Europe's brain drain
Biotechnologist Dr Jens Meiler explains his reasons for emigration to America
Microbiology
Tracking TB bacterium from space
TB bacterium have a unique chemical coating and it is hoped that a tiny gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GC-MS) - a detection device* developed for the Beagle 2, on its mission to Mars - will be able to pick this out from space, in a project run by Britain's Open University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The ACP recommends 'flu vaccination for frontline healthcare workers
Influenza infects around 20% of the US population and results in 200,000 hospitalisations annually. It kills about 36,000 citizens. In the USA, only 36% of all healthcare workers are immunised against influenza annually, and now the American College of Physicians (ACP)
Healing skin wounds
Researchers define the role of signal molecule c-Met
analytica comes of age
21st. Analytica 2008 held in april 2008 in Munich, Germany.
Siemens to acquire Dade Behring
With a merger agreement with the US-based Dade Behring, Inc., Siemens Medical Solutions again strengthens its in-vitro diagnostic division and becomes leader in the diagnostic market. Dade Behring, Inc. is a leading clinical laboratory diagnostics company covering the market of clinical laboratory equipment and integrated solutions for routine chemistry testing, immunodiagnostics, hemostasis…
Big focus on a tiny organism
The first of its kind in Europe, the €12 million BaSysBio (Bacillus Systems Biology) project, initiated in December, is headquartered in France, but involves 15 top European research organisations, as well as an Australian university.
Seeking life's chemical processes
Since the human genome was mapped 'systems biology' centres have sprung up all over Europe, including Bioquant in Heidelberg, Germany.
Test combination predicts high risk of relapse and death in bladder cancer patients
A new testing approach has effectively identified patients at the highest risk of cancer relapse after bladder cancer surgery, according to a study published in the February issue of The Lancet Oncology http://oncology.thelancet.com. Vol 8 Feb 2007 91.
US$ 1.5 billion for pneumococcal vaccines development
Canada, Italy, Norway, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today committed US$1.5 billion to launch a pilot Advance Market Commitment (AMC) to help speed the development and availability of a new vaccine which is expected to save the lives of 5.4 million children by 2030. The new initiative will target pneumococcal disease, a major cause of pneumonia and meningitis…
Influenza season has begun
Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Scotland, Spain and Switzerland are the first European countries affected by an increase of the influenza virus. Other countries will follow over the coming weeks and should prepare.
Norovirus epidemic in Germany
Fortunately, the influenza virus has not swapped over to Germany yet because the country has enough to do with the norovirus which is expected to attack up to one million people during the next weeks. People affected by the virus suffer from strong nausea and diarrhoea that last at least two days.
Semen can worsen cervical cancer
UK - Cervical cancer could be aggravated by a hormone-like molecule - prostaglandin - found in semen, according to a team of scientists led by Dr Henry Jabbour at the Medical Research Council's Human Reproductive Sciences Unit.
A promising outlook for new gentle breast cancer therapies
Targeted medication and gentle surgical procedures are the pillars of modern breast cancer therapy, according to participants at this years German Congress of Senology.
Quicker lab reports saves costs
Beckman Coulter developed a new integrated lab systems: The UniCel DxC880i prototype should deliver efficient disease management services.
Discovered: a new genetic route to skin cancer
UK - A complex chain of molecular triggers involved in the development of malignant melanoma has been unravelled
Appendicitis complicated by chickenpox
Surgeons Sergey V Stonogin, specialist in infectious cases, Eugeny V Dvorovenko, Head of Emergency Surgery, and Vladimir A Chaplin, endoscopy specialist - report on results from their study to assess the most effective, safe combination of antibiotics to treat patients with acute appendicitis complicated by chickenpox
ITALY
Bologna - The University Hospital S.Orsola-Malpighi has 1,800 beds and is one of the largest to install the DNLab management system. With 150 workstations connected to the LIS and over 50 analysers, each day, the two laboratories (central and microbiology) receive almost 3,000 orders and carry out over nine million tests annually. Hospital wards and departments are connected via Web to the LIS…
EU challenge to worldwide BRCA2 gene patent
An unparalleled legal challenge has been underway in the EU regarding the number of human gene patents held by US-based corporation Myriad Genetics.
Pandemic panic sends feathers flying
AIDS, SARS and now H5NI; just a brief beginning or the end? As the virus moves towards Europe, and millions of birds are slaughtered, interest has risen in a Chinese herb, a patent-sharing controversy and drug stockpiling
Clinical immunology
The fundamental role of inflammation in almost all disease processes has been increasingly recognised over several years.
Bacteria die on stainless steel
To establish which materials allow pathogens to survived best, micro-organisms such as bacteria living in wet and dry environments, pathogenic fungi and the bacterium Escherichia coli, have been studied during comparative tests undertaken at the Hygiene Institute of the University of Leipzig.
Advancing individualised therapies
The decoding of the genome has made it possible for molecular biology specialists to detect predispositions for illnesses and treat them accordingly.