Category: Regulations
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Security Flaws Revealed in Full-Body X-Ray Scanner
20 August 2014. Computer scientists at three universities evaluated the backscatter X-ray scanners used in U.S. airports up to 2013, finding weapons could be readily concealed, and the device vulnerable to hacking. The team from University of California in San Diego, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and University of Michigan in Ann Arbor will present…
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Medications, Phone Calls Boost Smoking Cessation Rates
20 August 2014. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston found a combination of free medications and repeated automated telephone calls sharply cuts smoking rates among discharged patients, compared to patients receiving the standard counseling before leaving the hospital. The findings of the team led by Nancy Rigotti, director of Mass. General’s Tobacco Research and…
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Trial Shows Stem Cell Treatment Feasibility for Stroke
8 August 2014. An early-stage clinical trial shows treating stroke patients with their own bone-marrow stem cells is safe and feasible, and provides evidence of improving cognitive and motor functions. The study conducted by Imperial College London and affiliated hospitals in the U.K. appears today in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine (registration required). The…
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Early Trial Shows Parkinson’s Vaccine Creates Antibodies
31 July 2014. An early-stage clinical trial testing the safety of an experimental vaccine to treat Parkinson’s disease, shows the vaccine generates antibodies that fight the build-up of proteins in the brain associated with the disorder. The vaccine is made by the biotechnology company Affiris AG, which presented the results today at a press conference…
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Trial Testing Amniotic, Umbilical Grafts to Heal Wounds
29 July 2014. A new clinical trial is testing skin grafts from amniotic and umbilical cord tissue as a treatment for chronic wounds, in this case diabetic foot ulcers. The skin grafts are made by Amniox Medical Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia, adapted from a technology developed by Tissue Tech Inc. in Miami. Amniox Medical provides…
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Trial Shows Drug Not Extending Breast Cancer Survival Time
25 July 2014. A late-stage clinical trial of the cancer drug sorafenib shows the drug, combined with the chemotherapy drug capecitabine, does not extend the amount of progression-free survival time of advanced breast cancer patients, compared to capecitabine alone. Sorafenib, marketed under the brand name Nexavar, is made by Onyx Pharmaceuticals in South San Francisco,…
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Trial Shows Herpes Simplex Therapy Generates Immune Response
21 July 2014. An intermediate stage clinical trial of an immunotherapy by Genocea Biosciences to fight herpes simplex virus 2 — the main cause of genital herpes — shows the treatment generates an immune system response to the disease that lasts an entire year. The findings were presented this week by Genocea vice-president Jessica Baker…
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Orphan Status Assigned to Kidney Disorder RNA Therapy
21 July 2014. Regulus Therapeutics Inc. in San Diego says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration designated its RNA therapy for Alport syndrome, a rare genetic kidney disease, an orphan drug. The therapy, code-named RG-012, shows promise in preclinical studies, including with lab mice. Alport syndrome affects about 1 in 50,000 newborns, a condition that…
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Text Messages Help Young Adults Reduce Binge Drinking
11 July 2014. Medical researchers at University of Pittsburgh show mobile phone text messages can provide feedback to young adults with a history of alcohol abuse that cuts their binge drinking. Findings from the team led by emergency medicine professor Brian Suffoletto were published online earlier this week in the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine.…
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Dengue Vaccine Shown to Cut Infections, Hospitalizations
11 July 2014. A large-scale clinical trial of a vaccine by the pharmaceutical company Sanofi shows the vaccine prevents symptomatic dengue cases by more than half, with severe forms and hospitalizations from the disease reduced even further. Findings from the study, conducted among more than 10,000 children in five Asian countries, are reported online today…