Regular aspirin use may do more harm than good, study warns
Can an aspirin a day keep the doctor away? New research, part of the EU-funded BIOMED (Biomedicine and health) programme, shows it can't all the time. The researchers have discovered that although regular use of aspirin can reduce the rate of non-fatal heart attacks or stroke by around 12%, there is a 33% increase in the risk of internal bleeding in people with no history of relevant disease (primary prevention). The findings are published in The Lancet journal.
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From Pioneer to the World's Leading Scientific Network
"Pioneers" was the headline when Science magazine covered the launch of the academic networking platform ResearchGATE exactly one year ago. In a very short time, a small group of pioneers in scientific communication, located at Harvard University and Hannover Medical School (Germany), has managed to create a worldwide community with more than 50,000 members from 196 countries.
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Study sheds light on H1N1 origins
The new H1N1 virus is only distantly related to its nearest relatives, suggesting that its genes may have been circulating undetected in pig populations for some time, according to new research published online by the journal Science. Scientists also confirm the novel status of the virus, noting that it contains a combination of gene segments that has never been reported before.
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Recognition for inventors in the fight against disease
The fight against leukaemia and malaria - two of the world's most virulent diseases - was rewarded in two out of the four categories at the recent European Inventor of the Year awards. Swiss medicinal chemist Dr Jürg Zimmermann along with US oncologist Dr Brian Druker won the award in the Industry category for his invention of the drug Glivec. Glivec has a 98% remission rate in people suffering from chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) - a rare form of leukaemia that affects about 10,000 people every year.
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Details of First Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Projects Released
The European Commission has released details of the first projects to receive support under the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Joint Technology Initiative (JTI). The 15 projects will share a EUR 246 million funding pot. EUR 110 million of this will come from the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), while the pharmaceutical industry will provide the remaining EUR 136 million through in kind contributions (e.g. staff, laboratory facilities, materials and clinical research).
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New technology could lead to safer gene therapy
EU-funded scientists have developed a new, non-viral way of getting genes into a cell. The technique appears to avoid the side-effects, such as cancer, which can occur when viruses are used to smuggle genes into a cell. The scientists hope their discovery will 'simplify the way gene therapy is conducted, improve its overall safety and reduce the costs'.
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Breakthrough on the cause of bacterial infections
European researchers have identified 39 proteins that interact with bacterial toxins in infected human cells, amounting to significant progress in understanding bacterial infection sources. The discovery, funded in part by the EU through the 'Interaction proteome' project, may open up new treatment targets for human illnesses in the future. The study is published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.
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