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Computer Chips Recast for High Frequency Detector Circuits
Engineers at Tel Aviv University in Israel reconfigured common computer chips into high frequency circuits, making them useful for building low-cost security imaging devices. Eran Socher, a lecturer in Tel Aviv’s engineering department, is leading the university’s research team that published its findings in a recent issue of the journal IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components…
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FDA Approves Oral Drug for Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved yesterday teriflunomide, a tablet taken once a day for the treatment of adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis. The drug, marketed under the name Aubagio, was developed by the Genzyme division of the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of the…
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Report: Multiple Strategies Help Patients Take Medicines
A review of past studies of patients’ behavior in taking prescribed medicines shows a number of approaches and methods can encourage patients to adhere to their medication regimens. The report from RTI International and the Evidence-based Practice Center at University of North Carolina, and funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, appears online…
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Project to Study Light-Enabled Quantum Dot Circuits
Researchers at Tampere University of Technology in Finland are developing a new process for designing and fabricating logic circuits that consume no current and can be read and written with light. The four-year, €1.6 million ($US 2.1 million) study is funded by the Academy of Finland, the country’s main science agency. The project draws on…
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Nanoscale Bar Codes Developed to Combat Counterfeiting
Engineers and chemists at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSMT) in Rapid City and University of South Dakota in Vermillion devised invisible, nanoscale high-density bar codes that can authenticate paper documents and other solid objects. The team published its findings in the journal Nanotechnology, published by Institute of Physics (free registration required). The…
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Drug Discovery Company Lands Venture Funds, Licensing Deal
Vascular Pharmaceuticals Inc., a drug discovery company in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, secured $16 million in series A funds, the first round of financing after start-up. The company, a developer of drugs to treat complications of diabetes, also signed a licensing agreement for its lead compound with Janssen Biotech, a division of Johnson & Johnson.…
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Sliding Metal Parts Found to Exhibit Fluid-Like Properties
Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana found solid pieces of metal that slide over each other to display properties resembling fluids rather than solids. Their research — funded by National Science Foundation, U.S. Army and General Motors — appears in the journal Physical Review Letters (paid subscription required). The team led by materials engineer Srinivasan…
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Trial Shows Vaccine Effective Against Most Dengue Viruses
A clinical trial by researchers from the pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur, with clinicians and public health officers from Thailand, shows a candidate vaccine to prevent the tropical disease dengue fever was effective against three of the four dengue viruses. The findings from the trial, funded by the Dengue Vaccine Initiative, appear online in the journal…
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Nanotech Process Devised for Graphene Semiconductors
Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim developed a process to make semiconductors by growing nanoscale wires on a graphene substrate. Helge Weman (pictured left), a professor of electronics, led the research team that published its findings last month in the journal Nano Letters; paid subscription required. Weman also co-founded a…
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USPTO Issues Inventor Verification Rules Under First-to-File
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued new procedures today to ensure the first person to file a patent application is actually the true inventor. The new rules are part of USPTO’s implementation of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), and are scheduled to take effect on 16 March 2013. The AIA shifts the U.S.…