New Device Detects Heart Disease Using Less Than One Drop of Blood from Science Daily
Testing people for heart disease might be just a finger prick away thanks to a new credit card-sized device created by a team of researchers from Harvard and Northeastern universities in Boston. In a research report published online in The FASEB Journal, they describe how this device can measure and collect a type of cells needed to build vascular tissue, called endothelial progenitor cells, using only 200 microliters of blood. More
Calibrating the Lab Technician from Quality Digest Magazine Handling liquid is one of the most common processes in life science laboratories, whether they’re drug-discovery and compound-management laboratories or analytical chemistry, genomics, or proteomics facilities. Processes in which liquids are handled include sample preparation, dilution, standards preparation, and reagent addition. The means for delivering liquid samples have advanced dramatically over time, from the traditional glass micropipette to today's electronic, variable-volume pipettes and automated liquid handlers. More 
ASCO 2009: Nonchemo Maintenance Treatment in NSCLC Improves Outcomes from Medscape Medical News Two targeted therapies were better than 1 when used for the maintenance treatment of nonsmall-cell lung cancer in the ATLAS trial, according to results presented here at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 45th Annual Meeting. Adding erlotinib (Tarceva) to bevacizumab (Avastin) for maintenance treatment, after a course of chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab, significantly improved progression-free survival. More
U.S. Company Finds "Safer" Way to Make Stem-like Cells from Reuters Health U.S. researchers said they had come up with the safest way yet to make stem-like cells using a patient's ordinary skin cells, this time by using pure human proteins. The team at Harvard University and Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology Inc said their technique involves soaking cells in human proteins that turn back the clock biologically, making the cells behave like powerful embryonic stem cells. More
New Pathology Tests Double Sensitivity to Detect Bile Duct and Pancreatic Cancers from EurekAlert! Pancreatic cancer and bile duct cancer are difficult to diagnose and often fatal because they are discovered in the advanced stages of the disease. Researchers have developed new tests that double the ability to detect bile duct and pancreatic cancers, according to a Mayo Clinic study published in the June issue of Gastroenterology. More
Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria Found in Fertilizer from Science Daily Vancomycin resistant enterococci have been found in sewage sludge, a by-product of waste-water treatment frequently used as a fertilizer. Researchers writing in the open access journal Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica point out the danger of antibiotic resistance genes passing into the human food chain. More
Low Oxygen Level Prostate Tumors Often Recurrent from Reuters Health Hypoxia, or reduced oxygen levels, in prostate tumors significantly predicts a poor long-term biochemical outcome, regardless of other prognostic factors, such as tumor stage or type, according to results of a study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in Orlando. The finding suggests that new hypoxic strategies should be investigated. More
Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Bacterial Vaginosis from Medscape Medical News Vitamin D deficiency is associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV), and this link may contribute to the strong racial disparity in the prevalence of BV, according to the results of a pregnancy cohort study reported in the June issue of the Journal of Nutrition. "BV is a highly prevalent vaginal infection that is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes," writes Lisa M. Bodnar, from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and colleagues. "Vitamin D exerts an influence on the immune system and may play a role in BV." More
Downs Gene Starves Growth of Tumors from The Boston Globe It is a scientific riddle that has stumped, and deeply intrigued, specialists in cancer and genetics for decades: Why do people with Down syndrome so rarely develop life-threatening tumors? More
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