Month: July 2015

  • Engineered Mosquitoes Sharply Reduce Dengue Carriers

    2 July 2015. A variety of mosquito, engineered to produce offspring that die before maturity, was found to reduce the dengue mosquito population in a city in Brazil by 95 percent, well below the level needed to spread the disease. The team from the biotechnology company Oxitec Ltd. in Abingdon, U.K., with academic and business…

  • Commercial Space Launch Site Slated for New Zealand

    2 July 2015. Rocket Lab Ltd, a company aiming to make orbital space launches frequent and less costly, says it plans to build a launch site in New Zealand, with completion scheduled by the end of 2015. The company says test flights will begin soon after completing construction of the site, with commercial operations planned…

  • Drug Abusers, Smokers More Likely to Use Opioids Long-Term

    1 July 2015. A study by the Mayo Clinic finds people with a history of substance abuse and using tobacco are those most at risk for using opioid pain killers on a continuous basis. The team led by Michael Hooten, an anesthesiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, published its findings in the July issue…

  • Foundation Supporting ALS Pilot Clinical Trials

    1 July 2015. ALS Association is funding pilot studies with patients having amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to confirm biomarkers, or biochemical indicators, that improve responsiveness to therapies. The studies are being conducted by Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical developer in Palo Alto, California, and University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. ALS, also known as Lou…