Category: New products
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Late Stage Trial Shows Parkinson’s Drug Efficacy
Biotechnology company Impax Laboratories Inc. in Hayward, California says that a Phase 3 clinical trial of its drug IPX066 shows it is effective in patients with early Parkinson’s disease (PD), with side effects similar to related PD drugs in use. A Phase 3 trial studies a drug or treatment given to large groups of people…
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New Process Breeds Resistance to Potato, Tomato Blight
Researchers have discovered a process that offers an alternative to combating resistance to late blight, a disease of potatoes and tomatoes costing the industry £5 to £6 billion ($8.0 to $9.6 billion) a year worldwide. Late blight of potatoes and tomatoes is caused by the fungus-like pathogen Phytophthora infestans (P. infestans), and was responsible for…
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Trial Shows Catheter-Based Therapy Reduces Hypertension
Data from a clinical trial of a hypertension therapy using a catheter indicates the device significantly reduced the treated patients’ blood pressure compared to a control group. Results of the HTN-2 trial of the Symplicity system made by Ardian Inc. of Mountain View, California were reported at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2010 and…
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University Spins Off Biomarker Targeting Company
The University of Liège in Belgium announced the first spin-off company, called Targetome, from GIGA, the university’s applied geno-proteomics center. The company is led by Vincent Castronovo (pictured left), a university faculty member on whose research the company is based. The company is developing a new technique to identify biomarkers which are over-expressed in certain…
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Univ. Researchers Develop Dry Powder HPV Vaccine
A new targeted, inhalable dry-powder human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, according to its developers, can help overcome resistance from needle avoidance and offer better logistics than the current commercial HPV vaccine used worldwide. HPV is the number one cause of cervical cancer, which is the second most common cancer in women around the globe. According to…
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Machine Learning Helps Decipher Consumer Medical Searches
Many consumers turn to Web sites like WebMD for comprehensive health and medical information, but they cannot help as much if visitors searching the sites use unclear or unorthodox language to describe their conditions. A group of Georgia Tech researchers in Atlanta have created a machine-learning model that enables the sites to learn visitors’ dialect…
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Engineers Test Fire’s Effects on Structural Steel
Researchers in engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana are studying the effects of fire on steel structures, such as buildings and bridges. The research uses a unique heating system and a specialized laboratory for testing large beams and other components. Building fires may reach temperatures of 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800 degrees Fahrenheit), say…
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Lighting Technology Helps Combat Hospital Superbugs
A lighting system that can kill hospital bacteria resistant to antibiotics called superbugs has been developed by researchers at University of Strathclyde in Glascow, Scotland. The superbug bacteria killed by this technology include methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile (c. diff). A team of professors from the university’s engineering, physics, and biology departments discovered…
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New iPhone App Offers HIV Drug Info
University of Liverpool in the U.K. has released an iPhone application (app), — HIV iChart — that provides access to information about drug interactions for both health care professionals and HIV patients. The HIV iChart app is based on the university’s HIV drug Web site that offers a comprehensive resource on potential drug interactions between…
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Sensor Gives Faster Soil Erosion Test on Structures
Researchers from North Carolina State University in Raleigh have developed a sensor that allows engineers to assess the scour potential of soils at various depths and on-site. This technology, for the first time, can help evaluate the safety of civil infrastructure before and after storm events. Called the “in situ scour evaluation probe,” the sensor…