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Institute of Medicine: Few Health Problems from Vaccines
A committee of experts convened by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the National Academies, analyzed more than 1,000 research articles and concluded that few health problems are caused by or clearly associated with vaccines. The committee was chaired by Ellen Wright Clayton, who holds professorships in both pediatrics and law at Vanderbilt University…
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Lab to Advise Battery Company on Technology Management
Dow Kokam in Midland, Michigan and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee are collaborating on enhancements to the company’s capabilities to develop and commercialize advanced lithium ion batteries. Dow Kokam is a joint venture of Dow Chemical Company, TK Advanced Battery LLC, and Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault, founded in 2009 that develops advanced batteries for…
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Cambridge U.K. Spin-Off Gains $9.5 Million in Early Funding
Mission Therapeutics, a research spin-off company from Cambridge University in the U.K., has raised £6 million ($US 9.5 million) in Series A funding from a European venture capital syndicate. Series A investments represent the first round of significant funds raised after an enterprise’s initial launch. The company specializes in the discovery and development of drugs…
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Laundry Vents Emit Hazardous Fumes from Scented Products [Updated]
Researchers at University of Washington in Seattle and Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio have found the air vented from machines using scented liquid laundry detergents and dryer sheets contains hazardous chemicals. Their findings appear online in the journal Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health (paid subscription required). A team led by UW engineering professor Anne…
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People Without Jobs and Insurance Skip Medicine, Health Care
A report from the Commonwealth Fund in New York says the vast majority of people who lost both their jobs and health insurance in the past two years skipped needed health care or did not fill prescriptions because of the cost. The data for the study come from the Commonwealth Fund’s 2010 Biennial Health Insurance…
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USPTO, Taiwan to Pilot Test Reciprocal Patent Reviews
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced a new pilot test of sharing patent reviews with the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO). The trial of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program will permit each office to benefit from work previously done by the other office. USPTO says the expedited examination in each office allows…
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New Treatment Fixes Tooth Decay Without Drilling
Researchers at University of Leeds in the U.K. have developed a way of treating dental decay that reverses the damage caused by acid and re-builds teeth, without drilling. The technology developed at Leeds has been licensed to a company in Switzerland for commercialization. Dental cavities are caused by a process that begins with bacteria, which…
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Improved Diagnostic for Potato Pest Developed
Xiaohong Wang, a molecular biologist with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), a division of the Department of Agriculture, in Ithaca, New York developed a new process for determining the type of potato cyst nematode infecting potato crops. Wang’s process is described in a paper that appeared earlier this year in the European Journal of Plant…
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Human Energy Harvesting Technology Developed, Commercialized
Engineers at University of Wisconsin in Madison have created a technology that harvests and converts energy from normal human activities like walking into electrical power for portable electronic devices. The work of Tom Krupenkin and J. Ashley Taylor appears in a paper in the journal Nature Communications, and is the basis of a company formed…
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Computer Model Helps Pinpoint Cancer Cell Targets
Medical and computer scientists in Israel and the U.K. have developed a computer model of cancer cell metabolism, which can help predict which drugs are lethal to cancer cells. Their work was part of a research study reported online last week in the journal Nature (paid subscription required). Many cancer drugs are now designed to…