A simple blood test can rapidly and accurately detect mutations in two key genes in non-small cell lung tumors, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and other institutions report in a new study – demonstrating the test’s potential as a clinical tool for identifying patients who can benefit from drugs targeting those mutations.
A drug currently being trialled in cancer patients could also be used to treat an often incurable condition that can cause painful blood vessel overgrowths inside the skin, finds new research in mice led by UCL, Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center in New York and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) in Barcelona.
A team of researchers at the MedUni Vienna has, in collaboration with the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, developed two new PET tracers that allow the activity of drug transporters at the blood-brain barrier to be measured. The studywas able to demonstrate that people with a genetic polymorphism in a transporter gene have lower transporter activity at the blood-brain barrier, which can lead…
A research team headed by scientists at the Institute of Neuroimmunology and the Institute for Multiple Sclerosis Research (IMSF), University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), has gained new insights into the immune function of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). They used real-time microscopy to film the lively trafficking of immune cells between the CSF and the nervous tissue. Here the meninges play the…
Every year around a quarter of a million children worldwide die from sickle cell disease. In Germany around 3,000 people suffer from this rare inherited blood disorder.
Bioengineers and physicians at the University of California, San Diego have developed a potential new therapy for critical limb ischemia, a condition that causes extremely poor circulation in the limbs and leads to an estimated 230,000 amputations every year in North America and Europe alone to prevent the spread of infection and tissue death. The new therapy could prevent or limit amputations…
Identifying a blood disorder may be as easy as running a blood sample from a finger prick under a smartphone. That is the concept behind a new biomedical device being developed by Kansas State University researchers.
By using drug delivery vehicles, so-called nanocarriers, pharmaceuticals reach the diseased area in the body. There they accelerate the healing process. But in order to prevent them from getting ingested by phagocytes, the surfaces of the nanocarriers are typically coated with the biocompatible synthetic polymer poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). Scientists at the Mainz University Medical Center and…
For the first time, and using physical methods, scientists have demonstrated how red blood cells move. They recognized that fast molecules in the vicinity make the cell membrane in the blood cells wriggle – but that the cells themselves also become active when they have enough reaction time.
Researchers at Duke Health are fine-tuning a test that can determine whether a respiratory illness is caused by infection from a virus or bacteria so that antibiotics can be more precisely prescribed.
Patients who have had a stroke in the back of the brain are at greater risk of having another within two years if blood flow to the region is diminished, according to results of a multicenter study led by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago. These stroke patients are the most likely to benefit from risky intervention to unblock arteries, and they can be identified using a new…
Researchers have identified a mechanism that allows cancer cells to respond and grow rapidly when levels of sugar in the blood rise. This may help to explain why people who develop conditions in which they have chronically high sugar levels in their blood, such as obesity, also have an increased risk of developing certain types of cancer.
When cells die, they don't vanish without a trace. Instead, they leave behind their fingerprints in the form of cell-free DNA. In people, these tiny fragments of DNA can be found in the bloodstream.
EKF Diagnostics, the global in vitro diagnostics company, announces the publication of its new guide, "Anemia and hemoglobin testing". Available to download for free, the in-depth hematology guide provides a review of the symptoms and causes of anemia, through to methods for testing hemoglobin and hematocrit, as well as factors that may influence these measurements.
Royal Philips and Banyan Biomarkers, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a multi-year joint development agreement to develop and commercialize a new handheld blood test to detect and evaluate mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) - also known as concussion - at the point of care. The new handheld test will be based on Philips’ Minicare I-20 system. The financial details of the…
Randox Quality Control are pleased to announce, as part of our ongoing growth and development, the launch of 8 new RIQAS EQA Programmes, with cycles scheduled to begin in March 2016.
It hasn’t happened yet, but the laboratory testing industry in the United States is bracing up for a day when venous blood draws may become more of the exception than the rule. Report: Cynthia E. Keen
At this year’s MEDICA, CNOGA Medical Ltd. will be introducing its new line of non-invasive, pain-free patient vital signs monitoring TensorTip™ devices, and presenting its new Singular™ platform, a secure cloud-based ecosystem infrastructure platform as well as its new mobile application for sending results to physicians, friends and caretakers. CNOGA’s easy-to-use, portable devices are…
CNOGA Medical Ltd. is a leading developer and manufacturer of innovative e-health ecosystems for non-invasive, pain-free bio-marker monitoring and cloud-based ecosystem technology. At MEDICA CNOGA Medical presents its new Ecosystem Infrastructure of Non-Invasive Hemodynamics, Blood parameters & Blood gases Monitoring Devices, Cloud-Based Platform and Mobile Application.
Blood drawing for patients with hard-to-reach veins just became a lot easier and less painful at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ, thanks to a small hand-held device that lights up veins like a roadmap. With the AccuVein illumination device, the need for multiple needle sticks to try to hit a good vein for a blood draw is a thing of the past.
One goal of immunotherapy is to rally a patient’s often over-burdened immune cells to effectively attack a tumor. Among foot soldiers on the immune front line is a subpopulation of white blood cells called “patrolling monocytes,” whose job is to cruise the bloodstream, cart off cellular debris, and block invasion of a less benign population of inflammatory cells.
Panasonic will launch a 4K Ultra HD micro camera at the forthcoming Compamed tradeshow in Düsseldorf, starting on Monday 16 November. The 4K micro camera (GP-UH532) has 3840x2160 resolution at 60p. It is capable of outputting images at up to 1600 TV lines, for smooth, detailed images and accurate colour reproduction.
Researchers have shown that people with high blood pressure develop changes in their hearts even before symptoms appear. These changes are known to put people at risk of dying early, and the new work suggests it is possible for doctors to recognise such signs of heart disease earlier than they can today - by examining detailed images of the heart.
A team of researchers from Brown University, ETH Zurich, the Universita da Svizzera Italiana (USI) and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) is using America’s most powerful supercomputer to help understand and fight diseases affecting some of the body’s smallest building blocks.
A nanofiber hydrogel infused with snake venom may be the best material to stop bleeding quickly, according to Rice University scientists.