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Smart Wall Panel Designed to Give Seniors Day-to-Day Help
University and company researchers in Germany are designing systems to be built into the walls of older peoples’ homes to help with simple day-to-day tasks as well as monitor their health. A team from Technical University Munich (Technische Universität München, TUM) will demonstrate the Living Independently in Südtirol/Alto Adige or LISA prototype on 20 February…
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Report: Common Action Needed Against Fake, Substandard Drugs
A report from the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academies in the U.S., calls for a new agreement on an international code of practice on drug quality to counter the growing health risks from illegimiate medicines. Among the recommendations in the report are a mandatory drug tracking system and tightening the licensing requirements…
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Feasibility Shown of Spintronic Enabling Organic Materials
Engineers at University of Utah in Salt Lake City developed a process to create organic materials with the ability to conduct electricity on their edges, while the inside acts as an insulator. The team led by Utah professor Feng Liu published its findings in yesterday’s issue of the journal Nature Communications (paid subscription required). Materials…
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New Faster Antibiotic Shown Effective for Skin Infections
A clinical trial found an antibiotic tablet designed to work faster than existing oral drugs worked as well as the current drugs to treat bacterial skin infections, including those resistant to current antibiotics. The results of the trial testing the new tedizolid phosphate against the current linezolid appear in today’s issue of the Journal of…
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GE, Vanderbilt to Partner on Colon Cancer Research
GE Global Research, a division of General Electric Company, and Vanderbilt University’s Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville are collaborating on research to better understand the formation of colon cancer tumors at the level of individual cells. The study is funded by a five-year, $3.75 million grant from National Institutes of Health (NIH). Better cancer diagnosis…
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Nano Patterns in Plastic Help Stem Cells Become Bone Cells
Medical researchers and engineers at universities of Southampton and Glasgow in the U.K. created a nanoscale process with a common plastic material to convert human embryonic stem cells into skeletal tissue cells. The findings of the team led by Southampton’s Richard Oreffo are described online in a recent issue of the journal Small (paid subscription…
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Process Adds New Properties to Ferroelectric Materials
Materials scientists at University of Illinois in Urbana developed a new type of thin metal oxide film with a built-in electric field, useful for semiconductor devices such as computer memory. The team led by Illinois professor Lane Martin published their findings online in a recent issue of the journal Advanced Materials (paid subscription required). Lane,…
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Asthma Drug Reveals Potential as Diabetes, Obesity Treatment
A drug long prescribed for asthma and canker sores has been shown in tests on mice to reverse obesity and diabetes. Researchers from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and labs in California and Australia, published their findings yesterday online in the journal Nature Medicine (paid subscription required). Alan Saltiel, director of Michigan’s Life Sciences…
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FDA Grants Accelerated Multiple Myeloma Drug Approval
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved pomalidomide to treat patients with multiple myeloma whose disease progressed after being treated with other cancer drugs. Pomalidomide is marketed under the brand name Pomalyst by the pharmaceutical company Celgene Corporation in Summit, New Jersey. Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer that affects mainly older adults and arises…
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iPhone App Tests Selective Dominant-Ear Listening Behavior
Psychologists at University of Bergen in Norway wrote software that turns an iPhone into a device to test dichotic listening, behavior that combines language processing and attention. A team from Bergen’s research group examined the iPhone app’s validity and reliability in measuring dichotic listening, with the team’s results appearing online yesterday in the journal Frontiers…