes causing...

NOVEL ONCOGENES IDENTIFIED IN CARCINOMA OF THE PROSTATE.
April 1, 2001... This (University of Alabama) report addresses a cell line, termed RK3E, that provides a novel approach to identification and functional analysis of carcinoma-derived transforming oncogenes. Derived by immortalization of primary rat kidney...

USING CHEMICALLY-MODIFIED TETRACYCLINES HAVING BROAD- SPECTRUM ANTIPROTEINASE ACTIVITY TO INHIBIT THE INVASIVENESS OF PROSTATE TUMOR CELLS.
April 1, 2001... This (State University of New York) project evaluates novel nonantimicrobial chemically-modified tetracyclines (CMTs) for management of invasive prostate cancer, based on preliminary results showing that one such CMT (CMT-3): inhibits the...

A NOVEL GENE ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROGRESSION OF PROSTATE TUMORS.
April 1, 2001... This (Fox Chase Cancer Center) research characterizes the function of a novel gene, Clar1, as it relates to the progression of human prostate cancer. The scope of work includes: generating antibodies to Clar1; using them to characterize the...

NEW DRUGS TO PREVENT BREAST CANCER METASTASES.
April 1, 2001... This (Purdue Research Foundation) project has as its basis the discovery of a unique drug-responsive and growth-related hydroquinone (NADH) oxidase having protein disulfide-thiol interchange activity at the external cell surface. In...

DETERMINANTS OF HUMAN BREAST CANCER EPITHELIAL CELL ESTROGEN EXPRESSION AND DIFFERENTIATION.
April 1, 2001... Breast cancer presumably originates in an estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) estrogen (E2)-responsive epithelial cell within organized human breast tissue. There is an exceedingly low-level of, and few cells expressing, ER in normal breast...

GROWTH AND METASTASIS OF BREAST TUMORS: EFFECT OF MHC CLASS II TRANSACTIVATORS.
April 1, 2001... This (University of North Carolina) work investigates the effect of the MHC class II transactivator, CIITA, on the growth and immunogenicity in breast cancer. It uses three different model systems; MT90 1; 4T 1; and EMT6. In the MT90 1 cell...

p53-DEPENDENT APOPTOSIS: MECHANISM AND ROLE IN BREAST CANCER THERAPY.
April 1, 2001... A member of the p53 family, p73, can induce apoptosis and physically interact with p53. To determine whether p53 and p73 functionally interact, this (Medical College of Georgia) work generates several MCF7 cell lines that inducibly express...

STUDY OF POSSIBLE EARLY BREAST CANCER DETECTION USING NIPPLE-FLUID-BASED TESTS.
April 1, 2001... This (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) document proposes to develop nipple-fluid-based tests for early breast cancer detection. Non-invasive breast-nipple-fluid studies could complement mammography, particularly for women under age 50. The...

TOXIC INTERACTIONS BETWEEN PROPHYLACTIC DRUGS AND PESTICIDES.
April 1, 2001... This (Duke University Medical Center) study is designed to elucidate the mechanisms of the interactive effects of combined exposure to doses -- low enough to be representative of actual human exposure -- of the anti-nerve gas prophylaxis,...

PYRIDOSTIGMINE, PERMETHRIN, AND DEET TOXICITY IN MALES AND FEMALES.
April 1, 2001... These (University of Florida) experiments investigate to what extent relatively small doses of PB, PERM, and DEET alone, or in different combinations, may affect neurobehavioral and immunological outcome in male and female rats. The results...

FDA APPROVAL OF NEW ANIMAL DRUGS FOR MINOR SPECIES AND MINOR USES: GUIDANCE FOR INDUSTRY.
April 1, 2001... This (FDA) document provides specific guidance on the means for generating effectiveness and safety data to support the approval of new animal drugs for minor uses and minor species. It represents the agency's current thinking. (Order...

PHOTOSTABILITY TESTING OF NEW VETERINARY DRUG SUBSTANCES AND MEDICINAL PRODUCTS: GUIDANCE FOR INDUSTRY.
April 1, 2001... This (FDA) guidance document addresses the generation of photostability information for submission to the FDA in new animal drug applications (referred to as Registration Applications in the VICH parent guidance) for new molecular entities and...

STABILITY TESTING OF NEW VETERINARY DRUG SUBSTANCES AND PRODUCTS.
April 1, 2001... This (FDA) guidance document sets out the stability testing requirement for a registration application within: the European Union (EU); Japan; and the U.S. It seeks to exemplify the core stability data package required for new drug substances...

INFERRING TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION AMONG GENE CLASSES FROM LARGE-SCALE EXPRESSION DATA: FROM CO-EXPRESSION TO CO-REGULATION.
April 1, 2001... This (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) paper provides preliminary evidence that existing algorithms for inferring small-scale gene regulation networks from gene expression data can be adapted to large-scale gene expression data coming from...

DRUG USE AMONG ADULT AND JUVENILE ARRESTEES.
April 1, 2001... This (Abt Associates Inc.) report provides an overview of 1999 program findings, and detailed site-by-site tables, on drug use among booked arrestees. (Order this LIFE SCIENCES & BIOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE reviewed report from InfoTeam Inc.,...

DEVELOPMENT OF ROBOTIC-AID FOR REHABILITATION OF LOCOMOTION-IMPAIRED PEOPLE.
April 1, 2001... Manual assistance of therapists to help movement of the legs of spinal-cord-injured (SCI) subjects, during stepping on a treadmill for locomotion rehabilitation, has severe economic and technical limitations. This (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)...