Month: October 2010
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Drug-Related Hospitalizations Double for Age 45+
The number of hospital admissions for Americans age 45 and older from medication and drug-related conditions doubled between 1997 and 2008, according to a report released today by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. AHRQ defines medication and drug-related conditions to include effects of…
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NSF Grant Funds Research on Drought-Resistant Crops
University of Maryland in College Park has received a $5 million grant from National Science Foundation to lead a multi-institutional research partnership to help develop crop plants able to withstand drought conditions. The project will focus on guard cells in the canola plant (Brassica napus) — pictured right. Canola is an important oilseed crop grown…
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Plant Stem Cells Point to Cheaper Cancer Drug
A research team from University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Unwha Biotech, a company in Jeonju Si, Korea, has found a way of using stem cells from tree bark that could lead to a simpler and lower-cost process for making the cancer drug paclitaxel. The drug is used to treat lung, ovarian, breast, head, and…
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Venture Investing Down in Q3, Up for Year-to-Date
In the third quarter of 2010, venture capital (VC) investors put $5.5 billion into 662 deals for U.S.-based companies, down 5 percent in dollars invested but a 2 percent increase in deals from the same period last year, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. Science-based companies were among those experiencing a downturn in VC investments. For…
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Scenes from today’s USA Science and Engineering Festival
National Mall, Washington, D.C. More photos on Flickr. All photos by Alan Kotok
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Houston Biomed Incubators to Collaborate, Combine Labs
Two business incubators in Houston, Texas aimed at biomedical start up companies, have agreed to collaborate and share facilities. The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and BioHouston Inc. announced an agreement yesterday that calls for greater collaboration between the organizations’ technology incubators and consolidation of services. The UTHealth incubator is known…
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New Vaccines Developed for Farm-Raised Catfish
Scientists from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are developing vaccines to help protect against common diseases faced by healthy farm-raised catfish. Biologists and aqua pathologists from ARS labs in Auburn, Alabama and Chestertown, Maryland are focusing on protections for catfish against against the bacteria Streptococcus (S.) iniae, S. agalactiae, and other pathogens. The scientists…
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Life-Cycle Analysis Shows CFL Bulbs Most Enviro Friendly
Researchers from Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research in Duebendorf, studied the full lifetime of four lighting technologies, and found compact fluorescent lighting (CFL) to inflict the least environmental damage. The analysis includes consideration of CFL’s mercury content, since exposure to elemental mercury when absorbed through the lungs can cause neurological…
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Magnets Improve Understanding of Influenza Drugs
Using powerful magnets [sponsored link] to scan proteins’ atomic structures, scientists at Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee and Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah are close to understanding why some drugs to treat the influenza A virus have become less effective, and how new drugs can replace them. FSU has patented this magnet-screening process…
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DoD Awards Contract for Bioweapon Therapies
Morphotek Inc., a developer of protein and antibody products in Exton, Pennsylvania, said it received a $2.5 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to fund further development of the company’s monoclonal antibody therapies against disease-causing staphylococcal strains and toxins. In February 2008, Morphotek received funding to support initial development of these therapies.…